Being a librarian may not seem like the brightest professional trajectory to some right now, but it was once among the noblest callings in history.
From the great Library of Alexandria to the hidden archives buried beneath the sands of Timbuktu, librarians were the sentinels who hid forbidden books under floorboards, the puzzle-solvers who pieced together lost manuscripts, the quiet revolutionaries who smuggled words across borders — all to keep the flame of knowledge alive and sometimes protect humanity from the wrath of the unknown.
In Codex by Philip G. Cohen, this ancient, near-sacred role finds new life in the enigmatic figure of Xavier de Torrent de Tête — a man feted as one of the greatest minds in Christendom. Far from the hush of dusty stacks, Xavier’s brilliance has already solved the most chilling of crimes: the “Hieroglyphics Homicides,” unmasking a killer live on television.
Yet his true calling is stranger still. Xavier is the Librarian of Lost Books, a curator of the non-existent, tasked with seeking out texts that history buried, burned, or feared to remember. His intellect is a compass guiding him through cryptic languages, vanished manuscripts, and secrets that, if revealed, could upend everything we know.
It is this unique expertise that draws Xavier into a new mystery when a mummified knight, hidden for centuries inside volcanic rock, is discovered clutching a strange armoured egg. Inside are three ancient scrolls with secrets that could change everything.
One scroll tells an unorthodox version of the Passion of Christ, suggesting horrors too dark to appear in official scripture.
Another is written on human skin — perhaps Christ’s own — and though it seems blank at first, it hides mysterious symbols linked to power, resurrection, and prophecy.
As Xavier works tirelessly to unlock these ancient secrets, danger gathers like a storm on every horizon. His old nemesis, the cunning serial killer he once unmasked before a live television audience, is about to be released from prison — and his thirst for vengeance burns hotter than ever. At the same time, a powerful and shadowy order, the Knights of the New Order, moves in silence, willing to spill blood and topple governments to seize the scrolls for their own sinister designs. Their ultimate ambition is nothing less than unthinkable: to harness the forbidden knowledge within the parchments to clone Christ himself and bend faith, history, and power to their will.
In Codex, the librarian is no longer merely the quiet custodian of dusty stacks. Xavier de Torrent de Tête becomes something greater — a reluctant hero, a scholar-warrior whose formidable intellect, unshakable courage, and sense of moral duty stand as the last barrier between humanity and the chaos that would follow if these secrets fell into the wrong hands.
Because what’s hidden can be far more dangerous than what’s known; secrets left in the shadows have the power to corrupt, ignite wars, or even reshape history itself. And only a librarian — patient, relentless, armed with wisdom and the courage to confront forbidden truths — can bring such knowledge to light and decide whether it should be revealed or protected.
Discover the secrets, the scrolls, and the mind of Xavier de Torrent de Tête in the Codex by Philip G. Cohen.
