A New York Times BestsellerAn ivy league murder, a mysterious coded manuscript, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide - a brilliant work of fiction that weaves together suspense and scholarship, high art and unimaginable treachery. Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the book may finally reveal its secrets - to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with it, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it - when an ancient diary surfaces. Armed with the final clue, the two friends delve into a world of forgotten erudition, strange sexual appetites, and terrible violence. But just as they begin to realize the magnitude of their discovery, the campus is rocked: a longtime student of the book has been murdered.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.