August Adams can't escape the mysteries and dangers surrounding rare books. Kill them all. God will recognize his own. These words werespoken at the dawn of the 1209 Cathar Crusade, a war devised to wipeout the most widespread heresy in Europe. But the Cathars held asecret--a mysterious book they kept in hiding. Now it's 2009. August Adams wakes in a pool of blood that isn't his.Without a chance to seek answers, he immediately faces his greatestchallenge: a serial killer who seems to select his victims at random.As the clues build, and as August begins to uncover the unbelievabletruth, he finds himself neck-deep in a conspiracy that spans centuries.Soon, everything and everyone he loves is in the killer's crosshairs,with no escape in sight. The chase leads from the dark catacombs of a mysterious New Yorkmuseum to the ancient battleground of a legendary French castle. WhatAugust discovers could set history on a bold new course . . . or sendit down a path of destruction.