Raymond Khoury – författare

A secret lost for a thousand years. A deadly race to keep it buried...1291 AD, Acre. As the city burns under the onslaught of the Sultan''s men, the Falcon Temple sets sail, carrying a small band of knights and a mysterious chest entrusted to them by the Order''s Grand Master. But the ship vanishes without a trace...Present day New York. At the Metropolitan Museum, four horsemen dressed as Knights Templar storm the gala opening of an exhibition of Vatican treasures and, in a brutal and bloody attack, steal an arcane medieval decoder. For FBI agent Sean Reilly and archaeologist Tess Chaykin this is just the start of a deadly game of cat and mouse as they race across three continents in search of the ruthless killers - and a centuries-old mystery...

Empire of Lies is a sweeping thriller in the tradition of The Man in the High Castle, Fatherland, and Underground Airlines from New York Times bestselling author Raymond Khoury."The best what-if thriller for a long, long time-makes you think, makes you sweat, and makes you choose, between what is and what might have been."-Lee Child Istanbul, 1683: Mehmed IV, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, is preparing to lay siege to Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire, when a mysterious visitor arrives in his bedroom-naked, covered in strange tattoos-to deliver a dangerous, world-changing message. Paris, 2017: Ottoman flags have been flying over the great city for three hundred years, ever since its fall-along with all of Europe-to the empire's all-conquering army. Notre Dame has been renamed the Fatih Mosque. Public spaces are segregated by gender. And Kamal Arslan Agha, a feted officer in the sultan's secret police, is starting to question his orders.Rumors of an impending war with the Christian Republic of America, attacks by violent extremists, and economic collapse have heightened surveillance and arrests across the empire. Tasked with surveying potential threats, Kamal has a heavy caseload-and conscience.When a mysterious stranger-naked, covered in strange tattoos-appears on the banks of the Seine, Kamal is called in to investigate. But what he discovers is a secret buried in the empire's past, a secret the Sultan will do anything to silence.With the mysterious Z Protectorate one step behind, Kamal, together with Nisreen-a fierce human rights lawyer-is caught up in a race across the empire and time itself-a race that could change their world, or destroy it.Empire of Lies is being published as "The Ottoman Secret" in the UK.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Ottoman Secret by Raymond Khoury, read by Raphael Corkhill. ''The best what-if thriller for a long, long time'' LEE CHILD''An alternative history tale that will blow your mind. A story strung along the centuries that is thoroughly engrossing and one you will long remember'' DAVID BALDACCIThe Ottoman Secret is a sweeping thriller which will captivate fans of Man in the High Castle, Fatherland and The Handmaid''s TalePARIS 2017. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE HAS RULED EUROPE FOR OVER 300 YEARSAs a respected special investigator for the state police, Kamal Agha is committed to keeping the empire safe from threats inside and out. But these are dangerous times in the empire. Under the sultan''s autocratic regime, no one is beyond suspicion.When a naked man covered in tattoos appears on the banks of the Seine and murders a passerby, Kamal is tasked with tracking him down. But asking too many questions can be a highly risky endeavor-especially when the mysterious man''s trail leads Kamal to a secret buried deep in the empire''s past, a secret that goes to the very core of the empire''s success. A secret the sultan and his security services will do anything to silence. Kamal is forced to question his own loyalty when his own family attracts unwelcome attention from the security services. Soon, he has no choice but to flee. But on the run from the all-seeing organisation with which he made his reputation, can he save himself and his family?And, if he does, what might that mean for the existence of the Empire itself? Its past, it''s present and its future ...__________''A tour de force of storytelling and concept. Thrilling, disturbing, inspiring, it left me all too often in awe'' JAMES ROLLINS''The Ottoman Secret is a masterpiece. A compelling saga, on a grand scale. A stellar epic'' STEVE BERRY

What event could unite the world in peace - or in war? From the bestselling author of THE LAST TEMPLAR.A remote shelf in the Arctic circle. A small TV crew is braving the harsh conditions to film the breaking off of a major ice shelf - yet another nail in the planet''s eco-coffin. Then someone calls out, pointing at something up in the sky overhead. The camera pans up and they look up to see a blazing symbol clear, burning high over the bleak, deserted terrain.Thus begins a series of strange events worldwide as the mysterious sign appears over the sites of conflict, natural disasters and terrorist atrocities. What can it portend? The world is wracked with both fear and hope.Suddenly, all this is focused onto one man. An obscure monk who recognises the symbol from the past and understands what it means for the future of humanity. But as he becomes the most sought-after man on the planet, the questions have to be asked: could this be the real deal? Or the most elaborate fake in world history? And - either way - what happens to the world now?

The search to expose the ancient - and deadly - secrets of Christianity continues in this stunning follow-up to THE LAST TEMPLAR...

Constantinople, 1203. As the rapacious armies of the Fourth Crusade lay siege to the city, a small band of Templars infiltrate the imperial library. They escape with three large chests filled with explosive secrets - ones they will not live long enough to learn.

