An obsession to find an ancient book that many believe doesn’t exist lies at the centre of this jigsaw puzzle of a novel. Complex, intriguing and slow to build, it unfolds the mystery alongside a marriage falling apart and a deep love of books. Interestingly the publishers have made it look very like The Da Vinci Code when it’s not even a thriller. Mystery, yes, a novel of reactions and relationships, but there is no thrust of excitement. It’s more Name of the Rose than Dan Brown.
A LONG-LOST LIBRARY. A PRICELESS MANUSCRIPT. A DEADLY SECRET ... About to depart on his first vacation in years, Edward Wozny, a hot-shot young banker, is sent to help one of his firms most important and mysterious clients. When asked to un-crate and organise a personal library of rare books, Edward's indignation turns to intrigue as he realises that among the volumes there may be hidden a unique medieval codex, a treasure kept sealed away for many years and for many reasons.
Edward's intrigue becomes an obsession that only deepens as friends draw him into a peculiar and addictive computer game, as mystifying parallels between the game's virtual reality and the legend of the codex emerge …
Lev Grossman is a novelist and Time magazine's book critic. A graduate of Harvard and Yale, he has written articles for the New York Times, Salon, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York and the Village Voice. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
