by Yi'en Kedewei & Dasiting Tangmaxun zhu (2006)
"Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may 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 an ancient diary surfaces. What Tom and Paul discover inside shocks even them: proof that the location of a hidden crypt has been ciphered within the pages of the obscure Renaissance text." "Armed with this final clue, the two friends delve into the bizarre world of the Hypnerotomachia - a world of forgotten erudition, strange sexual appetites, and terrible violence. But just as they begin to realize the magnitude of their discovery, Princeton's snowy campus is rocked: a longtime student of the book is murdered, shot dead in the hushed halls of the history department."--BOOK JACKET.
Michael Simmons
Suspecting that his father's business partner is selling smallpox virus to terrorists and murdering anyone who gets in his way, sixteen-year-old Evan Macalister once again travels to France with his friends, Ruben and Erika, to search for the mysterious Lubchenko, the elusive spymaster whose help they need to avert a major disaster.
Robert Ferrigno
In a near-future world decimated by nuclear bombs, the Islamic-occupied nations that once comprised the United States struggle with religious fundamentalism, while retired shadow warrior Rakkim Epps endeavors to unite the Islamic Republic with the Bible Belt.
John Love
The future is a dangerous place. Keeping the world stable and peaceful when competing corporate interests and nation-states battle for power, wealth, and prestige has only gotten harder over the years. But that's the United Nations' job. So the UN has changed along with the rest of the world. When the UN's "soft" diplomacy fails, it has harder options. Quiet, scalpel-like options: The Dead--biologically enhanced secret operatives created by the UN to solve the problems no one else can. Anwar Abbas is one of The Dead. When the Controller-General of the UN asks him to perform a simple bodyguard mission, he's insulted and resentful: mere bodyguard work is a waste of his unique abilities. But he takes the job, because to refuse it would be unthinkable. Anwar is asked to protect Olivia del Sarto, the host of an important upcoming UN conference. Olivia is head of the world's fastest-growing church, but in her rise to power she has made enemies: shadowy enemies with apparently limitless resources. Anwar is one of the deadliest people on earth, but her enemies have something which kills people like him. And they've sent it for her. It's out there, unstoppable and untraceable, getting closer as the conference approaches. As he and Olivia ignite a torrid affair, Anwar must uncover the conspiracy that threatens to destroy her, the UN, and even The Dead.
Jack O'Connell
Former police officer Gilrein of Massachusetts searches for the killer of his wife, also a police officer. He discovers she was investigating police corruption involving a chief. By the author of The Skin Palace.