Vatican City, present day. In the hidden archives of the Inquisition, FBI agent Sean Reilly has no choice but to violate the trust he has earned. A vicious terrorist has kidnapped Tess Chaykin, and the key to her freedom lies in this underground crypt, where a secret could explain the real reasons for the Templars'' extermination and bring devastation to our world.

A pulse-pounding manhunt takes Reilly and Tess across the world as they follow the blood-soaked trail of their enemy, a devious, uncompromising foe unlike any they have battled before . . .

A deadly quest to uncover an ancient secret that has destroyed everyone in its path for centuries...Portugal, 1705. In the dungeons of a Templar castle, a dying old man bequeaths an ancient, half-burnt book to his young inquisitor. Keeping one step ahead of those who would kill to wrench the book''s secret from his hands, the inquisitor turns his back on his calling and sets off on an impossible journey to complete the old man''s quest.Baghdad, 2003. A military unit makes a horrifying discovery: a hidden state-of-the-art lab, where dozens of men, women and children have died. The scientist they were hunting is believed to be working on a bio weapons programme. But the man known only as the hakeem - the doctor - has escaped, taking with him the startling truth about his work ...

FBI agent Sean Reilly has just received a call from his past - and finds himself in a desperate race against time to save a woman he once loved and her four-year-old child. From the bestselling author of the TEMPLAR thrillers.[Published in hardback as THE DEVIL''S ELIXIR.]''I''m in trouble. Something terrible has happened ... I didn''t know who else to call''An unexpected phone call from three thousand miles away.A voice he hadn''t heard in more than five years.A desperate cry for help that he couldn''t ignore.And two small words that would change everything about his life.FBI agent Sean Reilly and archaeologist Tess Chaykin are back in another edge-of-your-seat thriller that reaches from the present day back to 1700s Mexico and, quite possibly, far beyond...

From the bestselling author of THE LAST TEMPLAR, an action-packed adventure thriller of an ancient mystery and its deadly impact on the present.Siberia, 1916. A mine turns into a bloodbath when its miners attack each other, savagely and ferociously. Minutes later, two men - a horrified scientist and infamous Russian mystic Rasputin - hit a detonator, blowing up the mine to conceal all evidence of the carnage.New York, present day. FBI agent Sean Reilly is tasked with a new, disturbing case. A Russian embassy attaché seems to have committed suicide by jumping out of a fourth-floor window. The apartment''s owners have gone missing, while a faceless killer roams New York City, leaving a trail of death in his wake.Reilly''s investigation uncovers a deadly search for a mysterious device whose origins reach back to the darkest days of the Cold War and to Imperial Russia and which, in the wrong hands, could have a devastating impact on the modern world.

Eminent scientist Dr Ralph Padley is dying - and he knows it''s time to finally tell the truth. Padley has a dark secret, which, if it got out, would have deadly consequences. But there are powerful men who will stop at nothing to silence him.FBI Special Agent Reilly has an agenda of his own. For months he has sought the man who kidnapped and brainwashed his five-year-old son. But that man is a ghost - a highly protected CIA official with no name and no identity, and who may have links to Reilly''s own father.Watched, manipulated, and framed for crimes he didn''t commit, Reilly becomes a fugitive, making it next to impossible for him to uncover the truth about his past while protecting the family he loves. He''s left with no choice but to risk everything to unearth secrets that would shake the country to its core - if he''s ever allowed to get that far.

FBI agent Sean Reilly has just received a call from his past - and finds himself in a desperate race against time to save a woman he once loved and her four-year-old child. From the bestselling author of the TEMPLAR thrillers.[Published in hardback as THE DEVIL''S ELIXIR.]''I''m in trouble. Something terrible has happened ... I didn''t know who else to call''An unexpected phone call from three thousand miles away.A voice he hadn''t heard in more than five years.A desperate cry for help that he couldn''t ignore.And two small words that would change everything about his life.FBI agent Sean Reilly and archaeologist Tess Chaykin are back in another edge-of-your-seat thriller that reaches from the present day back to 1700s Mexico and, quite possibly, far beyond...

On a cold, bleak day in 1916, a mining pit in Siberia turns into a bloodbath when its miners attack each other, savagely and ferociously. Minutes later, two men - a horrified scientist and Grigory Rasputin, trusted confidant of the tsar - hit a detonator, blowing up the mine to conceal all evidence of the carnage. In the present day, FBI agent Sean Reilly is tasked with a new, disturbing case. A Russian embassy attaché seems to have committed suicide by jumping out of a fourth-floor window in Queens. The apartment''s owners, a retired high school teacher and his wife, have gone missing, while a faceless killer is roaming New York City, leaving a trail of death in his wake. Joined by Russian FSB agent Larisa Tchoumitcheva, Reilly''s investigation into the old man''s identity will uncover a deadly search for a mysterious device whose origins reach back in time to the darkest days of the Cold War and to Imperial Russia and which, in the wrong hands, could have a devastating impact on the modern world. Packed with intrigue and excitement, Rasputin''s Shadow will keep readers turning pages long into the night.