“One part The Da Vinci Code, one part The Name of the Rose and one part A Separate Peace . . . a smart, swift, multitextured tale that both entertains and informs.”—San Francisco Chronicle
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two friends are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets—to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it.
As the deadline looms, research has stalled—until a vital clue is unearthed: a long-lost diary that may prove to be the key to deciphering the ancient text. But when a longtime student of the book is murdered just hours later, a chilling cycle of deaths and revelations begins—one that will force Tom and Paul into a fiery drama, spun from a book whose power and meaning have long been misunderstood.
“Profoundly erudite . . . the ultimate puzzle-book.”—The New York Times Book Review
Good book! I was a little skeptical, because there was a lot of buzz about this book, comparing it to The Da Vinci Code, but I was pleased with it. The only real comparison I saw was that it deals with art and such in the Renaissance. My only complaint is that they weren’t real clear on some of the time transitions, and somewhere in the middle I lost track of the timeline. I wasn’t sure if I was in the present or the past. But overall, quite interesting!
