It is an astonishing discovery: a bloodstained burial shroud entombed in the crumbling walls of a historic French Monastery. Carbon dating concludes the fabric is from the time of Christ. A molecular biologist conducts a daring experiment: the cloning of genetic material recovered from the cloth. Now two men—Father Laurent Carriere and scientist Josh Francis—are plunged into the center of a worldwide religious and political power struggle. But even as Washington and the Vatican vie for control of the relic, members of a secret society take steps to reclaim the holy artifact they have sworn to protect—by any means necessary.   Selected by the Literary Guild® and the Doubleday Book Club®.