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| This page contains synopses of my novels, and links to my UK publisher Headline and my US publisher Bantam Dell. In addition, my books have appeared in more than 100 editions in 29 languages, and these will appear on a separate page on this website with links to all of my publishers internationally. | ||
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THE MASK OF TROY - Greece, 1876. Fresh from his discovery of Bronze Age Troy, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann travels to Mycenae to excavate the citadel of King Agamemnon. One night digging in secret he and his wife Sophia make an astonishing discovery, an ancient symbol they have seen before at Troy – a symbol that will come to have terrifying new meaning with the rise of fascism in Europe. It is the key to a revelation that Schliemann will share with the most powerful among his supporters, those who can shape history – but has he left it too late? Germany, 1945. The liberation of a concentration camp reveals a deadly secret, concealed along with priceless antiquities and art stolen by the Nazis. Schliemann’s treasure is implicated in a terrifying final decree, issued straight from the Führer himself. Troy, present-day. Marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his team excavate a Bronze Age war galley, perhaps the ship of Agamemnon himself. Meanwhile at Troy their colleague Maurice Hiebermeyer is on the verge of a remarkable discovery beneath the citadel. Jack begins to realize that they are on the trail not only of Agamemnon, but of Schliemann and the truth of his discoveries – a mystery that will take them to the worst horrors of the Second World War, and to a legacy of the Nazis that could threaten global catastrophe on an unimaginable scale. The story takes Jack and his friend Costas from the thrill of new discoveries at Troy to a perilous dive in a flooded mine in search of Nazi plunder. On the way they learn that others have been on the trail of Schliemann’s treasures, and the sinister weapon that may still lie concealed – not only those who would continue to follow Hitler’s decree but also a new and far more deadly foe who would do anything to acquire weapons of mass destruction. For Jack the quest becomes personal when a kidnapping forces him to confront his own capacity for violence and retribution. The Mask of Troy is about war and its worst excesses, about a legacy from the distant past - about one man’s attempt to use the revelations of archaeology to prevent the looming horror of war in the 20th century, and another’s attempt to ensure that the worst legacy of that war is kept concealed for all time. |
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THE TIGER WARRIOR - Central Asia, 19 BC. A desperate band of Roman legionaries stop beside a lake shore, unimaginably far from home. They have escaped after many years of imprisonment by the Parthians, and are following a story of riches over the eastern horizon in China, the legendary Land of Gold. They capture a Sogdian trader coming from the east, and what he was carrying falls into the hands of one of the legionaries, Licinius. It is a treasure beyond belief, the fabled celestial jewel stolen from the tomb of the First Emperor of China. Licinius leaves the others and turns south through towering mountain passes into the immensity of India, chased by a terrifying foe who had been on the trail of the Sogdian and will do everything to get the jewel back – the fabled Tiger Warrior. Southern India, 1879. Lieutenant John Howard and his soldiers confront a tribal uprising deep in the jungle. They witness appalling acts of human sacrifice, and Howard is forced to do something so horrific it changes him forever. But in the jungle, he and a fellow officer make an astonishing discovery, one that almost defies sense – the tomb of a Roman legionary. They tell no one, but nurture a secret that will lead them years later on a final quest into the forbidding mountains of Afghanistan. Egypt, present-day. Marine archaeologist Jack Howard discovers a Roman treasure wreck in the Red Sea, containing thousands of gold coins destined for the Indian spice trade. Meanwhile his colleague Maurice Hiebermeyer has discovered fragments of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, an ancient Egyptian merchant’s guide. The text reveals something previously unknown, an astonishing account of escaped Roman legionaries who had gone east, one of them named Licinius … Jack travels to the excavation of a Roman port in southern India, where he seizes the chance to follow up on the trail of his great-great-grandfather John Howard. Along with Costas and their Indian colleague Pradesh they battle Maoist rebels to visit a jungle shrine, where they make an astonishing discovery – that it had once been a Roman tomb. Jack realizes that the trail of his ancestor and the clues to the Roman legionaries are threads of the same story, one that leads him on a quest into the heart of Central Asia. At the lake of Issyk-Gul in Kyrgystan Jack and Costas meet their old colleague Katya, who reveals a Latin inscription she has found at an ancient site on the Silk Route, and something that raises the stakes to a deadly new level – the shocking truth about the brotherhood of the Tiger, and their centuries-old quest to return the jewel to its rightful place in the tomb of the First Emperor, a quest that began when Licinius took the jewel and continues to the present day. In a remote fastness in the fabled lapis lazuli mines of Afghanistan, Jack finally confronts the truth about his ancestor’s fate and comes face to face with their foe – a deadly modern warrior Jack must destroy if he is to escape the mines and save the lives of his team, and prevent the jewel from falling into the hands of those who would use its power to rule the world. To read an excerpt, click here |
