The Templar Legacy

Berry, Steve

ISBN 10: 0739332015 ISBN 13: 9780739332016

Publisher: Random House, 2006

Synopsis

The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost. But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was–and its true nature could change the modern world.

Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts–and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind.

It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who’s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she’s not alone. Competing for the historic prize–and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses–is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command.

Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world–and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

Review

'A major twist midway through the story . . . the puzzles are so much fun . . . radical thinking of the Gospels that's sure to spark some lively debate . . . pretty grabby stuff' (Wall Street Journal)

'Berry's thriller . . . is not to be missed. Anagrams and complicated symbology abound, and comparisons to The Da Vinci Code are inevitable, but Berry distinguishes himself with a complex, well-written, and extremely readable story.' (Library Journal)

'Writes with the self-assured style of a veteran' (Dan Brown on Steve Berry)

Steve Berry is a writer on the rise. (David Morrell, author of NIGHTSCAPE and CREEPERS)

Conspiracies and plots abound . . . Berry handles his thriller tradecraft skilfully, [and] his descriptions are stellar. (Booklist on THE THIRD SECRET)

Sexy, illuminating . . . my kind of thriller. (Dan Brown on THE AMBER ROOM)

International intrigue, swashbuckling action, indestructible hero from the American South. . . . Not to be missed. (Kirkus Reviews, on THE ROMANOV PROPHECY)

'Pure intrigue. Pure fun.' (Clive Cussler on Steve Berry)

'Will appeal to anyone who helped make Dan Brown a millionaire' (Publishing News)

Book Description

A New York Times megaselling author hits our shores for the first time, delivering writing which combines the mass-market appeal of Dan Brown with a thrilling ingenuity all of its own

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0739332015
• ISBN 13: 9780739332016
• Binding: Audio CD