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The Nostradamus prophecies / Mario Reading.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, New York : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2010Copyright date: ©2010Description: 339 pages ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780312643799 (paperback)
  • 0312643799 (paperback)
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Summary: For reader’s of Raymond Khoury’s The Last Templar, or the works of Dan Brown, this high-octane commercial thriller tells of a hunt for the lost prophecies of Nostradamus and the two men who will do anything to discover their secrets. Nostradamus wrote a thousand prophecies. Only 942 have survived. What happened to the missing quatrains? What secrets did they contain to make it necessary for them to remain hidden? And why did Nostradamus leave his daughter a sealed container in his will? These questions drive two men with very different desires. Adam Sabir is a writer desperate to revive his flagging career; Achor Bale is a member of an ancient secret society that has dedicated itself to the protection and support of the “Three Antichrists” foretold in Nostradamus’s verses—Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, and the “one still to come”...The pair embark on a terrifying chase through the ancient Romany encampments of France in a quest to locate the missing verses.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Fiction Davis (Central) Library Fiction Collection Fiction Collection READ Available T00814980
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An ancient secret...A deadly conspiracy.

For reader's of Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar, or the works of Dan Brown, this high-octane commercial thriller tells of a hunt for the lost prophecies of Nostradamus and the two men who will do anything to discover their secrets. Nostradamus wrote a thousand prophecies. Only 942 have survived. What happened to the missing quatrains? What secrets did they contain to make it necessary for them to remain hidden? And why did Nostradamus leave his daughter a sealed container in his will? These questions drive two men with very different desires. Adam Sabir is a writer desperate to revive his flagging career; Achor Bale is a member of an ancient secret society that has dedicated itself to the protection and support of the "Three Antichrists" foretold in Nostradamus's verses--Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, and the "one still to come"...The pair embark on a terrifying chase through the ancient Romany encampments of France in a quest to locate the missing verses.

For reader’s of Raymond Khoury’s The Last Templar, or the works of Dan Brown, this high-octane commercial thriller tells of a hunt for the lost prophecies of Nostradamus and the two men who will do anything to discover their secrets. Nostradamus wrote a thousand prophecies. Only 942 have survived. What happened to the missing quatrains? What secrets did they contain to make it necessary for them to remain hidden? And why did Nostradamus leave his daughter a sealed container in his will? These questions drive two men with very different desires. Adam Sabir is a writer desperate to revive his flagging career; Achor Bale is a member of an ancient secret society that has dedicated itself to the protection and support of the “Three Antichrists” foretold in Nostradamus’s verses—Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, and the “one still to come”...The pair embark on a terrifying chase through the ancient Romany encampments of France in a quest to locate the missing verses.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

1   Quartier St-Denis, Paris, Present Day     Achor Bale took no real pleasure in killing. That had long since left him. He watched the Gypsy almost fondly, as one might watch a chance acquaintance getting off an airplane. The man had been late of course. One only had to look at him to see the vanity bleeding from each pore. The 1950s moustache à la Zorro. The shiny leather jacket bought for fifty euros at the Clignancourt flea market. The scarlet see-through socks. The yellow shirt with the Prince of Wales plumes and the outsized pointed collar. The fake gold medallion with the image of Sainte Sara. The man was a dandy without taste - as recognisable to one of his own as a dog is to another dog. 'Do you have the manuscript with you?' 'What do you think I am? A fool?' Well, hardly that, thought Bale. A fool is rarely self-conscious. This man wears his venality like a badge of office. Bale noted the dilated pupils. The sheen of sweat on the handsome, razor-sharp features. The drumming of the fingers on the table. The tapping of the feet. A drug addict, then. Strange, for a Gypsy. That must be why he needed the money so badly. 'Are you Manouche or Rom? Gitan, perhaps?' 'What do you care?' 'Given your moustache, I'd say Manouche. One of Django Reinhardt's descendants, maybe?' 'My name is Samana. Babel Samana.' 'Your Gypsy name?' 'That is secret.' 'My name is Bale. No secret there.' The Gypsy's fingers increased their beat upon the table. His eyes were everywhere now - flitting across the other drinkers, testing the doors, plumbing the dimensions of the ceiling. 'How much do you want for it?' Cut straight to the chase. That was the way with a man like this. Bale watched the Gypsy's tongue dart out to moisten the thin, artificially virilised mouth. 'I want half a million euros.' 'Just so.' Bale felt a profound calmness descending upon him. Good. The Gypsy really did have something to sell. The whole thing wasn't just a come-on. 'For such a sum of money, we'd need to inspect the manuscript before purchase. Ascertain its viability.' 'And memorise it! Yes. I've heard of such things. This much I know. Once the contents are out into the open it's worthless. Its value lies in its secrecy.' 'You're so right. I'm very glad you take that position.' 'I've got someone else interested. Don't think you're the only fish in the sea.' Bale's eyes closed down on themselves. Ah. He would have to kill the Gypsy after all. Torment and kill. He was aware of the telltale twitching above his right eye. 'Shall we go and see the manuscript now?' 'I'm talking to the other man first. Perhaps you'll even bid each other up.' Bale shrugged. 'Where are you meeting him?' 'I'm not saying.' 'How do you wish to play this then?' 'You stay here. I go and talk to the other man. See if he's serious. Then I come back.' 'And if he's not? The price goes down?' 'Of course not. Half a million.' 'I'll stay here then.' 'You do that.' The Gypsy lurched to his feet. He was breathing heavily now, the sweat dampening his shirt at the neck and sternum. When he turned around Bale noticed the imprint of the chair on the cheap leather jacket. 'If you follow me, I'll know. Don't think I won't.' Bale took off his sunglasses and laid them on the table. He looked up, smiling. He had long understood the effect his freakishly clotted eyes had on susceptible people. 'I won't follow you.' The Gypsy's mouth went slack with shock. He gazed in horror at Bale's face. This man had the ia chalou - the evil eye. Babel's mother had warned him of such people. Once you saw them - once they fixed you with the stare of the basilisk - you were doomed. Somewhere, deep inside his unconscious mind, Babel Samana was acknowledging his mistake - acknowledging that he had let the wrong man into his life. 'You'll stay here?' 'Never fear. I'll be waiting for you.'   *  *  *   Babel began running as soon as he was out of the café. He would lose himself in the crowds. Forget the whole thing. What had he been thinking of? He didn't even have the manuscript. Just a vague idea of where it was. When the three ursitory had settled on Babel's pillow as a child to decide his fate, why had they chosen drugs as his weakness? Why not drink? Or women? Now O Beng had got into him and sent him this cockatrice as a punishment. Babel slowed to a walk. No sign of the gadje . Had he been imagining things? Imagining the man's malevolence? The effect of those terrible eyes? Maybe he had been hallucinating? It wouldn't be the first time he had given himself the heebie-jeebies with badly cut drugs. He checked the time on a parking meter. Okay. The second man might still be waiting for him. Perhaps he would prove more benevolent? Across the road, two prostitutes began a heated argument about their respective pitches. It was Saturday afternoon. Pimp day in St-Denis. Babel caught his reflection in a shop window. He gave himself a shaky smile. If only he could swing this deal he might even run a few girls himself. And a Mercedes. He would buy himself a cream Mercedes with red leather seats, can holders and automatic air conditioning. And get his nails manicured at one of those shops where blond payo girls in white pinafores gaze longingly at you across the table. Chez Minette was only a two-minute walk away. The least he could do would be to poke his head inside the door and check out the other man. Sting him for a down-payment - a proof of interest. Then, groaning under a mound of cash and gifts, he would go back to the camp and placate his hexi of a sister.   Copyright (c) 2009 by Mario Reading Excerpted from The Nostradamus Prophecies by Mario Reading All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

