Deus in Machina This story is based on the Nazi occupation of Rome during WWII.The brutal occupation of Rome and the activities of Pope Pius are all brought into focus here. The story brilliantly describes the tension in the city brought on by the Nazi occupiers and the suffering of the Roman residents. My problem with this story by the author is the insertion of the fictional struggle of one family to make sense of it all. The family story element sometimes works as an awkward device that the ...

Whose side are they on.When a brother & sister witness there parents arguing shots are fired and obviously nothing is ever the same again, they all end up in Rome having been in Innsbruck, Austria . Now the Second World War is raging the Germans have taken control of Rome as well as the rest of Italy, our family are there and Pope Pius XII remains in the Vatican a virtual Prisoner in the City within a City. This is obviously a historic novel set around the going on at this time based on the ...

Elimination of the Central Family Characters would improve this book... Samuel Marquis is fatalistically STUCK on including a central, fictitious family in at least the 1st 2 books of his trilogy — and the effort to focus on these family members detracts from otherwise OK stories. The details and lifelines of these family members is incredibly opportunistic — they have huge roles that intertwine and are ridiculous. Further, there’s NO NEED for such family members — the author could simply just c...

Author Samuel Marquis is the new Ken Follett of the WWII thriller—but he’s even better. I have read Bodyguard of Deception and Altar of Resistance, Books 1 and 2 of his WWII Trilogy, and they both take you on a thrill ride through the Second World War with spellbinding suspense and very detailed research that makes it fun to read but where you also learn a lot. In Altar of Resistance, Marquis describes one family’s struggle for survival during the Battle for Rome and Italy in 1943 and 1944. Pack...

A family curse, a hidden secret, a papal plan to assassinate Hitler and a LOT of Nazis!World War Two Rome as you've never known it. In Altar of Resistance, Samuel Marquis seamlessly blends well researched facts with fiction in this harrowing tale of a family torn apart by tragic events and cursed to play out the war on opposite sides for the battle of Italy. The brutality of the Nazi occupation of Rome is seen through the eyes of the American soldier, the Nazi commander, the Italian partisan and...

Altar of Resistance, provided great perspectives and insights into World War II. His choice of German occupied Rome and the plot development involving the Vatican and Pope provides quite the behind the scenes story line into World War II. The through historical research allowed for Marquis to layer in a very enjoyable story. The character development and high stakes moments drew me into the heat of the action. I look forward to reading more of Samuel Marquis's books

Wow!!!! While this book is the second of Marquis' WWII trilogy, it can be read easily as a stand alone. I've followed this author's works from the Coalition on through both the Higheagle Geopolitical thrillers and Bodyguard of Deception. I naturally gravitated toward the Higheagle series as I had the pleasure of knowing the author back in our undergrad days at Denison where we both majored in Geology. With each of his books, I hear "his voice", and usually can identify one of the main characters...

To date, I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing two previous Samuel Marquis novels: The Coalition, a political assassination thriller, and Bodyguard of Deception: Volume One of his World War II Trilogy.Now, I’ve read Altar of Resistance, the second book in that trilogy. Without question, Marquis has really upped his game with this one. In Bodyguard, much of the setting was in the Rocky Mountains where two escaped Nazi POW brothers with very different attitudes try to send secret information back to ...

This is the second book I have read by this author. The first one was fine but this book was great. More than great, Altar of Resistance is spectacular! While, this book may have been the second one in this series I had no issues jumping right into it. In fact, I felt like it could stand on its own. Instantly, I was drawn to this story and the characters. Although, the time period is what gave this book the cherry on top. If Colonel Wilhelm and his children, John and Teresa had been in modern da...

In the tradition of Ken Follett, Leon Uris, Tom Clancy, Alter of Resistance is an engaging World War II thriller. Sam Marquis tells the story of the liberation of Rome in 1944. Packed with historical detail and compelling characters, Marquis provides new insights into one of the largest and most violent armed conflicts in history, and the human dimension of its participants. It is a model for how the history, military strategy, and ethics of war can be combined in an accessible and enjoyable fic...