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PAPERBACK |
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400 pages |
ISBN |
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978-1-905802-15-9 |
Release Date |
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24th June 2008 |
Price |
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£7.99 |
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HARDBACK |
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320 pages |
ISBN |
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978-1-905802-06-7 |
Price |
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£16.99 |
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TRADE SOFT BACK |
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ISBN |
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978-1-905802-07-4 |
Price |
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£11.99 |
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The Painted Messiah is an intelligent and
superior example of a genre whose popularity shows
no signs of abating. It combines a blistering action
thriller set in the streets of Zurich and on the lakes
and wooded slopes of Switzerland with a compulsive
and convincing account of first century Romano-Judaean
politics and the real reason for Pontius Pilate’s
condemnation and execution of Christ
A legend persists that, after the ‘scourging’,
Pilate commanded that his victim be painted from life.
Somewhere, the painting survives, the only true image
of Christ, granting the gift of everlasting life to
whoever possesses it.
Kate Kenyon, the wealthy young widow of an English
aristocrat killed on a Swiss mountain, has an addiction
to mortal risk. She feeds it by engaging in the armed
robbery of priceless artefacts with her accomplice
and lover Ethan Brand, a Tennessean who owns a bookshop
in Zurich. Their latest target is a priceless ‘Byzantine’ icon
hidden in the tower of a chateau by Lake Lucerne. So
far they have never had to shoot anyone. This time
will be different.
Thomas Malloy is a retired CIA man looking for his
first lucrative freelance assignment. His chance comes
with a presidential favour to a rich but ailing televangelist.
Malloy’s task seems simple enough: pick up the
preacher’s newly acquired painting from a Zurich
bank and get it to the airport. But, once in Switzerland,
Malloy’s old friend, the enigmatic Contessa Claudia
de Medici tries to warn him off his mission.
Sir Julian Corbeau is an international criminal holed
up in Switzerland to avoid US extradition proceedings.
He is also the sadistic head of the modern Knights
Templar. He had the painting and now
he desperately wants it back as well as to wreak a
bloody revenge upon those who stole it.
As the contenders vie for possession the bullets fly,
the body count rises and the secrets of the portrait
gradually unfold. We learn how and why it came to be
painted and how an object depicting the Light of
the World could exert such a baleful and malignant
influence on those who possess it.
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