Overview
They have been drawn into a plot more insidious than anything they could have imagined—a battle to control one of religion’s greatest secrets. For English detective Nigel Lyman, it begins with the suspicious suicide of a corrupt Italian banker in London. For French-born Mariane Soury-Fontaine, it starts with the mysterious disappearance of her lover. And for American mathematician Joseph Koster, the search leads through France’s soaring cathedrals to the baffling labyrinths that masons once carefully inscribed in their floors.These strangers are about to crack a code that dozens have died for, a puzzle whose power reaches back to the birth of the Christian faith, through the echoing halls of the Vatican, and to the dark, corrupt realms of organized crime. Now staying alive is the ultimate challenge. Because the next revelation is the most forbidden of all . . .
Synopsis
They have been drawn into a plot more insidious than anything they could have imagined—a battle to control one of religion’s greatest secrets. For English detective Nigel Lyman, it begins with the suspicious suicide of a corrupt Italian banker in London. For French-born Mariane Soury-Fontaine, it starts with the mysterious disappearance of her lover. And for American mathematician Joseph Koster, the search leads through France’s soaring cathedrals to the baffling labyrinths that masons once carefully inscribed in their floors.
These strangers are about to crack a code that dozens have died for, a puzzle whose power reaches back to the birth of the Christian faith, through the echoing halls of the Vatican, and to the dark, corrupt realms of organized crime. Now staying alive is the ultimate challenge. Because the next revelation is the most forbidden of all . . .
Library Journal
Sandom's masterful first novel, based on a true incident, spins a complicated web of corruption, greed, and deception that connects international banking, high Vatican officials, notorious fascist scoundrels, and the London police. Detective Inspector Nigel Lyman falls heir to the reopened case of an Italian banker's suicide on Blackfriar's Bridge; he soon finds himself in Amiens, France, deeply involved in the search for a lost Gnostic gospel that could topple the Church. By turns contemplative, descriptive, and emotive, this mixture of mystery and intrigue reveals intense preparation and fine writing.