Codex 632: The Secret of Christopher Columbus: A Novel - Softcover

Rodrigues Dos Santos, José

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061173193 ISBN 13: 9780061173196

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2009

Synopsis

Who was the enigma the world knows as Christopher Columbus . . . and why has his true identity been covered up for centuries?

When an aged scholar is found mysteriously dead in his hotel room, Thomas Noronha, expert cryptographer and professor of history, is called upon to finish the man's unresolved investigation. In the course of unraveling the puzzles and cryptograms shrouding his late predecessor's work, Thomas discovers a code that will set him on a breathtaking race across the globe—from Lisbon to Rio to New York and Jerusalem—as he is drawn into one of the greatest mysteries of all time, a shocking revelation that will alter everything we've always believed about one of the world's most celebrated adventurers.

About this title

About the Author

José Rodrigues dos Santos is a professor at the New University of Lisbon and a journalist at RTP, the Portuguese public television station. He is the author of the international bestseller Codex 632. Born in Mozambique, he lives in Portugal.

José Rodrigues dos Santos nació en Mozambique en 1964. Es escritor y periodista y fue director de Información de RTP, la televisión pública de Portugal. Es también el autor de El códice 632.

From Publishers Weekly

Historian and journalist dos Santos tries his hand at fiction in this ambitious but disappointing tale of mistaken identity. Hired by a foundation to prepare a historical study of the discovery of Brazil, historian Martinho Toscano gets sidetracked by a "five-hundred-year-old conspiracy" regarding Christopher Columbus's identity. When Toscano drops dead, the foundation recruits historian Thomas Noronha, a history professor and cryptologist, to recover Toscano's work (it's written in code). Noronha, who needs cash to pay for his daughter's heart operation, reluctantly accepts the offer of $5,000 a week and a $500,000 bonus. Relying on his code-breaking skills and brushing aside pesky complications-an unlikely affair with a beautiful young Swedish exchange student, his crumbling marriage and his daughter's deteriorating health-Noronha retraces Toscano's footsteps from Rio de Janeiro to Jerusalem to Lisbon in search of the real Columbus. Unfortunately, the narrative rests uneasily on a series of extended tutorials, and the characters are bloodless. The slow unraveling of a conspiracy, while interesting, isn't enough to sustain a narrative lacking action and suspense. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0061173193
• ISBN 13: 9780061173196
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336