The Fire — Katherine Neville

Twenty years ago, Katherine Neville's groundbreaking bestseller The Eight introduced readers to "The Game" and rewrote the rules of international suspense. Now a thrilling new chapter of this riveting saga begins in The Fire.

Steeped in stunning history, enchanting settings, baffling riddles, and unforgettable characters, The Fire presents a multilayered puzzle of infinite complexity and global importance.

In the present day, Alexandra Solarin, chess whiz turned chef and only daughter of Cat Velis, the heroine of The Eight, arrives at her mother's Colorado lodge to learn that Cat has vanished. Alexandra finds something else: a string of clues that hint not only at her mother's whereabouts but at another, more sinister mystery. But Alexandra isn't the only person her mother has called to the lodge. Soon Alexandra is surrounded by her aunt Lily Rad, another brilliant chess player; her onetime best friend, Nokomis Key; and the last person she ever played in chess, the young Russian master Vartan Azov. Alexandra has no idea why her mother would bring these people together in such cryptic fashion--until Lily realizes what's happening and explains to Alexandra the truth of her mother's past.

In the winter of 1822, as the fortress of Sultan Ali Pasha falls to the Turks, his daughter, young Haidee, attempts a desperate journey from Albania to Morocco to Rome, carrying an invaluable object and seeking the one man who can help her: the English poet George Gordon, Lord Byron.

Ultimately, both Alexandra and Haidee learn that their missions are even more dire than they seem, for they are both players in a dangerous game that began more than a millennium before either of them was born and that has the power to affect the fate of human civilization.