When Treyton Chase goes through his recently deceased father's possessions and happens upon a primer with mysteriously underlined words and a Bible inscribed with an unfamiliar name, his once dependable, albeit troubled, family history abruptly turns murky. The fiftyish Chase—a Canadian elementary school teacher—searches for answers and is unexpectedly thrust into a DaVinci Code-style adventure that sends him across the Atlantic to France and Turkey in pursuit of his true identity, and ultimately, a legendary treasure. Along the way, Chase will encounter French student activists, Russian agents, an innocent bystander/co-conspirator or two, and a woman with unclear intentions and motives.

Author Kiehr incorporates factual events into his narrative, such as the violent civil unrest in Paris in 1968, the First World War, and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, while offering prose that often comes across as elegant. Moreover, he displays an enviable grasp and portrayal of the history, politics, geography, and cultures of the times and places he has recruited for his tale. He is particularly adept at translating for the reader the archeological processes and research skills his protagonist must learn and use in pursuit of the long-lost treasure. While the author does a good job of keeping the players and events straight, the story occasionally bogs down somewhat due to the extensive library research details and the rather lengthy Paris section of the book. All in all, however, the result is a complicated yarn with a protagonist who weaves his way through a minefield of plot twists.

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