The Rule Of Four

　　A mysterious coded manuscript, a violent Ivy League murder, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide in a labyrinth of betrayal, madness, and genius.

THE RULE OF FOUR

　　Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. 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 an ancient diary surfaces. What Tom and Paul discover inside shocks even them: proof that the location of a hidden crypt has been ciphered within the pages of the obscure Renaissance text.

　　Armed with this final clue, the two friends delve into the bizarre world of the Hypnerotomachia -- a world of forgotten erudition, strange sexual appetites, and terrible violence. But just as they begin to realize the magnitude of their discovery, Princeton's snowy campus is rocked: a longtime student of the book is murdered, shot dead in the hushed halls of the history department.

　　A tale of timeless intrigue, dazzling scholarship, and great imaginative power, The Rule of Four is the story of a young man divided between the future's promise and the past's allure, guided only by friendship and love.

即將拍成電影，預計2008年上映！
五百年前，一場精心設計的謀殺，
文藝復興時代最驚人的謎團隨之埋葬……
五百年後，當暗藏殺機的書頁再度開啟，
誰將能戰勝智慧女妖所佈下的陷阱？

　　平靜單純的校園驚爆槍響，也揭開了學術殿堂背後的醜陋黑暗，而這一切，全都源自於一本從文藝復興時代流傳下來的古書《尋愛綺夢》－－一本以密碼文字寫成、晦澀難懂的巨著，書中藏有足以改寫文藝復興歷史的驚世秘密，但五百年來無數學者費盡心血卻不得其解。

　　普林斯頓大學的準畢業生保羅，大學四年都狂熱的投注在研究《尋愛綺夢》之上，如今只差臨門一腳即可解開謎底，於是求助於死黨湯姆。對湯姆而言，研究這本書等於繼承了已逝父親的畢生志業，但《尋愛綺夢》彷彿女妖的魔咒，總會讓研究者忘情的過度投入，也因此危及了湯姆與女友凱蒂的感情。夾在友情與愛情之間的湯姆，陷入了進退維谷的掙扎之中。

　　就在此時，他們偶然獲得了一本失竊已久的『守港人日記』，日記中記載的線索對解開《尋愛綺夢》的秘密至關重要，眼見最後一片拼圖已經到手，不料交給他們日記的研究生比爾卻在校園中遭到槍殺身亡！

　　兇手的身分和動機都不明，湯姆與保羅一方面要設法破解最後也最關鍵的密碼－－『四的法則』的意義，另一方面還得面對警方對他們的懷疑。更糟的是，保羅的指導教授以及湯姆父親的好友似乎也牽涉在背後的陰謀中。重重的疑雲與迷霧，信任或是背叛，已無從判斷……

　　全書以歷史悠久的名校普林斯頓大學為舞台，透過層層解謎的過程，帶領讀者一步步深入令人震撼的歷史真相，不但具備引人入勝的懸疑氣氛，更呈現了人性的掙扎及愛恨的交纏，構成一部融合了友情與愛情、文學與歷史、背叛與謀殺的最高傑作！

作者簡介

伊恩．柯德威（Ian Caldwell）

　　畢業於普林斯頓大學歷史系，曾獲選榮譽學生聯誼會的會員，現定居維吉尼亞州的新港市。

達斯汀．湯瑪遜（Dustin Thomason）

　　畢業於哈佛大學醫學院，曾經獲頒哈佛大學的胡珀斯獎，現居紐約市。

　　伊恩與達斯汀兩人從八歲起即結為好友，一九九八年大學畢業後開始合作他們的第一本小說《四的法則》，歷時六年才完成，但從此一炮而紅，並晉身千萬暢銷作家。

本書中譯本《四的法則》由皇冠出版。

Chapter 1



Strange thing, time. It weighs most on those who have it least. Nothing is lighter than being young with the world on your shoulders; it gives you a feeling of possibility so seductive, you know there must be something more important you could be doing than studying for exams.



I can see myself now, the night it all began. Im lying back on the old red sofa in our dorm room, wrestling with Pavlov and his dogs in my introductory psychology book, wondering why I never fulfilled my science requirement as a freshman like everyone else. A pair of letters sits on the coffee table in front of me, each containing a vision of what I could be doing next year. The night of Good Friday has fallen, cold April in Princeton, New Jersey, and with only a month of college left Im no different from anyone else in the class of 1999: Im having trouble getting my mind off the future.



Charlie is sitting on the floor by the cube refrigerator, playing with the Magnetic Shakespeare someone left in our room last week. The Fitzgerald novel hes supposed to be reading for his final paper in English 151w is spread open on the floor with its spine broken, like a butterfly somebody stepped on, and hes forming and re-forming sentences from magnets with Shakespearean words on them. If you ask him why hes not reading Fitzgerald, hell grunt and say theres no



point. As far as hes concerned, literature is just an educated mans shell game, three-card monte for the college crowd: what you see is never what you get. For a science-minded guy like Charlie, thats the height of perversity. Hes headed for medical school in the fall, but the rest of us are still hearing about the C-plus he found on his English midterm in March.



Gil glances over at us and smiles. Hes been pretending to study for an economics exam, but Breakfast at Tiffanys is on, and Gil has a thing for old films, especially ones with Audrey Hepburn. His advice to Charlie was simple: if you dont want to read the book, then rent the movie. Theyll never know. Hes probably right, but Charlie sees something dishonest in that, and anyway it would prevent him from complaining about what a scam literature is, so instead of Daisy Buchanan were watching Holly Golightly yet again.