The Secret of Scripture

Alexander’s pulse-pounding sequel to 2016’s The Secret of Heaven takes Chicago Bible professor Aiden Leonardo to Tel Aviv for a tech summit on artificial intelligence. Early one morning, the Israeli police rouse the academic in his hotel to ask him about Emmett Ben Yaakov, a professor of applied mathematics, whose body has been found on the Temple Mount. Someone has shot the professor in the head and carved a reference to a bible verse on his chest. Leonardo, the last person known to have seen Ben Yaakov alive, met with him the previous evening to discuss the philosophical and religious implications of advanced AI. The prologue reveals that a former student of Ben Yaakov, Farhad Hamid Vafa, who’s bent on destroying the Jewish State, killed him after demanding “access codes to the vault where the androids are being kept,” a disclosure that ratchets up suspense about what exactly those androids are. The tension rises as Leonardo tries to solve his colleague’s murder amid frantic efforts to foil terrorists who have planted bombs throughout the Old City of Jerusalem. This is perfect for Dan Brown fans. (Self-published)