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THE LAST GOSPEL (UK) / THE LOST TOMB (US) - Herculaneum, AD 79. In one of the best-kept secrets of history, the former Roman emperor Claudius lives on after faking his death, hidden away in a villa beneath Mount Vesuvius completing the historical works that were his passion. He has one last story to tell – the story of a visit he made as a young man to Galilee, and of a life-changing encounter with a man he met there. It is a story Claudius has only told his friend Pliny. But before he can reveal it to the world, both men die in the eruption of Vesuvius. Sicily, present-day. Marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his team are excavating the long-lost shipwreck of St Paul. But then Jack’s colleague Maurice Hiebermeyer calls to tell him of an astounding discovery he has made at Herculaneum, in the Villa of the Papyri - a discovery that could change the picture of the foundations of Christianity. Somewhere is a lost document that may contain what two thousand years of believers have yearned for, the written words of the messiah himself … The quest takes Jack and Costas from Herculaneum to underground Rome and London, where they dive in some of the worst places imaginable in search of ancient clues. It leads them to the burial place of an ancient British queen from the dawn of the Christian era, and to one of the most exciting discoveries they have ever made – a lost tomb of staggering importance in the very heart of ancient Jerusalem. Along the way Jack begins to piece together another story, of another person who had been on this trail at the time of the First World War, and who had left clues in a remote monastery in California. Jack learns that their quest has struck at the heart of a conflict as old as Christianity itself - a conflict with those who fear any revelation that might upset the authority of the Church. And Jack must confront his own past – his former lover Elizabeth, an archaeologist who had abruptly left him years before and returned to her home in Naples, attempts to reveal the truth about her departure and about those who would murder to stop Jack in his quest. And just as he is reeling with the knowledge that they have a daughter, Jack realizes he must confront a conspiracy whose web stretches to the highest levels of international power – and he will have to risk everything to confront a shadowy brotherhood determined to fulfill their murderous vows. To read an excerpt, click here |
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CRUSADER GOLD - Rome, AD 71. The emperor Vespasian watches in triumph as the greatest looted treasure of all time is paraded through Rome - the fabulous golden menorah from the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The menorah is then locked away, seemingly disappearing forever from history. Turkey, present-day. Marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his team are excavating in the harbour of Istanbul, searching for treasures thrown into the sea when the Crusaders pillaged Constantinople in 1204. They find works of art brought from Rome when Constantinople became the new capitol of the Empire. Meanwhile, in Hereford Cathedral in England, Jack’s colleagues Jeremy and Maria discover a lost map that charts Norse exploration of the New World. Astonishingly, the map mentions Harald Hardrada, the Viking warrior who had been chief of the emperor’s bodyguard at Constantinople, and had supposedly died years later in 1066 attempting to conquer England. Even more remarkable was the shape of an object drawn on the map. Jack begins to piece together an astounding possibility – that the ancient rumours were true, that the menorah had been taken secretly from Rome to Constantinople, but that it had been stolen yet again, this time by one of history’s greatest warriors, and that Hardrada had taken the treasure on an astonishing voyage beyond the western edge of the known world … What Jack does not know is that others have been on the same quest, from Nazis seeking the greatest Jewish symbol to dark forces from within the Vatican. Jack learns more in a monastery off the windswept shore of Scotland, where a gruesome murder raises the stakes even higher. What follows is a thrilling but lethal chase, as they follow the path of a group of Vikings across the Atlantic to Greenland and Newfoundland, and then on a voyage down the coast to the terrifying heartland of the Mayan civilization, to a last stand against the only warriors who could strike fear into the hearts of the Vikings. Along the way Jack has some of his most exhilarating underwater adventures ever, diving into the core of an iceberg and then in the underground cenotes of the Yucatan jungle. He comes close to the spirit of Hardrada, and to the dark forces who ensure that the stakes for Jack and Costas are as deadly as they were for a desperate band of warriors almost a thousand years before … To read an excerpt, click here |
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ATLANTIS - Egypt, 584 BC. In the deepest recess of an ancient temple, the Greek traveller Solon is told something extraordinary by an old priest. Solon writes it down on papyrus, but on the way home is robbed and beaten, losing all memory of his visit. Egypt, present-day. Maurice Hiebermeyer and his assistant Aysha are excavating a necropolis in the Fayum oasis. They find a fragment of papyrus reused as mummy wrapping, inscribed with an astonishing word in Greek – a word that sets Hiebermeyer’s pulse racing. Meanwhile, in the Aegean Sea, marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his friend Costas Kazantzakis from the International Maritime University are on board the research ship Seaquest, excavating a fabulous Bronze Age shipwreck. They find a golden disk, with a mysterious symbol on it. Jack receives a call from his old friend Hiebermeyer. The symbol is the same as one on the papyrus. They realize they are on the trail of one of the greatest mysteries of all time – the lost civilization of Atlantis. The story takes Jack and his team on an exhilarating quest back to the dawn of civilization and into the forbidding depths of the Black Sea. They are joined by Katya Svetlanova, a Khazak scholar who knows a dark secret about their destination. They search an area where the Ice Age sea level had been lower, and discover an astonishing citadel dating back to the time of the earliest Neolithic. But Jack could never have imagined what else awaited him in the depths. Years before, a Soviet nuclear submarine had been lost in the area. Other have tried to find it, but failed. Now they are up against a ruthless adversary - Aslan, a former art history professor turned warlord, and Katya’s father. The search for Atlantis is not just one of the most extraordinary archaeological adventures of all time – it becomes a battle to prevent global nuclear catastrophe. Over 800,000 copies of Atlantis sold To read an excerpt, click here |
| copyright © 2010 David Gibbins contact@davidgibbins.com |
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