Corporate Citizen (Book #5 Roma series) by Gabriel Valjan

Book Details:

Book Title: Corporate Citizen by Gabriel Valjan
Category: Adult Fiction, 388 pages
Genre: Thriller / suspense
Publisher: Winter Goose Publishing
Published: Oct 5, 2016
Content Rating: PG-13 + M


Book Description:

A call for help from an old friend lands Bianca and the crew back in Boston. On a timeout with Dante, due to revelations in the aftermath of the showdown in Naples, Bianca is drawn to a mysterious new ally who understands the traumas of her past, and has some very real trauma of his own. Murder, designer drugs, and a hacker named Magician challenge our team, and Bianca learns that leaving Rendition behind might be much harder than she thinks.

​Buy the book: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble

My Review

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

After having read the first four books I was thrilled to discover that there was a fifth book in the Roma series, thrillers set in Italy with a kick-ass female protagonist and a cast of colorful Italian character that I've come to love.

In Corporate Citizen, Bianca Nerini, a forensic accountant and hacker, decides to return to Boston to help with a case and she takes the "team" with her. Left behind because he and Bianca are taking a break from each other is Dante, her boyfriend. Once again, Bianca gets involved in a situation that involves Rendition, a covert US organization, the US military, designer drugs and murder.

As is his trademark, Gabriel Valjan mixes intelligent writing with suspense, mystery and humor to create the perfect atmosphere for pleasurable reading. I raced through this novel but also savored it as I revisited with characters who are friends that work together both to bring about justice but also because of their individual skills.

Although each book focuses on one character more than the others, Bianca is the person that ties them all together. In Corporate Citizen she seems to be in a transitional period and takes the opportunity to leave Italy when a case in Boston calls. Is she running away from Dante and her inability to share her past traumas with him? The complexity of her character is further revealed when she takes unnecessary risks with her life, as when she meets Nick Adams early on in the game. She senses understanding in him and fortunately she is right as he ends up being an ally.

Another hacker named Magician comes on the scene and he pulls the strings that challenge Bianca and her team. Once again, the twists and turns and unexpected scenes had me trying to figure it all out, but alas although loose plot threads from previous novels are tied, others are introduced. So I was left screaming for more by the end. Mr. Valjan, how can you do this to me!

But wait, to my surprise and absolute thrill, the end of the novel includes the first chapter of Crunch City (Book #6) and oh my goodness! that book starts with a bang. I simply cannot wait to read it! If you are a fan of thriller/suspense novels that include a very likeable cast of characters that not only use their law enforcement skills to solve crime but also know how to enjoy "la doce vita" as only Italians can, then you need to pick up this series. Corporate Citizen I am happy to say was a great addition to the whole series and I eagerly and impatiently await Book #6.

To read more reviews, please visit Gabriel Valjan's page on Italy Book Tours.

Read my previous reviews of the Roma series:

Roma Underground

Wasp's Nest

Threading the Needle

Turning to Stone

I interviewed Gabriel Valjan on Library of Clean Reads and asked him about his series and his writing. How long will the series continue? What are his future projects? Read my interview and find out!

Meet the Author:

Gabriel lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Roma Series, available from Winter Goose Publishing. Gabriel has also written numerous short stories and essays found online and in print.

Connect with the author: Website ~Twitter ~ Facebook

Enter the Giveaway!

Prizes: ​

5 winners get a paperback copy of CC
5 winners get an ebook copy of CC
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in paperback (signed)
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in ebook format

12 winners total
Print copies open to USA and ebooks open international
Giveaway ends Dec 17

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The Roma Series by Gabiel Valjan (Book spotlight and Giveaway!)

Today, I'm kicking off the Roma series blog tour at Italy Book Tours! Look at that cover. If you like thrillers, then be sure to check out this series and follow the blog tour to read the reviews. Gabriel Valjan writes suspenseful thrillers set in Italy. His latest novel in the series is Turning to Stone, just released this past summer. Look out for my reviews of all the books in the series in the next month.

About Turning to Stone:

Alabaster Black aka Bianca Nerini returns as an investigation into a public official’s assassination pits Bianca and her friends against a backdrop of financial speculation, female assassins on motorcycles, and the Camorra—the most ruthless of Italian organized crime gangs—in Gabriel Valjan’s TURNING TO STONE, the fourth book of the highly praised Roma series.

En route to a secret meeting, Aldo Giurlani—the regional commissioner of Lombardy in northern Italy and a specialist on organized crime—is assassinated in the middle of a public square.

