After centuries of destruction, one unsuspecting woman stands at the center of a conspiracy that could change the world forever.

Portugal, 1705. In the dungeons of a Templar castle, a dying old man bequeaths an ancient, half-burnt book to his young inquisitor. Keeping one step ahead of those who would kill to wrench the book's secret from his hands, the inquisitor turns his back on his calling and sets off on an impossible journey to complete the old man's quest.
 
Baghdad, 2003. Hunting for a mysterious bioweapon scientist, an army unit discovers a concealed state-of-the-art lab where gruesome experiments have been carried out on men, women, and children. The scientist escapes, but a puzzling clue is left behind: a circular symbol of a snake feeding on its own tail.
 
As the power of the symbol comes to light, revealing centuries of destruction left in its wake, a woman desperate for answers holds the fate of the world in her hands...

Published
August 21, 2007
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Additional book details

Author

Raymond Khoury

Well, since you asked… I was born in Beirut, and lived there until the civil war broke out when I was 14. My parents, in a noble effort to keep us alive into adulthood, wisely moved us to Rye, NY. I stayed there until I graduated from Rye Country Day School, then, intent on thwarting my parents’ nurturing instincts, I decided to go back to Lebanon to study architecture at the American University of Beirut. Which, in hindsight, wasn’t as nutty a decision as you might think. Those years, marred by repeated flare-ups of fighting and a couple of invasions, were emotionally taxing, harrowing, sometimes dangerous, often maddeningly frustrating,…