The Eight (八的密秘)
自從達文西密碼受到歡迎,坊間這類的書籍就層出不窮。但這本書卻是早於丹布朗寫書之前,但是不諱言此書的中譯本確實是因為達文西此書的盛行,讀者才有機會一窺廬山真面目。書中除了融合了歷史上許多知名人物都是共濟會的傳說外,不外加上一個主題:寶藏的吹追尋思(某修道院傳說藏有查里曼大帝的西洋棋棋組。裡頭藏有一個可以左右世界的力量(長生不老藥的方程式),主題雖然老套,但故事的鋪陳技巧頗佳。讀起來想要一股作氣,顧不得厚厚的一大本在颱風天也不受外界乾擾一次讀完。愛不釋手就是對本書的感覺。同好者。若已看完Steve Berry 的(聖殿騎士的遺產),鼓勵大家趕緊到書店找出此書來看。
這是由黑夜與白晝交織而成的棋盤。
上帝主宰著棋士,棋士就是祂的棋;
而是誰在上帝的背後,布局這場無涯的時空、更迭、幻夢與苦惱?
18世紀末,「8」名修女誓言守護神秘棋組而慘遭封口;
20世紀,一名擁有「8」字掌紋的女電腦專家,獲選成為揭開神秘棋組面紗的關鍵人。
這場以真人布局的神秘賽局一旦啟動,眾人都沒有喊停的權利!封藏千年的神秘棋組,究竟隱藏什麼樣的驚人力量與玄機,值得人們縱橫古今、橫跨歐美非各洲,前仆後繼的探索與犧牲?
史無前例!結合歷史文明、神秘科學、政權謀殺、迷離情愛……多重元素的奪棋賽局,自法國革命時期引爆,延燒至20世紀的紐約,迫使封藏千年的秘密震撼重現!
本書特色
「密碼元素小說」始祖!1000萬愛書人讚嘆20年的鉅著!
口碑更勝《達文西密碼》 ~ 長踞歐美暢銷書榜多年不墬
全球逾30種語言版本問世 ~ 榮獲多國年度最佳小說
作者簡介
凱瑟琳.納薇禮(Katherine Neville)
從八歲時愛上寫作,曾任國際能源及金融顧問,以及電腦主管達二十年,客戶及聘顧公司包括IBM、阿爾及利亞政府、美國能源局、OPEC、土地管理局、紐約證交所,以及美國銀行。四十歲時,和世界有名的腦科學家Karl Pribram 搬到歐洲居住。
她取得非洲文學碩士,曾任數年商業攝影師、職業模特兒及畫家,在三大洲、七個國家,以及美國二十幾州都工作過,其豐富的經歷為小說增色不少。
納薇禮的第一部小說《8的秘密》已被翻譯超過三十種語言;西班牙知名雜誌《El Pa?s》所做的全國民調中,該書獲選為十大首選小說之一。她的第二部作品《A Calculated Risk》,獲選一九九二年紐約時報年度好書。第三部小說《The Magic Circle》,是USA Today暢銷書,也榮登法國、西班牙及澳洲十大排行。
譯者簡介
柯清心
台中人。輔仁大學大眾傳播學系學士,美國堪薩斯大學戲劇系碩士。
現任專職主婦,兼職翻譯。譯有:《心靈私房書》《戰慄遊戲》《我就是要幸福,不行嗎?》,以及《少年間諜艾列克》系列等書。著有兒童故事《小蠟燭找光》。
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Katherine Neville's debut novel is a postmodern thriller set in 1972 ... and 1790. In the 20th century, Catherine Velis is a computer expert with a flair for music, painting, and chess who, on her way to Algeria at the behest of the accounting firm where she is employed, is invited to take a mysterious moonlighting assignment: recover the pieces of an old chess set missing for centuries.
In the midst of the French Revolution, a young novice discovers that her abbey is the hiding place of a chess set, once owned by the great Charlemagne, which allows those who play it to tap into incredible powers beyond the imagination. She eventually comes into contact with the major historical figures of the day, from Robespierre to Napoleon, each of whom has an agenda.
The Eight is a non-stop ride that recalls the swashbuckling adventures of Indiana Jones as well as the historical puzzles of Umberto Eco which, since its first publication in 1988, has gone on to acquire a substantial cult following.
From Publishers Weekly
Even readers with no interest in chess will be swept up into this astonishing fantasy-adventure, a thoroughly accomplished first novel. Catherine Velis, a computer expert banished to Algeria by her accounting firm, gets caught up in a search for a legendary chess set once owned by Charlemagne. An antique dealer, a Soviet chess master, KGB agents and a fortune-teller who warns Catherine she's in big trouble all covet the fabled chess pieces, because the chess service, buried for 1000 years in a French abbey, supplies the key to a magic formula tied to numerology, alchemy, the Druids, Freemasonry, cosmic powers. As the story shuttles between the 1970s and the 1790s, we are introduced to 64 characters, including Mireille, a spunky French nun who helps scatter the individual chess pieces across Europe lest the set fall into evil hands. Involving Napoleon, Talleyrand, Casanova, Voltaire, Rousseau, Robespierre and Catherine the Great in the quest, Neville has great fun rewriting history and making it all ring true. With two believable heroines, nonstop suspense, espionage, murder and a puzzle that seems the key to the whole Western mystical tradition, this spellbinder soars above the level of first-rate escapist entertainment. Daring, original and moving, it seems destined to become a cult classic