The Fifth Gospel: A Novel

The Fifth Gospel: A Novel

Instant New York Times Bestseller

â€œMasterful...The Fifth Gospel is that rare story: erudite and a page-turner, literary but compulsively readable. It will change the way you look at organized religion, humanity, and perhaps yourself.â€ â€”David Baldacci

â€œA gripping thriller rich with human drama and forbidden knowledge.â€ â€”Lev Grossman

A lost gospel, a contentious relic, and a dying popeâ€™s final wish converge to send two brothersâ€”both Vatican priestsâ€”on an intellectual quest to untangle Christianityâ€™s greatest historical mystery.

Ten years ago, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomasonâ€™s The Rule of Four became a literary phenomenon that sold nearly two million copies in North America and was hailed by critics as â€œingeniousâ€¦profoundly eruditeâ€ (The New York Times), â€œcompulsively readableâ€ (People), and â€œan exceptional piece of scholarshipâ€ (San Francisco Chronicle). Now, after a decade of painstaking primary research, Ian Caldwell returns with a masterful new thriller that confirms his place among the most ambitious popular storytellers working today.

In 2004, as Pope John Paul IIâ€™s reign enters its twilight, a mysterious exhibit is under construction at the Vatican Museums. A week before it is scheduled to open, its curator is murdered at a clandestine meeting on the outskirts of Rome. That same night, a violent break-in rocks the home of the curatorâ€™s research partner, Father Alex Andreou, a Greek Catholic priest who lives inside the Vatican with his five-year-old son. When the papal police fail to identify a suspect in either crime, Father Alex, desperate to keep his family safe, undertakes his own investigation. To find the killer he must reconstruct the dead curatorâ€™s secret: what the four Christian gospelsâ€”and a little-known, true-to-life fifth gospel known as the Diatessaronâ€”reveal about the Churchâ€™s most controversial holy relic. But just as he begins to understand the truth about his friendâ€™s death and its consequences for the future of the worldâ€™s two largest Christian Churches, Father Alex finds himself hunted down by someone with a vested stake in the exhibitâ€”someone he must outwit to survive.

At once a riveting intellectual thriller, a feast of biblical history and scholarship, and a moving family drama, The Fifth Gospel is â€œa story of sacrifice, forgiveness, and redemption. Peppered with references to real-life people, places, and events, the narrative rings true, taking the reader on an emotional journey nearly two thousand years in the makingâ€ (Library Journal, starred review).
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2015-03-03
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781451694147

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2015-03-03
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781451694147

The Fifth Gospel: A Novel

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