"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.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Dustin Thomason's 12.21.

"Profoundly erudite . . . the ultimate puzzle-book."-The New York Times Book Review