The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell
The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell
113 Rating(s)
List: $29.95 | Sale: $20.97
Club: $14.97

The Rule of Four

Author: Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason

Narrator: Jeff Woodman

Unabridged: 12 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/01/2004


Synopsis

A mysterious coded manuscript, a violent Ivy League murder, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide in a labyrinth of betrayal, madness, and genius.
THE RULE OF FOUR
Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets -- to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it. As the deadline looms, research has stalled -- until an ancient diary surfaces. What Tom and Paul discover inside shocks even them: proof that the location of a hidden crypt has been ciphered within the pages of the obscure Renaissance text.
Armed with this final clue, the two friends delve into the bizarre world of the Hypnerotomachia -- a world of forgotten erudition, strange sexual appetites, and terrible violence. But just as they begin to realize the magnitude of their discovery, Princeton's snowy campus is rocked: a longtime student of the book is murdered, shot dead in the hushed halls of the history department.
A tale of timeless intrigue, dazzling scholarship, and great imaginative power, The Rule of Four is the story of a young man divided between the future's promise and the past's allure, guided only by friendship and love.

About Ian Caldwell

Ian Caldwell is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Fifth Gospel and (with Dustin Thomason) The Rule of Four, which sold nearly two million copies in North America and was translated into thirty-five languages. He lives in Virginia with his wife and children.

About Dustin Thomason

Ian Caldwell was Phi Beta Kappa in history at Princeton University. He lives in Newport News, Virginia. Dustin Thomason won the Hoopes Prize at Harvard University. He lives in New York City. They began writing The Rule of Four after graduating in 1998. The two have been best friends since they were eight years old.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Will on February 26, 2025

Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason - image from Curtis Brown Princeton undergrads become obsessed with figuring out the riddles in a five hundred year old book, the Hypneratomachia. The obsession was not new with them. It had puzzled researchers for hundreds of year, in particular the parents of two of......more

Goodreads review by Keith on July 11, 2007

This book was billed as a more intellectual version of The Da Vinci Code, and while I suppose it is essentially that, I honestly did not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Dan Brown's book. The story is about a Princeton student who inherits from his father an obsession with an ancient text called the Hy......more

Goodreads review by ☘Misericordia☘ on July 05, 2020

I enjoyed it a lot! It leaves a pleasant aftertaste like a good walk through an orchard. Is a bit similar to the Langdon series but a bit different in its languid pace of the plot. DD 2017 A reread! Q: Like many of us, I think, my father spent the measure of his life piecing together a story he would......more

Goodreads review by Paul on March 14, 2023

A warm, satisfying journey of personal growth and discovery! THE RULE OF FOUR is a coming-of-age novel built around a real-life mystery, The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance book that has puzzled scholars and historians for 500 years. As a literary device, it succeeds quite well but if you're......more

Goodreads review by La Petite Américaine on August 17, 2008

"The Da Vinci Code for people with brains." The Independent. Sigh. Yeah. More like a book for anyone who passed English 101 freshman year of college. At least the Da Vinci Code was a page-turner ... an idiotic and predictable page-turner, but still entertaining. In The Rule of Four, it takes 268 pag......more