The murder in Paris of a Gypsy man who may know the whereabouts of Nostradamus's lost prophecies propels this so-so thriller, the first in a trilogy, from Nostradamus expert Reading (Nostradamus: The Top 100 Prophecies). American writer Adam Sabir, the prime murder suspect, soon finds himself on the run through France and Spain, accompanied by the dead man's sister, a Gypsy witch, in a search for prophecies left in the Gypsies' care by Nostradamus centuries earlier. In hot pursuit is Achor Bale, an assassin with "freakishly clotted eyes" who will let nothing stand in his way to secure possession of the hidden secrets and who plays stalking horse for French police captain Joris Calque, who thinks Sabir is innocent. Readers will find all the usual Da Vinci Code elements-a remorseless hunter, forgotten knowledge, ancient conspiracies, malevolent cults, a steeple chase from clue to clue. Only the atypically insightful and competent Calque offers respite from an entirely predictable variation on a familiar theme. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Already a best-seller in the UK (where its sequel, The Mayan Codex, has already been published), this fast-paced novel should appeal to fans of thrillers involving ancient mysteries and modern-day conspiracies. The premise: Nostradamus, the sixteenth-century prophet, wrote 1,000 quatrains predicting various future events, but only 942 survived. Or so history said; now it appears that the lost quatrains have resurfaced. And two very different men are hot on their trail: Adam Sabir, writer of a popular book about Nostradamus (and desperately in need of a follow-up hit), and Achor Bale, who belongs to an ancient society (guardians of the Three Antichrists prophesied by Nostradamus: Napoleon, Hitler, and their as-yet-unknown successor). This is an exciting thriller, with two well-drawn central characters and plenty of action. Reading, author of a few nonfiction books about Nostradamus, is a talented storyteller. The book is refreshingly free of the cluttered dialogue and lengthy expository passages that can bring any novel but especially one about ancient mysteries to a screeching halt. A definite winner.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A struggling writer and a mysterious assassin take opposing sides in a race to discover a lost prophecy.This European bestseller by Nostradamus expert Reading (The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus, 2009, etc.) delves deep into the history of the famous French seer. But the novel's literary merit and historical assessment don't come at the cost of suspense and action. The novel opens in Paris, where Reading's fictional doppelgngerAmerican writer Adam Sabiris chasing down a flimsy Internet lead. A gypsy con artist and drug addict named Babel is teasing Sabir that he has possession of the lost prophecies of Michel de Nostradame, who completed 942 out of a planned 1,000 quatrains of his predictions. But before Sabir can ferret out the truth, the gypsy slices open his hand and marks Adam's head with a bloody print. Following Babel's mysterious clues"Two words. Remember them. Samois. Chris."Sabir makes his way to Samois-sur-Seine, where he meets the Manouche gypsy tribe that protects their own. Babel, meanwhile, has been brutally murdered by the villainous Achor Bale, an assassin trained by his mother to protect the history that Nostradamus predicted. His mysterious organization is Corpus Maleficus, a cult trying to protect a Third Antichrist, a malevolent figure following Napoleon and Hitler. Hot on the trail of both is Joris Calque, a veteran police officer who's trying to flush out the American fugitive and the body count from marking all of Europe. In a fascinating and tense exchange, Sabir is forced to undergo a risky gypsy trial called a Kriss, after which he finds himself responsible for Yola Semana, Babel's unmarried sister. Together, Yola and Sabir head out across Europe to ferret out clues from a series of Black Madonna statues located in Europe's most exotic cities, all while fleeing the deadly advances of Achor Bale.While the story is more than satisfying for fans of the historical conspiracy game, Reading brings more nuance, substance and action to his well-told tale than one might expect.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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