The Witch of BabylonD.J. McIntosh
Forge Books, October 2012
ISBN: 978-0765333667
International thriller-writing sensation D. J. McIntosh makes her American debut with The Witch of Babylon. Out of the searing heat and sandstorms of the infamous summer of 2003 in Baghdad comes The Witch of Babylon, a gripping story rooted in ancient Assyrian lore and its little-known but profound significance for the world.
D. J. McIntosh begins her planned Mesopotamian Trilogy with the page-turner The Witch of Babylon about a prospective royal treasure trove that may have been hidden away when the city of Nineveh fell in 612 B.C..
The Witch of Babylon follows John Madison, a New York art dealer, as he works against the clock to solve puzzles and hunt down a piece of historic artifact that’s gone missing. He unwillingly gets immersed in a plot that threatens his life, from the people who also want to retrieve the item.
After surviving a car crash that claimed the life of his brother, John’s own life rapidly unravels. He finds himself pulled into a mystery surrounding an enigmatic relic that Samuel and his Assyrian assistant managed to rescue from the National Museum of Iraq during the 2003 looting.
The object, which may reveal clues to an ancient, undiscovered Mesopotamian treasure, has disappeared, and John has been given a series of clues to decipher in order to find it, all the while being pursued by merciless members of a shadowy group. His quest takes him from New York to Baghdad to his birthplace in Turkey.
In book one in the Mesopotamian Trilogy, McIntosh weaves a tale of treasure-hunting and puzzles. The Witch of Babylon is at once a complex art-history mystery centered on biblical scholarship, a breath-stealing thriller set in the early months of the Iraq invasion, and an intellectual exploration of links between Mesopotamian myths and European alchemical processes.
D. J. McINTOSH’s The Witch of Babylon has been sold in nineteen countries, was short-listed for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award, and won a Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for best unpublished novel. McIntosh is a member of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies. She is a strong supporter of Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
ISBN: 978-0765333667; ISBN10: 076533366X; Imprint: Forge Books; On Sale: 10/16/2012; Format: Hardcover; Pages: 416; $25.99
