My father’s house’ is a literary thriller, based loosely on a true story, and knowing this makes me want to investigate further. O’Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller… while the story’s inbuilt tension urges you on, it’s the sheer vigour of O’Connor’s beautifully turned phrases that really makes the book sing… an expert storyteller. This clandestine group assists Allied POWs to escape and go into hiding to evade the clutches of the SS and Gestapo. Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember.

And it was as he was talking about some of his other books that I realised just how long I’ve been reading him. I was mighty disappointed by Shadowplay but with My Father's House he is back to his storytelling best.Diplomats, refugees, and escaped Allied prisoners flee for protection into Vatican City, at one fifth of a square mile the world’s smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome. Finally, the conclusion confirmed for me that God’s hand is in everything - even events we could never imagine happening. The background of this tribute to a priest, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, living in Vatican City at the start of the war when thousands of Nazi troops and their evil commander, Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann, (Kappler) ruled with an iron hand.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, and will definitely read the next two in the Escape Line trilogy; however, I saw it more as a recounting of heroism in a terrible time, rather than a deeply moving work.While I feel two stars is appropriate from me, don't be turned away if you can follow the narration. Working in real time on Christmas Eve 1943 leading up to a crucial operation across Rome, the story is enhance by later interviews with some of the participants remembering their wartime exploits. The story of the Roman Escape Line was told in dual timelines, the days leading up to the Rendimento on December 23, 1943 and 20 years later in 1963, as revisited by members of the Choir. The final chase scene has a cinematic quality with high stakes and increasing tension and reminded me of Donald Sutherland in ‘don’t look now,’ with the dark alleys, water and piazzas at night.