Another Biblical, Catholic, Conspiratorial mystery novel

This is the second novel by Tom Knox the pseudonym of the British journalist Sean Thomas. I have already reviewed his first novel, The Genesis Secret, which though it hand its moments, is not nearly as compelling or well-written as his second novel, The Marks of Cain.
Like Genesis, The Marks of Cain has the strange little Dan Brown-style note stating that though it is a work of fiction, "it draws on many genuine historical, archaeological and scientific sources." Knox makes excellent use of his journalistic skills to artfully set compelling tableaus that he then weaves together into a main narrative thread. I found myself wanting to further research the construction and subsequent history of the La Tourette monastery designed by Le Corbusier, Eugen Fischer and the history of his eugenics research in Africa and his connection to the Nazis, and the history of the Basque region of Spain and the fate of the "Cagots." If you are wanting a novel that provides a great deal of historical, religious, and cultural information, but doesn't read like a reference guide, I highly recommend the novels of Tom Knox. The fact that he has the gift to turn this information into a riveting mystery/adventure story is icing on the cake.
As I previously mentioned, Knox typically chooses two or three different characters and stories that at first glance do not seem connected at all, only to bring them all together by the close of the story. In this case, we begin with the odd and humorous scene of British journalist Simon Quinn attending a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. As you might inspect from a detective/mystery story, Quinn is soon summoned by the authorities to cover a rather gruesome murder scene that has all the signs of ritual type of murder. One murder leads to another and another and soon we are carried away on Quinn's quest to find the common thread of these murders. Somewhat unexpectedly, Quinn finds himself learning a great deal about the eugenics movement and the work of Eugen Fischer and more recent work on the Human Genome Diversity Project.
David Martinez, a British American professional returns to the U.S. to be with his dying grandfather, only to learn upon his grandfather's death that there is a mystery to his and David's family origins that lead him into a dangerous journey among the Basque as he attempts to understand his grandfather's past and the true fate of David's parents who died tragically when David was a teenager.
Eventually the paths of Quinn and Martinez path as they and the reader slowly begin to pierce together the pieces of the puzzle involving Corbusier, Nazi eugenics, the Cagots, and the old reliable institutional bad guy (the Roman Catholic Church). Some of these connections are well-documented like the decision by Pius XII not to speak out more forcefully about the treatment of the Jews by Germany in World War II. Others, like the La Tourette monastery and the history of the Cagots were news to me. Knox does a superb job of making these connections work fictionally, even if they do not always support the history or vice versa.
Knox does what a good historical novelist should do which is to connect the dots in an interesting way that allows the reader to believe in the story they are being told and to want to reach the resolution as much as the characters in the story do. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I would recommend his work to anyone who is a fan of this growing genre of fiction. While I would still give Dan Brown credit for writing more compelling novels, the intellectual substance of Knox's work is far superior to that of Brown.
Enjoy!

Czar