The Temple Keep - Hardcover

by Michael S. Holtzman (Author)

The Temple Keep

The Most Terrifying Secret in Human History Has been Hiding in Plain Sight for More Than Three Centuries. Until Now.

In the fall of 2000, Noah Greaves arrives at the College of William & Mary in Virginia on a scholarship, carrying little more than a gift for mathematics, and a determination to escape the limits of small-town life. The mysterious Christopher Wren Building, the oldest college building in America, with its Georgian brick chambers and its deep roots in the founding of the nation, seems like the perfect pace to quietly reinvent himself. But when a Shakespeare professor notices Noah's uncanny ability to detect hidden patterns within centuries-old texts, his carefully ordinary semester unravels into something far stranger..

Drawn into a secret world of cryptographers, historians, intelligence operatives, and occult seekers, Noah discovers that Williamsburg's famous colonial streetscape conceals more than history books admit. Beneath the restored facades of the Historic Area, beneath the taverns and the churchyards that once sheltered the founding of a republic, lie forgotten tunnels, sealed chambers, and a trail of encoded clues pointing towards a legendary vault -- one said to contain the greatest secret in human history.

As rival factions close in, Noah and his enigmatic classmate Amanda find themselves in a deadly struggle connecting Sir Francis Bacon, coded messages hidden within Shakespeare's works, Thomas Jefferson, and a conspiracy that runs from Williamsburg's cobblestone streets to the deepest corridors of the Central Intelligence Agency. Each discovery raises questions about the history we thought we knew-- and the destiny we all must someday face.

Blending historical mystery, espionage, horror, and speculative science fiction, The Temple Keep takes readers from candlelit college archives and the brick towers of Bruton Parish Church to a shocking revelation that challenges the nature of reality itself. Readers who loved The Da Vinci Code, The Secret History, National Treasure, and Dark Matter will find a relentless adventure where cryptography, hidden history, and cutting-edge science converge on one small American city where past, present, and future collide.

Some secrets can change the world.

One secret can end it.