Some books should never be found, never opened—until now.

An earthquake in Masada, Israel, reveals a tomb buriedin the heart of the mountain. A trio of investigators—Sergeant Jordan Stone, a military forensics expert;Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest; and Dr. Erin Granger, a brilliant but disillusioned archaeologist—are sent toexplore the macabre discovery, a subterranean templeholding the crucified body of a mummified girl.

But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tomb's sarcophagus: a book rumored to have been written by Christ's own hand, a tome that is said to hold the secrets to His divinity. But the enemy who hounds them is a force of ancient evil directed by a leader of impossible ambitions and incalculable cunning.