The Mercenary's Prayer - The Predator's Vow: The Predator's Vow
Set in 1975, the novel moves from Hoboken and Jersey City to Saint Helena, South Africa, New York, New Jersey, Brooklyn, Bridgeton, and Louisiana's Atchafalaya Swamp.
Mia Moretti, a sharp Hoboken stock trader, and her brother Gaetano "Tony" Moretti, a Paramus firefighter-paramedic, were raised by their grandmother, Rosa Caputo, after their parents' deaths. When a cryptic note claims Rosa died in a "freak accident" on Saint Helena, they suspect murder and search for the truth.
Their investigation uncovers a cover-up tied to La Famiglia. Rosa was killed on orders connected to Don Vincente Ferro and executed by Isabella "Bella" Vaccaro, Il Bacio della Morte-a half-Italian, half-Korean mafia assassin known for precise, reputation-enforcing kills. Bella's greatest weapon is deception. In deep cover as Carmelita, a sweet Filipino nanny, she seduces Tony, infiltrates the Moretti family, and turns intimacy into betrayal.
The trail leads through Saint Helena and South Africa before drawing Mia and Tony into a covert war in New Jersey. There, they are trained by Connor Doherty, a scarred Irish mercenary who teaches survival, weapons, and guerrilla tactics. Mia grows close to Tommy, an ex-Green Beret connected to Connor, but Bella's crew kills him. Tony's betrayal and murder transform Mia from grieving civilian into relentless hunter.
Mia forms a substitute family of soldiers and survivors: Connor's Liberation Force. What begins as an investigation escalates into ambushes, retaliation, and open war. At Carl's farm in Bridgeton, Mia sets a trap after discovering Carmelita's true identity. During the ambush, she faces Bella in a vicious knife fight, but hesitation allows the wounded assassin to escape.
The aftermath leaves bodies scattered and survivors hunted by Sheriff Joel Thompson and FBI Special Agent Juan Rodriguez. Don Ferro is later reported dead in a suspicious Sicilian "accident," likely sacrificed by his own organization. Stripped of protection, Bella becomes even more dangerous as a free-agent weapon.
Mia, Connor, and the remaining fugitives flee into the Atchafalaya Swamp, where the novel moves beyond simple revenge. Classified Liberation Force reports by sociologist Dr. Anya Chatterjee recast the conflict as a systems war involving family loyalty, organized crime, institutional paralysis, and counter-violence.
Mia abandons her direct pursuit of Bella and adopts a colder strategy: destroy the networks that keep her alive-money, medicine, transportation, forged papers, safehouses, and silence.
engeance versus justice; blood family versus chosen family; deceit as a weapon; trauma as adaptation; and the cost of becoming what you fight.
ght third-person limited; grim, gritty, noir-inflected, and tactically visceral.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
