Written by award-winning thriller heavyweight R. J. Ellory, this ambitious crime novel takes the author's skill for suspense to a spellbinding level.

When Catherine Ducane disappears in the heart of New Orleans, the cops react fast—after all, she is the governor's daughter. But the case gets very strange, very quickly. Her bodyguard turns up horribly mutilated in the trunk of a beautiful vintage car, and when the kidnapper calls, he doesn't want money; he wants time alone with a certain government functionary.

Dragged down to the deep South from the New York district attorney's office, Ray Hartmann puzzles over why he has been summoned and why the mysterious kidnapper, an elderly Cuban named Ernesto Perez, wants to tell him his life story. But by the time the pieces fall into place, it's already too late. A Quiet Vendetta is both the epic story of one man's life in the Italian Mafia—a story ranging from Cuba to Chicago—and a thrilling tale of rage, love, and loss. With tension to match the best of Cussler, Patterson, and his own bestselling work, A Quiet Vendetta confirms R. J. Ellory's place at the forefront of the genre.