The Rule of Four: A Novel [Paperback]

“One partThe Da Vinci Code,one partThe Name of the Roseand one partA Separate Peace. . . a smart, swift, multitextured tale that both entertains and informs.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER
 
Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two friends are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of theHypnerotomachia Poliphili,a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-oldHypnerotomachiamay 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.
 
“Profoundly erudite . . . the ultimate puzzle-book.”—The New York Times Book Review“Profoundly erudite . . . the ultimate puzzle-book.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“One partThe Da Vinci Code,one partThe Name of the Roseand one partA Separate Peace. . . a smart, swift, multitextured tale that both entertains and informs.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Ingenious . . . The real treat here is the process of discovery.”—The New York Times
 
“Compulsively readable.”—People(4 stars)
 
“If F. Scott Fitzgerald, Umberto Eco, and Dan Brown teamed up to write a novel, the result would beThe Rulel³*