Vendetta by Catherine Doyle

Vendetta is written by the popular author of The dagger and the flame and The Twin Crown series. It was first published in 2015 and republished in 2025 with an appealing new cover – and it has stood the test of time. Sophie’s summer holidays working at her uncle’s diner are much more interesting when five handsome Italian boys come to live in the old Priestley mansion. Sparks fly when she meets Nic, but secrets about the Falcone family and Sophie’s own past mean that their Romeo and Juliet romance could be doomed. Nic is part of a Mafia clan and Sophie’s father is in prison.

This is a story that readers will want to stay up to finish, and then beg for Inferno, the next in the series. Doyle gradually builds up the tension as Sophie cannot work out why she is being warned away from the Falcone family by both her dodgy uncle and the boys in the family. Some readers will be frustrated by Sophie’s inability to work out what is happening but the truth is gradually revealed and the gripping closing section of the book makes up for her incomprehension.

Doyle’s clever narrative and plotting bring Sophie’s world to life. The themes of revenge, an eye for an eye and the beliefs of the brothers, brought up with a Mafia code, make for an intriguing story and the romance will entice readers to find the next book in the series.

Themes: Murder, Romance, Thriller, Mafia.

Pat Pledger