About Katherine Neville's Books

Ballantine hardcover -- March 1998
0-345-40792-X $25.95

"A must read! A thrilling non-stop ride from Jerusalem to Italy, to Germany to America...I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a fascinating and intelligent read." -- Christine Broderick, reader-reviewer

In her brilliant new novel, The Magic Circle, Katherine Neville once again
travels across time--and the globe--to tell an astonishing tale of mankind's quest to
harness the power of earth and the heavens.

Snake River, Idaho, 1989: Ariel Behn, a toxic materials expert, finds her life shattered
when her cousin is slain. His shocking death leaves Ariel sole heir to a family legacy: a
sinister cache of manuscripts that sweeps her into a mystery than spans the centuries...

Jerusalem, 32 AD: During the last week in the life of Christ, Emperor Tiberius works to
decipher an age-old enigma. Whoever assembles and interprets the clues will possess
the power to control the world.

So begins a fascinating journey from the rise of the Roman Empire to the fall of the
Berlin Wall. Filled with all the storytelling bravado that made The Eight an acclaimed
bestseller, The Magic Circle is an epic for our time.

The Eight

A Ballantine Paperback
345-36623-9; $6.99
"A BIG, RICH, TWO-TIERED CONFECTION OF A NOVEL...A ROUSING,
AMUSING GAME." --The San Francisco Chronicle

"Impossible to put down." --The Boston Herald

New York City, December 1972: Musician, painter, dabbler in mathematics and chess, Catherine Velis is also a computer expert for a Big Eight accounting firm. Before she heads off to a new assignment in Algeria, Cat has her palm read by a mysterious fortune teller who warns her of danger. Then an antiques dealer approaches Cat with an offer: His anonymous client is trying to collect the pieces of a very old chess service, purported to be in Algeria. If Cat can bring them back, there will be generous fees for both of them....

The South of France, Spring 1790: Mireille de Remy and her cousin Valentine are young novices at the fortress-like Montglane Abbey. With France aflame with revolution, the two girls burn to rebel against constricted convent life--and their means of escape is at hand. Buried deep within the walls and floor of the abbey are pieces of the Montglane Chess Service, once owned by Charlemagne. Whoever reassembles the pieces can play the Game--a game of unlimited power. But to keep the Game a secret from those who would abuse it, the two young women must scatter the pieces throughout the world....

"A fascinating piece of entertainment...Manages to be both vibrant and cerebral...Few will find it resistible."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A FEMINIST ANSWER TO RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK."
--The Washington Post Book World

"This is a Quest with something for everyone: ancient curses from the Fertile Crescent; Russian
chess masters; sexy, savvy American computer whizzes; Napoleon and Robespierre; brave nuns;
valiant Jewish diamond merchants; magic numbers; secret hiding places; the music of the spheres.
In other words, Katherine Neville's big adventure novel is great fun!"
--Susan Isaacs

"Daring, original, and moving, it seems destined to become a cult classic....Astonishing
fantasy-adventure, a thoroughly accomplished first novel....Neville has great fun rewriting history
and making it all ring true. With two believable heroines, nonstop suspense, espionage, murder,
and a puzzle that seems the key to the whole Western mystical tradition, this spellbinder soars
above the level of first-rate escapist entertainment."
--Publishers Weekly

"A gutsy, multi-genre leap through history, full of puzzles and mysteries...The Eight's plotting and
execution are masterfully handled."
--The Detroit News

"FASCINATING."
--Newsday

"With alchemical skill, Neville blends modern romance, historical fiction, and medieval mystery...and comes up with gold."
--People

"Neville's classy thriller is multilayered in time....A big, juicy quest novel with something for everyone: computer lore, chess, the occult, ancient curses."
--New Woman

"Extraordinarily absorbing...A gripping adventure tale of greed and lust for power."
--Rocky Mountain News

"Intriguing, fast-moving...Crammed with skullduggery and a chess-based plot that hops between
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries."
--Seattle-Post Intelligencer

"DAZZLING... A perfectly crafted story that has everything: an intricate and exciting Rubik's Cube plot; tales within tales; historical characters from Napoleon and Talleyrand to Catherine of Russia; action that moves from France during the revolution to a casbah in modern Algeria; elements from music, mathematics, physics, and alchemy; and ancient warnings from gods and legends."
--St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch

"The taut, suspenseful narrative is interwoven with a seemingly infinite number of mathematical
puzzles, crosswords, and cryptograms....History, mystery, and adventure galore."
--Booklist

"Top-notch escapist fare...[An] adventure-romp through history with two intrepid heroines."
--The Orlando Sentinel

A Calculated Risk

The heroine of A Calculated Risk is Verity Banks, formerly a computer expert in New York and now a vice-president of the Bank of the World in San Francisco, in charge of Electronic Funds Transfer. When her boss turns down her proposal for a tighter security system at the bank, Verity decides to break through security, hide some money where no one will find it, and then put it back, to show everyone how easily it can be done.

Verity's former mentor, Dr. Tor, comes along with a challenge: to steal a billion dollars, invest it to earn thirty million dollars in three months, and then put the billion dollars back before anyone notices.

But Verity's boss Kiwi and his boss, Lawrence, have a plan of their own, which Verity and Tor haven't counted on... (Adapted from a review by Vicki Kondelik, maintainer of The Unofficial Katherine Neville Home Page)