More mysterious is the package sent to Giurlani’s hand-picked team of five top investigators within the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), the Italian law enforcement agency that investigates illegal financial transactions, from money laundering to drug trafficking. Within the package are five copies of a book entitled Man of Smoke written by Aldo Palazzeschi.

Then there is Bianca’s tenuous online contact with a mysterious online contact known as Loki, who delivers a cryptic message to her, takes on a new twist with the appearance of a brilliant young obsessive-compulsive man who joins her team.

Complicating matters even further, old enemies and, more problematically, Alabaster’s former employer—Rendition, a murky covert U.S. government agency that does more than just investigate financial crimes—still have grudges to bear against her.

As new mysteries unfold, Bianca’s group quickly discovers that Naples might just be the most dangerous city in Italy.

Readers looking for a suspenseful thriller with mysterious twists and turns abounding will love Gabriel Valjan’s TURNING TO STONE.

Here are the first three books in the series:

ROMA, UNDERGROUND (Book #1)

Savvy forensic accountant Alabaster Black is hiding in Rome from her former employer, covert U.S. organization “Rendition.” While there under an assumed name she meets Dante, an investigator, erstwhile explorer and member of the Roma Underground, a band of amateur archaeologists who map the city beneath Rome. With Italian artifacts disappearing at an alarming rate, Alabaster and Dante search for answers and create a trap for the thieves. Through a mysterious online contact Alabaster learns she is being followed, and with her safety at risk she is forced to rethink her chosen alliances and discover hidden truths about herself.

“A provocative thriller with a riveting and surprising plot.”
—M.J. Rose, International bestseller

“...the strong, captivating heroine and an allure of conspiracy and organized crime make this novel an undoubted success.”
—Kirkus Book Reviews

“Conspiracy, double identities, car chases and espionage, all against the backdrop of magical Rome, with its great food and marvelous art history, make this an entertaining, intriguing read.”
—Blogcritics Book Reviews in Brief

WASP’S NEST (Book #2)

In the highly anticipated sequel to Roma, Underground, Bianca returns to the U.S. for her former employer, the covert organization Rendition, to investigate Cyril Sargent and Nasonia Pharmaceutical. Although ambivalent about the assignment and uneasy about her online “friend,” Loki, she is enticed into researching what Sargent is doing with insect genetics that might upset the world of cancer research and treatment. Old friends Farrugia and Gennaro uncover a twisted conspiracy from their past and join Bianca in Boston where they will experience conflicted loyalties, question allies, and confront uncertain enemies, as they’re drawn into the wasp’s nest.

“Again, Valjan successfully conflates multiple sophisticated narratives that bring the past and present together, which the archaeological theme of the last novel also helps accomplish . . . Black is back and just as entertaining as ever.”
—Kirkus Book Reviews

“…a compelling reading, action-packed and with intriguing characters. The plot had plenty of twists and turns, some surprising secrets, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing until the very end.”
—The Book Junkie

THREADING THE NEEDLE (Book #3)

Milan. Bianca’s curiosity gets a young university student murdered, but not before he gives her a file that details a secret weapon under development with defense contractor Adastra. Guilt may drive her to find justice for the slain Charlie Brooks, but she is warned by the mysterious Loki to stay away from this case that runs deep with conspiracy. Bianca must find a way to uncover government secrets and corporate alliances without returning Italy to one of its darkest hours, the decades of daily terrorism known as the “Years of Lead.”

“It is even more to Gabriel Valjan’s credit that with Threading the Needle he, as an American, was nonetheless capable of unusual insight into the Misteri Italiani, the Italian Mysteries, without taking any prejudicial standpoint, one way or the other, or putting the blame on anyone, but rather inviting readers to judge for themselves.”
—Claudio Ferrara, Italian journalist and translator

“But after the first few pages, I knew I was committed to the end of the book ... and would be reading the two earlier books…Characters, plot, ideas, background: In Threading the Needle, Valjan weaves it all into an international crime novel worth the read.
—Beth Kannell of Kingdom Books, a specialty mystery bookshop in northeastern Vermont.

Buy the books here: 

Amazon

About the Author:

Gabriel Valjan lives in New England, but has traveled extensively, receiving his undergraduate education in California and completing graduate school in England. Ronan Bennett short-listed him for the 2010 Fish Short Story Prize for his Boston noir, Back in the Day. His short stories and poetry have appeared in literary journals and online magazines.


Connect with the author: Website   ~  Twitter   ~  Facebook

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