The Babylon Rite

the long version

What terrible secret has driven the world's foremost historian of the Knights Templar to kill himself? Journalist Adam Blackwood has just been handed the story of a lifetime: something is hidden in the famous Knights Templar chapel of Rosslyn that could unlock the greatest mystery of the medieval Templars---until the one man who could decipher the final clue commits a grotesque suicide. Adam sets out to learn why. In Peru, anthropologist Jess Silverton is researching the remnants of the Moche, a bloodthirsty, sexually voracious, lost Stone Age civilization. Amid the toxic turmoil of local gangs and corrupt politicians, her dogged pursuit for answers will lead Jess to cross paths with Adam as they unearth the ancient secret that enthralled the conquistadors, horrified the Church, and is threatening to reemerge---with catastrophic consequences.