Weaving together science and history, religion and myth, then covering it all in a high-concept thriller is Knox's field of play in this new novel. From the author of The Genesis Secret comes a dark fable based on a young man inheriting one million dollars from an apparently penniless grandfather. Six thousand miles away in Europe, men and women are succumbing to hideous executions while an English scientist simply disappears from his laboratory. Tying these disparate events together is an ancient Biblical curse.

Sound confusing? It is. But the author unravels everything and lays it out in an engaging and mesmerizing page-turner. Here is how the tale begins:

Simon Quinn was listening to a young man describe how he'd sliced off his own thumb.

"And that," said the man, "was the beginning of the end. I mean, cutting off your thumb, with a knife, that's not nothing, is it? That's serious sh-t. Cutting your own thumb off. Fu--ed my bowling."