The fate of man lies in
the hands of one woman
In the ancient Turkish city of Ruin, American journalist Liv Adamsen lies in an isolation ward staring at walls as blank as her memory.
She knows she entered the monumental Citadel at the heart of Ruin but can remember only darkness. Something strange is stirring within her, whispering that she is 'the key'. But the key to what?
For the Ghost, a mercenary operating in the Syrian Desert, Liv could unlock one of mankind's most potent secrets. For the brotherhood in the Citadel - now cursed by a terrible plague - her return is the only way to ensure their survival. And for a powerful faction in Rome, she threatens the very future of the Catholic Church.
Hunted across continents and caught up in events that defy explanation, Liv turns to the only person she trusts - a charity worker named Gabriel Mann. Together their paths lead to a shocking discovery - one that will tear them apart and change the world forever...
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SANCTUS
Revelation or Devastation?
A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey. But this is no ordinary ascent. It is a dangerous, symbolic act—and thanks to the media, it is an event witnessed by the entire world.
Few people understand its consequence. But for foundation worker Kathryn Mann, and a handful of others, it's evidence that a revolution is at hand. For the Sancti, the cowled and secretive monks who live inside the Citadel, it could mean the end of everything they have built. They will stop at nothing to keep what is theirs, and they will break every law in every country and even kill to hold it fast. For American reporter Liv Adamsen, it spurs the memory of the beloved brother she lost years before, setting her on a journey across the world and into the heart of her own identity.
There she will make a discovery so shocking that it will change everything...
SANCTUS Reviews
Extraordinary praise for the instant UK
bestseller:
"When you read Sanctus, you'll see just how frightening, ruthless and relentlessly entertaining an order of monks can be. Haunting in the best way."
Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle
"A cliffhanger that aspires to towering heights... the derring-do and scriptural intrigue never get too unwieldy or too unworldly. His characters, too, are well-rounded and credible...
A bonus: Toyne's battery of good guys include strong women characters, with no condescension; too many books of this kind treat women as afterthoughts, if not mere love interests. And there's some nice elaboration of the plot, keeping the reader guessing whether the heretics are good guys or bad...
A promising debut... [and] the right ingredients are all here."
Kirkus
"Stellar... The [end's] truly mind-boggling revelation will leave astounded readers eager for the next installment."
Publishers Weekly (Starred review)
"This is a big, bold thriller... Elegantly written and imaginatively plotted, with a smart heroine and an appropriately evil villain, this is a must-read for fans of high-concept thrillers involving grand conspiracies. Yes, it will appeal to Da Vinci Code fans, but the prose is much more textured."
Booklist (starred review)
"Toyne pulls off a debut novel that is sure to be a bestseller and a welcome addition to the genre... a strong debut for an author who I believe is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Enjoy Sanctus, and keep your eyes on Simon Toyne."
Suspense Magazine
"A bloody confrontation against a heretical Church in a fallen, alternate universe. A tale as theologically twisted and perverse as the snake in the Garden of Eden. Lies, lies and more lies. In other words, damn good fiction."
Thomas Greanias, author of The 34th Degree
"Simon Toyne's Sanctus is thrilling with bells on. Bravo, Mr. Toyne!"
Paul Christopher, author of The Templar Conspiracy
Hard to think of it as a debut, better to think of it as the beginning of a massive new adventure.
The Daily Mirror (UK)
[A] cool, confident debut. [Toyne is] a talented new writer who instinctively grasps the broad rules of superior action thrillers and adapts them with pace, grace, humour and a keen eye for cinematic effect.
The Daily Telegraph (UK)
Toyne enters Da Vinci Code territory with considerable elan, delivering a provocative and engaging yarn.
The Independent
I am sure Toyne's debut will be a success - and it deserves to be.
In this thriller, he creates an intriguing and engaging centrepiece - The Citadel, a secretive base for an ancient sect set in the brilliantly named Turkish city of Ruin...
There is sufficient promise and mystery in the various characters to make this an exciting and interesting read. I look forward to a return to Ruin, where there are plenty of stories waiting to be told.
The Sun (UK)
Simon Toyne
The Author
Simon Toyne has worked in British television for twenty years. As a writer, director and producer he has worked on several award-winning shows, one of which won a BAFTA. He lives in England with his wife and family. Sanctus is his first book and the first volume of the Ruin trilogy.
A conversation with Simon Toyne
(William Morrow; September 6, 2011)
Q: The city of Ruin, which you created, is so fully realized. Is it based on a place in the real world?
A: Ruin is based on lots of places. In my previous career in TV I produced and directed lots of travel shows and many of the places I've been to bled into the DNA of Ruin: so the Jain temples of India are in there, so is the view from table top mountain in Cape Town. Even though the city of Ruin is an invention, the setting of the book is modern and all the other locations such as Newark, New Jersey and Rio are all very real. In order for the book to work Ruin needed to feel just as real as they did, so I worked hard to build it up and make you feel you could actually go there. My aim was to make readers curious enough to Google it.
