In the early days of his career, Jack Ryan accepts a first assignment as freelance analyst under James Greer of the CIA and faces a mission involving a high-level Soviet defector who has reported a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II.

In the wake of a Munich writer's assassination, Mossad agent Gabriel Allon and Vatican priest Pietro embark on dangerous journeys that reveal long-buried secrets affecting the fates of millions of people.

Called in by the Vatican to examine the workings of the Vatican Library, former Navy SEAL Nolan Kilkenny soon discovers that Pope Leo has another mission in mind--to rescue a "secret" cardinal, a Chinese bishop imprisoned by the Chinese for some thirty years.