Product Description

In the powerful new thriller from the author of the international bestseller The Last Templar, a geneticist and a CIA agent on a deadly quest to find the most dangerous book in the world discover a secret that has destroyed everyone in its path for centuries

Naples, 1750. In the dead of night, three men with swords burst into the palazzo of a marquis. Their leader, the Prince of San Severo, accuses the marquis of being an imposter, and demands to know a secret only the marquis harbors. In the fight that ensues, the false marquis escapes over the rooftops of Naples, leaving behind a burning palazzo and a raging prince now obsessed with finding his quarry at any cost.

Baghdad, 2003. An army unit on a routine mission makes a horrifying discovery: a state- of-the-art, concealed lab where dozens—men, women, children—have died, the subjects of gruesome experiments. The mysterious scientist they were after, a man believed to be working on a bioweapon and known only as the hakeem—the doctor—escapes, taking with him the startling truth about his work. 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 the centuries of destruction left in its wake, one unsuspecting woman stands at the center of a conspiracy that could change the world forever. In the masterful hands of international bestseller Raymond Khoury, The Sanctuary delivers the same rapid-fire suspense and provocative scholarship that made The Last Templar a coast-to-coast blockbuster.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #176182 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

From AudioFile
If not for the silky smooth voice of Richard Ferrone, this would be just another story about the search for a long buried secret artifact and the eruption of life-changing consequences. Ferrone, a master craftsman when it comes to scene changes, shifts in an instant from the excitement of the chase to outright suspense. In this mostly predictable tale, you have the inevitable Middle East connection, the race against time with the villains, the evil doctor, and the disclosure of the prize. But at very least, you have a narrator who never misses a beat and generates more than enough excitement to last to the end. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Here is one of those novels that spans centuries, interweaves stories from past and present, and involves a brave hero trying to uncover the truth behind an ancient conspiracy that unnamed individuals will kill to protect. It's hardly a new premise, but here's the good thing: in Khoury's hands, it feels fresh and exciting again. When archaeology professor Evelyn Bishop is kidnapped, her daughter, Mia, vows to find her and to find the secret behind the artifacts that apparently led to Evelyn's abduction. Her odyssey takes her into unexpected corners of history, quickly putting her own life at risk. The action takes place mostly in Iraq but also journeys to eighteenth-century Italy and present-day Lebanon. The large cast of characters includes plenty of villainous types, including "the hakeem," a doctor whose grisly medical experiments seem linked to a centuries-old mystery. There are dozens of ways this novel could have collapsed under its own narrative weight, but Khoury makes the conspiracy feel utterly believable and imbues his characters with infectious passion for finding the truth. A surefire hit with fans of conspiracy-based historical thrillers. Pitt, David

About the Author
Raymond Khoury is the bestselling author of The Last Templar, which topped international bestseller lists at #1 and spent more than three months on the New York Times bestseller list in hardcover. Khoury is also an acclaimed screenwriter and producer for both television and film.

Customer Reviews

Drags on, and on, and ONNNNNN...
I did NOT like this book - too coppy and no explanations of how any; of the many plot changes rally occur.

When you've already seen the inflight movie.
Two and a half stars would be more like it. Wanted to like this book and thought that it got off to a brisk start. Characters didn't develop over the course of 460 pages, so much as suddenly lurch into a whole new direction. The role of lead protagonist keeps shifting from one character to another so that ultimately there is no real focus or emotional connection.

Author goes to a great effort to create a detestable arch-villain, capable of horrific crimes, but the character is dispatched quickly at the end, with no real commitment by the author to address or "rescue" the victims.

Great historical detail about some little known periods of Near East history and cultural developments, but some read as if the author was preparing an article for the Britannica. Moves quickly as a page turner, but at the end comes across as ho-hum, so what.

More real then most readers could imagine.
I first want to say to the other readers who said it's dull and over the top and not believable that it is very real. I know this because I am a Canadian living in Lebanon. My house is on the borders between christians and muslims and I was here during the 2006 war and all the assasinations. Alot of writing in the book is so real for me because I see and hear about awful things happening here that you wouldn't believe. When he rights about the terrorists who kidnap Evelyn, it is so true that there are people like that out here in the middle east. I think people have to have more of an imagination to read this book and know that Raymond is Lebanese and lived here during the civil war and knows alot about what goes down here. I was surprised that people didn't like it.
I think only people who have lived in the middle east could understand this book. Thumbs Up from me.