#1 New York Times Bestseller - #1 Wall Street Journal
Bestseller
From Daniel Silva, the internationally acclaimed #1 New York Times
bestselling author, comes a riveting new thriller featuring art restorer
and legendary spy Gabriel Allon.
It was nearly one a.m. by the time he crawled into bed. Chiara was
reading a novel, oblivious to the television, which was muted. On the
screen was a live shot of St. Peter's Basilica. Gabriel raised the
volume and learned that an old friend had died ...
Gabriel Allon has slipped quietly into Venice for a much-needed holiday
with his wife and two young children. But when Pope Paul VII dies
suddenly, Gabriel is summoned to Rome by the Holy Father's loyal private
secretary, Archbishop Luigi Donati. A billion Catholic faithful have
been told that the pope died of a heart attack. Donati, however, has two
good reasons to suspect his master was murdered. The Swiss Guard who was
standing watch outside the papal apartments the night of the pope's
death is missing. So, too, is the letter the Holy Father was writing
during the final hours of his life. A letter that was addressed to
Gabriel.
While researching in the Vatican Secret Archives, I came upon a most
remarkable book ...
The book is a long-suppressed gospel that calls into question the
accuracy of the New Testament's depiction of one of the most portentous
events in human history. For that reason alone, the Order of St. Helena
will stop at nothing to keep it out of Gabriel's hands. A shadowy
Catholic society with ties to the European far right, the Order is
plotting to seize control of the papacy. And it is only the beginning.
As the cardinals gather in Rome for the start of the conclave, Gabriel
sets out on a desperate search for proof of the Order's conspiracy, and
for a long-lost gospel with the power to put an end to two thousand
years of murderous hatred. His quest will take him from the Ponte
Vecchio in Florence, to a monastery in Assisi, to the hidden depths of
the Secret Archives, and finally to the Sistine Chapel, where he will
witness an event no outsider has ever before seen--the sacred passing of
the Keys of St. Peter to a newly elected pope.
Swiftly paced and elegantly rendered, The Order will hold readers
spellbound, from its opening passages to its breathtaking final twist of
plot. It is a novel of friendship and faith in a perilous and uncertain
world. And it is still more proof that Daniel Silva is his generation's
finest writer of suspense and international intrigue.
