First published 2006
FBI agent Sean Reilly watches four men dressed as medieval Templars charge into the Metropolitan Museum's Vatican treasures exhibition. The attackers kill security guards and steal an ancient decoder before vanishing into the New York night. Archaeologist Tess Chaykin witnessed the bloody heist and joins Reilly's investigation. Their search for the killers uncovers connections to a mystery stretching back seven centuries. In 1291, Templar knights fled the burning city of Acre aboard the Falcon Temple, carrying a mysterious chest entrusted to them by their Grand Master. The ship disappeared without trace. Now Reilly and Chaykin race across three continents, pursued by ruthless killers who will stop at nothing to claim the Templar secret. The hunt leads them toward the final resting place of the Falcon Temple and answers to questions that have remained buried since the fall of the last Crusader stronghold.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, archaeology, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Metropolitan Museum, New York, Acre
Period: 1291, 21st Century
431 pages · The House of Books