A CONVERSATION WITH SIMON TOYNE
Author of SANCTUS
(William Morrow; September 6, 2011)
- Q: The city of Ruin, which you created, is so fully realized. Is it based on a place in the real world?
- A: Ruin is based on lots of places. In my previous career in TV I produced and directed lots of travel shows and many of the places I've been to bled into the DNA of Ruin: so the Jain temples of India are in there, so is the view from table top mountain in Cape Town. Even though the city of Ruin is an invention, the setting of the book is modern and all the other locations such as Newark, New Jersey and Rio are all very real. In order for the book to work Ruin needed to feel just as real as they did, so I worked hard to build it up and make you feel you could actually go there. My aim was to make readers curious enough to Google it.
- Q: Can you discuss the relationship between Liv and her brother and how this deep bond drives the story?
- A: There's no greater bond than blood and I needed something that would bind these two central characters' together so that their shared fate was unavoidable. Also, a sister trying to find out what happened to her brother is such a powerful journey of discovery to go on as it inevitably brings up secrets about her life too. On a pure story level I also wanted the bond to be strong enough so that when things start getting tough for Liv - and the more the story continues, the tougher it gets - you know instinctively that she's not going to stop looking until she gets to the truth, no matter what personal danger she finds herself in.
- Q: Can you discuss the lengths the monks in the Citadel will go to protect their secret? Is this faith or fanaticism?
- A: Belief and faith are very powerful motivators in the book - as in life. The SANCTUS monks genuinely believe they are divinely appointed to protect the ancient secret they keep, no matter what. And when someone believes so strongly that the ends justify any means, then you tip from faith into fanaticism and end up with a pretty formidable and almost unstoppable adversary.
- Q: Where did the idea for this story and elaborate world you have created come from?
- A: The idea came to me almost out of nowhere. I had quit my job in TV to give myself time to try and finally write a book and as a family we decided to have a bit of an adventure at the same time. So we rented our home in England and moved to a stone farmhouse in the south of France for seven months. Driving to our new home we passed through the city of Rouen and I remembered the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote that's now at the front of the book - 'a man is a god in ruins'. It was this, added to the site of the cathedral spire rising up in the dawn sky that provided the seed of the idea that eventually grew into SANCTUS.
- Q: Did your background in TV influence the way you write?
- A: I think I have a well-developed visual sense, which carries through to the book. I also use short chapters that intercut different characters' stories, which is quite cinematic in effect and helps drive the pace. Fundamentally the narrative techniques and aims of commercial TV and commercial fiction are the same - you want to hook your audience. In TV there were studies done that showed how the modern viewer is looking to change the channel every two minutes. As a producer my job was to hook their attention within that space of time and keep them hooked. As a writer I'm just trying to do the same thing on the page.
- Q: What sets your book apart from other conspiracy thrillers?
- A: There have been plenty of stories written about ancient secrets, but the secret at the heart of SANCTUS is older than any of them and much, much bigger. And it's not just a secret that might affect the characters of this book, it's a secret that could potentially affect all of us.
- Q: How did you come up with such a strong female protagonist?
- A: The story suggested it really. As a writer of thrillers you are always perversely thinking of how you can make things harder for your main character and in SANCTUS Liv is going up against an ancient patriarchy, so making her a woman immediately stacked the deck against her. I always think of Liv as my Jodie Foster character: smart, resourceful, vulnerable - scared. When she stares into the abyss you can see that she's terrified, but you also know that she won't look away, and she won't back down either.
SANCTUS E-BOOK
Complete with a bespoke soundtrack created by film score composers Cutting Edge, as well as a unique custom gestures functionality, the Sanctus enhanced ebook is an industry first.
All of the features are mapped closely against the story, with the soundtrack setting the mood for each distinctive section of the novel. The custom gestures feature can be unlocked by zigzagging the screen with three fingers - solve the puzzle along the way and you can even win a prize!
HC Director of Innovation, Eric Winbolt, comments:
"The richness of the Sanctus story inspired us to try a very different approach in the development of our enhanced ePub. We applied equal effort to developing the technical and creative solutions, aiming to both better weave additional media into the narrative and also greatly increase the sophistication of the interactive experience. This crystallized into two strands; an integrated bespoke soundtrack and a puzzle mechanic which using levels of interactivity more typically associated with apps. We hope the additional level of atmosphere and engagement consequently created will compliment the themes of the book and enhance the readers enjoyment. It also serves to signpost the breadth of creative opportunity that awaits unlocking within ePub, something we're very excited about exploring further.'"
Watch a demonstration of the enhanced ebook's capabilities here.
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