The more brightly it shines, the darker the shadow it casts. Thus it is that Thomas Brennan finds himself an unwillingly lapsed Catholic, wandering lost in the cold, dark shadows cast by the sexual depravations of two trusted, well-respected priests who sexually abused a young Brennan on two separate occasions while he was growing up. Brennan now wrestles with his own battered spirituality, desperately trying to assuage the enormous hole in his faith, his trust, his very soul.

Brennan's pursuit takes him around the world where, as an archeologist, he sifts through history in an innate attempt for validation of his faith. When proof is uncovered that authenticates two infamous icons of Christianity: the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo, anticipation abounds, until a third piece of evidence is unearthed - the perfectly preserved, mummified body that was actually responsible for creating the images on the shroud and the sudarium - the body of Jesus Christ!

Along the way, we meet the mysterious secret organization - the silent strong arm of the Church - Custodis Veritas, as well as a deeply implanted witness in the FBI's Witness Protection Program who is about to turn state's evidence on a vicious, notorious mafia caporegime known as Vincent "Mr. Delaware" DiChicario.

Our story culminates in a warehouse in South Philadelphia, where Brennan meets his fate head on, bullets flying, as he attempts to rescue the woman who helped him to find love and trust again, from the clutches of the nefarious Mr. Delaware. Ironically, it is this trust - skewed by the very person who gave it back to him - that frees him in the end, for sometimes a lie can be the kindest truth of all; sometimes ignorance is truly bliss.