Neil Olson

Matthew Spear, a young Greek-American curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, meets the lovely Ana Kessler, a sometime art dealer who has inherited an impressive collection from her mysterious grandfather. Matthew soon discovers that the jewel of the old man's cache is none other than the Holy Mother of Katarini -- a sacred icon long thought destroyed in a fire. But while Matthew recognizes the icon's value as a work of art -- and a star in his crown if he can add it to the museum's collection -- he soon discovers that it carries a far greater significance to numerous people, including his owngrandfather and godfather. What Matthew does not realize is that his own connection to the icon will thrust himinto a byzantine web of death and deception, as other parties -- including a representative of the Greek Orthodox Church, a Russian "entrepreneur," a dying gangster, and a Nazi who has escaped the wartime tribunals for nearly six decades -- pursue it for their own means. All believe the icon to be a source of fantastic and inexplicable power, and all were somehow connected to the events that transpired in a small Greek village during World War II. As he experiences the peculiar resonance of the icon, and sees the hold it has on others, Matthew begins to understand that the only way out of his entanglement is to discover what really happened in that Greek village sixty years earlier. And he will soon be forced into a harrowing situation where he must decide who lives and who dies, and will have to reexamine virtually every aspect of his life -- the loyalties within his family, his feelings for Ana, and even the question of his own faith. Is the icon chiefly a relic of historic and artistic significance? Or is it something more still -- a vessel imbued with the spirit and power of Christ himself? In a stunning debut that spans more than half a century and two continents, The Icon asks us to reach into the very heart of all our questions about faith, power, and love.

A sacred relic possessing inexplicable power, it vanished in the flames and chaos of war. Now, six decades later, its secrets will inspire greed, conspiracy, devotion, deception, death . . . and chan

Grècia, 1944. Durant la segona guerra mundial, un grec conegut com la Serp pacta amb Müller, un assassí nazi, el lliurament d'una càrrega d'armes a canvi d'una icona del segle VIII suposadament pintada sobre el Sudari de Crist. Nova York, 2000. Un ancià

Apasionante thriller en torno a las maniobras nazis para hacerse con obras de arteGrecia, 1944. Un griego conocido como "la Serpiente" pacta con un asesino nazi la entrega de un cargamento de armas a cambio de un icono del siglo VIII supuestamente pintado sobre el Sudario de Cristo. Nueva York, 2000. Muere un anciano que ha vivido bajo un nombre falso y su nieta descubre un extraño icono codiciado por varios personajes.

Grecia, 1944. Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, un griego conocido como La Serpiente pacta con Müller, un asesino nazi, la entrega de un cargamento de armas a cambio de un icono del siglo VIII supuestamente pintado sobre el sudario de Cristo. Nueva York, 2000. Un anciano vive bao un nombre falso, aislado del mundo y encerrado con su colección de arte y pintura. Cuando éste muere, su nieta Ana descubre un extraño icono en una habitación secreta. Personajes sorprendentes que tejeran una apasionante red de mentiras, asesinatos, clanes, complots, persecuciones y falsas identidades alrededor del icono sagrado, para cerrar de una vez algo que empezó durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.