The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason was a really fun book for those that like puzzles. It's much better than anything Dan Brown ever wrote. The puzzles in this one reference renaissance art and humanism in Florence, and it has a compelling story line with fun subplots going on around it. It combines history and mystery in a wonderful sort of way. Definitely recommended.
Synopsis:
Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two friends 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 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 a vital clue is unearthed: a long-lost diary that may prove to be the key to deciphering the ancient text. But when a longtime student of the book is murdered just hours later, a chilling cycle of deaths and revelations begins—one that will force Tom and Paul into a fiery drama, spun from a book whose power and meaning have long been misunderstood.
Sounds like a real page-turner!
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