A masterful blending of Christian scholarship and pure thrilling adventure, comes a novel about the race to find the secret location of the Vera Cruz, the True Cross on which Christ was crucified, and the ancient brotherhood sworn to protect it from Infidel hands.

Holy relics are disappearing from sacred spots around the world — and the Vatican will do whatever it takes to stop thieves from their incredible goal; to steal what is left of the scattered and miniscule splinters of the True Cross the Catholic Church has in its possession.

Dr. Ottavia Salina, a brilliant and highly esteemed paleographer toils away at her classified workspace deep within Vatican City, analyzing and restoring some of the world's most valuable religious artifacts, until she is called upon by the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church and charged with a mysterious new assignment: she is to decipher the strange tattoos — seven Greek letters and seven crosses — found on an Ethiopian man's corpse. Found next to what was left of the body were three pieces of wood — suspected by Vatican scholars to be fragments of the Vera Cruz, actual splinters from the Cross on which Christ was crucified.

With the help of the captain of the Pope's infamous and tradition-rich Swiss Guard and a renowned archaeologist from the ancient city of Alexandria, Dr. Salina is able to uncover a shocking truth: for hundreds of years, a secret brotherhood which refers to itself as the Staurofilakes, and headed by a mysterious figure called Cato, has been hiding the True Cross and means to gather all remaining fragments for themselves. The markings on the Ethiopian corpse, they soon discover, correspond with each of the Seven Deadly Sins, and are part of the complicated, possibly deadly, initiation ritual used to deem candidates worthy of membership into the brotherhood.

Having discovered a connection between the brotherhood and Dante's Divine Comedy, they use clues within the text as a roadmap which leads them on a race across the globe to Christianity's ancient capitals. As they travel from Rome to Antioch, with several harrowing stops in between, they must brave a series of unimaginable challenges that put their faith — and their very lives — to the ultimate test. If they are to uncover the secrets of the ancient brotherhood, and discover the location of the True Cross, they must do so at their own peril.

"When the murder of an Ethiopian man covered with enigmatic tattoos roils the upper echelons of the Roman Catholic Church, Sister Ottavia Salina, head of the Restoration and Paleography Laboratory of the Vatican's Classified Archives, is called to interpret the symbolism of his 'scarifications.' Church officials inform Dr. Salina that the Ethiopian was but one of many who are stealing Ligna Crucis, relics of the original cross upon which Christ was crucified, from church reliquaries around the globe. The church charges her and two men — a captain of the pope's Swiss Guard, Kaspar Glauser-Rost, and an Egyptian archeologist, Farag Boswell (whom she later falls for after 39 years of celibacy) — to retrieve the relics. Before you can say Da Vinci Code, the trio plunge into an eddy of intrigue and danger as they encounter a mysterious secret brotherhood and wend their way along a labyrinthine journey of initiation rituals — with clues provided by Dante's Divine Comedy. Asensi's first novel to be translated into English is formulaic, but readers with insatiable appetites for church history, secret societies and weird initiation rituals will find some delights." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Matilde Asensi's 'The Last Cato,' the latest entry in the 'Da Vinci Code' sweepstakes, is a strange, ambitious, sometimes interesting, often frustrating piece of work. In Dan Brown's theological thriller, Leonardo da Vinci's work provided clues to a search for the Holy Grail; here, the poet Dante is our guide in a search for the 'true cross.' The most significant difference between the two novels... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) is that Brown unleashed a blistering attack on Catholicism, whereas Asensi, a Spanish journalist, is more sympathetic to the church, and even offers as her heroine an intelligent and devout nun, Dr. Ottavia Salina.

Ottavia is also a scholar who holds an important job in the Vatican working with ancient manuscripts. She is summoned one day to examine photographs of a dead Ethiopian with strange ceremonial scars in the form of Greek letters and crosses. Working with the formidable Capt. Kaspar Glauser-Roist of the Swiss Guards and a shy but handsome Egyptian scholar named Farag Boswell, she learns that when the Ethiopian died in a plane crash he was carrying pieces of the cross that had been stolen from churches around the world. The Vatican assigns these three to find these priceless relics. Indeed, Ottavia is told that not only is the pope praying for their success, but he also is lending them his own Alitalia Westwind II to speed their mission.

