Synopsis

MULTIPLE AWARD WINNER!  For years, rumors have circulated of secrets hidden within the “forbidden books” in a Prague monastery. This is the chilling story of Dan Lovel and partner, Martine, who discover one of those secrets – one so fundamental, it could upend western civilization. “I can’t remember the last time I was so thoroughly engrossed.” “Utterly gripping. The reader is plunged into breathtaking action … led into the mysterious Gypsy culture.”

Dan Lovel, a former agent with the US Diplomatic Security Service, now lives off the grid recovering stolen art and destroying counterfeits. A week before Christmas, Dan receives a cryptic request from Astrid Desmarais, a World Bank executive whose life he once saved. “Please meet me.” With the note is a reservation for him at the Ritz Carlton on Grand Cayman Island.

Intrigued, Dan meets Astrid and learns that she wants him to steal four of the forbidden books locked in one of Prague’s monasteries. She believes the books will identify art expropriated by Napoleon (and now housed in the Louvre), and she intends to have the art returned to its rightful owners. Dan balks, but Astrid convinces him by playing on the art thefts and atrocities his Gypsy and Jewish ancestors suffered in Nazi Germany. She then reveals that there might be a fifth book and her daughter Martine, who works in the Louvre, must accompany him.

In the monastery, after closing hours, Dan and Martine have just grabbed the books when they are discovered. They escape into the night, dodging monks in hot pursuit. Seeking refuge in a Gypsy community near the German border, they gain a few hours. But a firefight erupts, forcing them to leave. All the while a shadowy figure tracks them as they make their way to Paris. Powerful forces want that book …

When Dan discovers the shocking truth of the fifth volume, he realizes it could ignite global chaos and even nuclear war. To prevent this, he must return to the life he tried to bury and face decisions that tear at his soul.

Reminiscent of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, and Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity, EX LIBRIS is a pulse-pounding thriller of worldwide peril that will haunt your thoughts long after you have turned the last page.