Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 3, 1986. While royalty, dignitaries, alumni, and press from all over the world gather to celebrate Harvard's 350th anniversary, an "impossible" robbery takes place. Harvard's priceless Gutenberg Bible is stolen from its display case in Widener Library, where it had been protected by the most sophisticated electronic security system known to modern technology.

Enter "Little John" Rawlings, on special assignment with media freak Chief Vadney to guard NYPD Commissioner Reilly, an alumnus who's determined to attend the bash despite bizarre threats from what is believed to be a Satanic cult.

Demands for the safe return of the Bible? The Harvard Corporation is told to immediately vote for divestment of its complete financial holdings in firms presently conducting business in South Africa. For every day that passes in which the divestment order is not given, the university will receive one page of the Gutenberg that has been soaked in human blood. Harvard is being placed on trial before a world court that is almost unanimously opposed to apartheid.

But, as usual, it's far more complicated than that. In this fifth "Rawlings" novel, we have a powerful contemporary theme wrapped in a high-tech heist inside a labyrinth of Satanic deception and intrigue.