When investment banker Lazzaro de Medici is found dead, Professor of Biblical Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago Aiden Leonardo is the prime suspect. In possession of an encrypted letter given to him by Lazzaro, Aiden utilizes his extensive knowledge of Scripture to piece together clues that lead to a Lost Bible dating back to the time of Christ.
Hidden within the text is an ancient truth about the most controversial message Jesus left to His disciples. But as Aiden embarks on his quest to unravel the mystery of redemption and faith, a secret organization known only as The Group hunts him down to destroy the Lost Bible and tie up loose ends.
With the help of his fiancé Dr. Miriam Levin—a cultural anthropologist and a professor of historical archaeology in her own right, their friend Nagi, a philologist, religious historian and an eccentric cryptographer, Aiden soon realizes the Lost Bible was written by the only disciple who walked with Jesus and had his gospel omitted from Scripture.
Things are further complicated when a mysterious stranger warns Aiden that possessing the secret of heaven could cost him his life. Pursued by the F.B.I. for the ancient Black market relic and the Chicago PD in connection to the murder of Lazzaro de Medici, Aiden races against the clock to prove his innocence and fulfill his mentor’s dying wish.
Expose the secret of heaven…
Targeted Age Group:: 18+
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
One afternoon during a slow start of shift, while at work in 911 Police dispatch, I perused articles online and came across a few articles about a lost bible found by the Turkish government on the Mediterranean Sea.
During their attempt to prevent an arms deal on the Black market to prevent weapons of mass destruction from ending up in the hands of terrorists, they found a cache of relics that belonged in museums.
Among their findings was a lost bible dating back to the time of Christ that was purportedly written by one of Jesus' disciples, but it correlated the Islamic view of Jesus as a prophet and not a deity.
The Vatican requested to review the relic, so the Turkish government transported it to Rome with a police escort, because it had been valued at $25-million Euro. Shortly thereafter, the Pope stepped down for medical reasons, which caused quite a stir.
An Islamic cleric then spoke out about the incident, citing that in 2,000 years a pope NEVER stepped down for medical reasons, and added that the Catholic church has rituals in place for when a pope dies in office. A pope must serve for the remainder of his life.
Given that I had been raised Catholic, I was familiar with this rule and my curiosity had been piqued even further.
The cleric later went on to postulate that the real reason the pope stepped down was because he had read the lost bible and could no longer–in good conscience–lead a church that had been predicated on a lie.
Having studied religions for the past 25 years, I found the sequence of events to be quite fascinating!
So, upon reading these articles, I thought to myself: "There is a novel here!"
