Picked by Sancti Trilogy fans

Here are 4 books that Sancti Trilogy fans have personally recommended once you finish the Sancti Trilogy series. Book DNA is a community of authors and super-readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Book cover of The Eighth Day

Alastair Gunn Author Of The Bergamese Sect

From my list on thrillers exploring religious conspiracies.

Why am I passionate about this?

Some of my earliest memories are of exploring megalithic sites such as Stonehenge. I guess I can blame my parents for making me a history buff, fascinated by ancient cultures, ancient religions and ancient mysteries. It’s no surprise then that I ended up a fan of mystery fiction. Most people would turn immediately to Dan Brown for this genre, but there are many excellent authors in this genre for fans to discover. I didn’t end up as a historian, but a scientist. So, when I began writing thrillers, I combined my scientific knowledge with my love of ancient mysteries. The result, The Bergamese Sect, is a religious conspiracy thriller masquerading as science fiction!

Alastair's book list on thrillers exploring religious conspiracies

Alastair Gunn Why Alastair loves this book

I’ve chosen this final recommendation because it is a little different from the standard religious conspiracy thriller. I love John Case’s writing (actually a husband and wife collaboration). Although The Genesis Code from this pair could be regarded as a better example of the genre, I prefer The Eighth Day because it deviates from the usual strictly Christian or Islamic subject matter. Plus, refreshingly, it doesn’t make the main character a superhero of espionage, an out-of-control academic, or a swaggering investigative journalist. It involves a demonic tribe in the hinterlands of Turkey and a billionaire’s megalomania. Be prepared for some surprising twists! Dark, fast-paced, and full of intrigue. 

By John Case ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Eighth Day as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"And on the Seventh Day, He rested." --Genesis, 2:2-3 The EighthDay is an explosive, compulsively readable novel of suspense that plunges a clever young man into a web of mystery and international deceit, bringing him face to face with the ultimate evil. Danny Cray is a struggling 28 year-old sculptor and video artist who lives in Washington DC. To make ends meet, he does occasional freelance work as a researcher for a large firm of private detectives. When one of their most powerful clients approaches him with a job, the money is too good to resist. All he has to…


Book cover of The Lost Testament

Alastair Gunn Author Of The Bergamese Sect

From my list on thrillers exploring religious conspiracies.

Why am I passionate about this?

Some of my earliest memories are of exploring megalithic sites such as Stonehenge. I guess I can blame my parents for making me a history buff, fascinated by ancient cultures, ancient religions and ancient mysteries. It’s no surprise then that I ended up a fan of mystery fiction. Most people would turn immediately to Dan Brown for this genre, but there are many excellent authors in this genre for fans to discover. I didn’t end up as a historian, but a scientist. So, when I began writing thrillers, I combined my scientific knowledge with my love of ancient mysteries. The result, The Bergamese Sect, is a religious conspiracy thriller masquerading as science fiction!

Alastair's book list on thrillers exploring religious conspiracies

Alastair Gunn Why Alastair loves this book

Despite the similar title to my previous recommendation, James Becker’s The Lost Testament is a very different beast. The sixth installment of Becker’s Chris Bronson series, the testament concerned is an ancient parchment stolen from the Vatican Archives. It later shows up for sale in Cairo; soon the body count rises as various factions fall over themselves to find it and protect its damaging revelation. I think Becker is a vastly underrated author; his use of plot decoys and his descriptive passages are second-to-none. Becker is another author I admired enough to ask him to cover-review my book

By James Becker ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lost Testament as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

FROM THE PUBLISHERS THAT BROUGHT YOU DAN BROWN

For thousands of years we guarded it. But now it has been found. This could be the end – for us; for our organisation; for the world. You must destroy it, and those who have taken it.

An ancient object is discovered in a Cairo souk. Hours later, the market trader who sold it is tortured to death. As the bodies begin to pile up, a request for help is sent to British Museum historian Angela Lewis.

Angela travels to Spain with her ex-husband, undercover police officer Chris Bronson. There they discover…


Book cover of The Last Testament

Alastair Gunn Author Of The Bergamese Sect

From my list on thrillers exploring religious conspiracies.

Why am I passionate about this?

Some of my earliest memories are of exploring megalithic sites such as Stonehenge. I guess I can blame my parents for making me a history buff, fascinated by ancient cultures, ancient religions and ancient mysteries. It’s no surprise then that I ended up a fan of mystery fiction. Most people would turn immediately to Dan Brown for this genre, but there are many excellent authors in this genre for fans to discover. I didn’t end up as a historian, but a scientist. So, when I began writing thrillers, I combined my scientific knowledge with my love of ancient mysteries. The result, The Bergamese Sect, is a religious conspiracy thriller masquerading as science fiction!

Alastair's book list on thrillers exploring religious conspiracies

Alastair Gunn Why Alastair loves this book

Sam Bourne (a pseudonym of British author Jonathan Freedland) is an unfairly neglected writer of religious conspiracy thrillers. It’s difficult to recommend just one of Bourne’s books; they are, without fail, perfect examples of the ‘Dan Brown’ genre of fiction. However, The Last Testament is an excellent place to start. Here, Bourne manages to seamlessly meld modern geopolitics with ancient religious mythology. As the protagonists hunt for a stolen relic from the time of Abraham, its significance for peace or war in the Bible lands becomes clear. Hold on to your hats with this one!

By Sam Bourne ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Last Testament as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the Number One bestselling author of The Righteous Men comes this staggering religious conspiracy thriller. The Last Testament: It was written. It was lost. It will save us all.

April 2003: as the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities is looted, a teenage Iraqi boy finds an ancient clay tablet in a long-forgotten vault. He takes it and runs off into the night ...

Several years later, at a peace rally in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister is about to sign a historic deal with the Palestinians. A man approaches from the crowd and seems to reach for a gun -…


Book cover of The Templar Legacy

Gary Fields Author Of The Book of Judges

From my list on modern-day books that blend thriller and historical fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

While the pacing, suspense, and twists of a well-crafted modern-day thriller can bring their own rewards, I find that when the thriller is enriched by the cultures of the past, the story can become one of powerful depth. Exploring modern-day morals, laws, or customs can be the start of a canvas painted with far more vivid contrasts. Reading some of these mixed-genre marvels inspired me to write The Book of Judges

Gary's book list on modern-day books that blend thriller and historical fiction

Gary Fields Why Gary loves this book

The rich history of the Knights Templar, their fall from incredible wealth and power in the fourteenth century, and the mystery behind the undiscovered treasure they supposedly left behind, lay a wondrous landscape upon which Steve Berry sets his first Cotton Malone thriller.

From its opening violent robbery attempt to the twists Malone encounters as he figures out just what the Templars left, and the potentially world-changing impact it could have, the tension perfectly intersects with the history. And it has the three key plot components to a great story in this mixed-genre: intriguing puzzles, huge secrets, and huge stakes.

By Steve Berry ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Templar Legacy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first explosive thriller in the Cotton Malone series from a New York Times megaselling author.

The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power, until the Inquisition destroyed them and their riches were lost forever.

But some people don't believe in 'forever'.

Ex-agent Cotton Malone used to work for Stephanie Nelle in the US Justice Department. Now Nelle wants his help to crack a series of puzzles that have confounded experts for centuries - and could lead to the legendary lost treasure of the Knights Templar.

But someone else is on the trail - someone…