The fire - Katherine Neville

Katherine Neville's worldwide bestseller The Eight dazzled audiences and paved the way for the era of such epic thrillers as The Da Vinci Code. Now the electrifying tale continues...,

The Montglane chess set: an ancient artefact which contains unimaginable power. Once the pieces are gathered and a game is set in motion, mystical forces converge which may threaten the future of the world.

1822, Albania: Thirty years after the French Revolution Europe hovers on the brink of war. Under attack, Ali Pasha, the most powerful ruler in the Ottoman Empire, sends his daughter Haidee on a dangerous mission to smuggle a crucial piece of the chess set out of Albania. Pursued by enemies, Haidee flees through Morocco, Rome and Greece into the very heart of the Game, and at last to where the set was first created more than a thousand years before: Baghdad.

2003, Colorado: Alexandra Solarin is summoned to her mother's Rocky Mountain hideaway. Thirty years ago her parents were instrumental in scattering the pieces of the chess set around the world, burying the secrets of their power with them. But Alexandra arrives to find her mother missing, leaving behind her only a series of strategically placed clues as to her whereabouts. The Game has begun again!

'A thriller written with brio and a pace which never flags... A rattling good read'