Jean-François Prévost
Credo Publication date : March 5, 2009
Egypt, Valley of the Kings, December 2012. Scientists are exploring a tomb that emits an “echo” detected by satellites. At the very end of a series of chambers marked with Hebrew script as well as hieroglyphs, they find not a sarcophagus — but three bodies. The first one is easily identified: it is Akhenaton. The second is none other than Nefertiti. Both are mummified, and wrapped in a dark coating encrusted with gold and rubies. But it is the third body that emits the mysterious signal as well as a brilliant light. Who can it be?
“One of us. An American,” says in amazement one of the members of the expedition, speaking through a microphone linked to the outside. He then begins to describe the blue ceramic disc the dead man is holding and which seems to be the source of the light, a sort of swirl with points like a multitude of stars.
“Lord! I've never seen anything so beautiful!” exclaims the researcher, and touches the disc. Outside, in the control room, a loud, strident alarm goes off. The pyramid closes again. “Eternity had breathed its last gasp. The world had only sixteen days left to live.”
This story began very long ago, and not only in Egypt. We are now transported to 1003, when Pope Sylvester II received from an Oriental Prince the shroud of Christ that allegedly contains the code of Eternal Life, written in the blood of Christ — in other words, the proof of God's existence, which the Pope agrees to safeguard and to transmit secretly.
February 2005: The astronaut Jon Coover leaves his American space shuttle to make some repairs on an orbiting station. A meteorite suddenly appears. Everything seems to have been destroyed. Communication is cut off but is just as suddenly restored, as if nothing had happened. Nothing? Not for Coover, who has had a most unusual experience; and when he is examined back on Earth it is found that his DNA has undergone some astounding changes. What really happened? Of what is he the carrier? And why is the Earth's magnetic field gradually changing?
A fascinating novel combining elements of the theological thriller in the vein of the Da Vinci Code and of science fiction in the style of Arthur C. Clarke or Dan Simmons, Credo brilliantly interweaves times and places, styles and genres, while examining the very destiny of the world and the meaning of time.
Jean-François Prévost is a lawyer on the Paris bar and a law professor. His wide-ranging interests include theology, biology and quantum physics. He is the author of several novels, including Black Blood, Coma and Le XIe Commandement.
“One of us. An American,” says in amazement one of the members of the expedition, speaking through a microphone linked to the outside. He then begins to describe the blue ceramic disc the dead man is holding and which seems to be the source of the light, a sort of swirl with points like a multitude of stars.
“Lord! I've never seen anything so beautiful!” exclaims the researcher, and touches the disc. Outside, in the control room, a loud, strident alarm goes off. The pyramid closes again. “Eternity had breathed its last gasp. The world had only sixteen days left to live.”
This story began very long ago, and not only in Egypt. We are now transported to 1003, when Pope Sylvester II received from an Oriental Prince the shroud of Christ that allegedly contains the code of Eternal Life, written in the blood of Christ — in other words, the proof of God's existence, which the Pope agrees to safeguard and to transmit secretly.
February 2005: The astronaut Jon Coover leaves his American space shuttle to make some repairs on an orbiting station. A meteorite suddenly appears. Everything seems to have been destroyed. Communication is cut off but is just as suddenly restored, as if nothing had happened. Nothing? Not for Coover, who has had a most unusual experience; and when he is examined back on Earth it is found that his DNA has undergone some astounding changes. What really happened? Of what is he the carrier? And why is the Earth's magnetic field gradually changing?
A fascinating novel combining elements of the theological thriller in the vein of the Da Vinci Code and of science fiction in the style of Arthur C. Clarke or Dan Simmons, Credo brilliantly interweaves times and places, styles and genres, while examining the very destiny of the world and the meaning of time.
Jean-François Prévost is a lawyer on the Paris bar and a law professor. His wide-ranging interests include theology, biology and quantum physics. He is the author of several novels, including Black Blood, Coma and Le XIe Commandement.