We veer into the history of the cross and learn that in the 4th century a secret society called the Brotherhood of the Staurofilakes was formed to protect it. Theirs was not an easy task. Early Christian pilgrims, pretending to kiss the cross, 'ripped out splinters with their teeth to take as relics,' and during the Crusades it was captured by the great Muslim general Saladin. Even when the cross was returned, pieces were parceled out to various churches — often 'just a tiny sliver or a little sawdust' — and now, in the 21st century, these relics are being stolen.

Our three investigators discover that Dante was a member of this brotherhood and his 'Divine Comedy' is a secret guide to how one joins the organization. For reasons that defy explanation here, if our heroes are to recover the missing relics, they must pass seven tests relating to the seven deadly sins described in 'The Divine Comedy.' These tests mostly involve entering underground labyrinths where they encounter fire, rising water, severe winds, poisoned thorns, nasty leeches, locked gates and the like. After they survive each ordeal they are invariably rendered unconscious — usually by a mysterious knock on the head — whereupon their tormenters tattoo them with crosses to mark their progress. These adventures have a certain Indiana Jones quality; some readers may find them exciting, but as one ordeal followed another I found them heavy going and often simply preposterous.

Some of Asensi's church history is of interest, but much of what she presents as scholarship is simply scholarly name-dropping. For example, she has one of the characters tell us, 'In 215 Emperor Caracalla was in Alexandria and for no apparent reason, he decreed a draft of strong, young men. After reviewing the new troops, he commanded that men and horses be assassinated.' All of which has absolutely nothing at all to do with her story, and dozens of such indulgences help make the novel far too long. We encounter such sentences as, 'Even more astonishing, he was adorned with gorgeous catatheistae that hung under his toufa.' No, this isn't dirty: Footnotes explain that the first of these Greek words refers to an ornament and the second to an imperial diadem. But a thriller is no place for dozens of footnotes that provide translations from the Greek.

One of the nicer elements of the story has Ottavia falling in love with Farag and confronting a painful choice between her love of God and the temptations of the flesh. In another of the novel's more interesting interludes, Asensi presents her vision of a religious utopia, populated by kind, pious, intelligent, hardworking, nonviolent, culture-loving vegetarians — a vision as sweet and silly as all utopias must be. The author pointedly has one character contrast this earthly paradise with 'a church that has forgotten all about the gospel.' But in terms of Vatican-bashing, Asensi doesn't come close to Dan Brown.

The astonishing success of 'The Da Vinci Code' — 40 million hardback copies sold in three years — came about because Brown, by accident or design, hit upon a brilliant two-part formula. His basic message was a scathing attack on Catholicism for 20 centuries of alleged sexism, violence, hypocrisy, corruption and related sins. Of course, all that has been said many times before, although mostly in nonfiction. Brown's inspiration was to present his case through the most popular form of fiction we have, the modern thriller, which enabled him to use murder, mystery, suspense, romance, chases and related devices to hook the reader. If you were open to his basic message, as millions of people obviously were, his delivery system made the combination irresistible. It was the literary equivalent of being offered champagne with your chocolate truffles. Asensi's novel is in some ways more interesting and ambitious than Brown's, but it is also pretentious and overwrought, and not nearly as much fun." Reviewed by Patrick Anderson, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
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"[T]here is enough fast-paced adventure to satisfy readers who enjoy stories involving classic European art, secret religious cults, and sinister conspiracies." Library Journal

[P]aper-thin characterization, clunky prose, unnecessary footnotes...an unconvincing romance and, after a while, a tedious reading of Dante's spiritual classic...seriously compromise this tale. Unconvincing." Kirkus Reviews

"As engrossing as it is intelligent, this just might be the next big book in the burgeoning religious thriller subgenre." Booklist (Starred Review)

"What fans will like [about The Last Cato]: international travel, puzzles, secret societies and historical treasures." USA Today

"Asensi's novel is in some ways more interesting and ambitious than Brown's [Da Vinci Code], but it is also pretentious and overwrought, and not nearly as much fun." Washington Post

In the same vein as Ruiz-Zafón's In the Shadow of the Wind and Daniel Silva's Prince of Fire comes an internationally bestselling novel about the search for the secret location of the actual Holy Cross used to crucify Jesus.

Matilde Asensi is the acclaimed author of several international bestsellers. The Last Cato is her first book published in English. She lives in Alicante, Spain.