"An impressively ambitious debut that marries the crime novel with the occult thriller. . . . It's a British variant on The Da Vinci Code and The Rule of Four."-Andrew Taylor "Cracking . . . fast paced, carefully plotted, hard-hitting, but with an edge of humour to keep it sharp . . . thoroughly to be recommended."-Manda Scott It's a strange sort of robbery: On the surface, nothing is missing, and the only damage done is to the criminals. David Braun, star investigator for an exclusive insurance firm, is called on by his client-the sinister owner of the building-to find a priceless object that, to the outside world, was never meant to exist. In turning to American academic Susan Milton, an expert from the London School of Antiquities, he finds a friend and ally to help him make sense of the situation and unpick the mystery. Together they discover the truth that the crime was intended to conceal. Behind it all, a ruthless thief, who is intent on acquiring a priceless antique-an antique with a bloody history its owners would prefer to keep hidden. Risking their lives, they expose a horrifying secret that's centuries old-but the discovery makes them the target of a ruthless killer the police find impossible to catch. With time running out, David and Susan race to uncover the killer's true objective even as he closes in on them . . . Robert Finn is emerging as one of the breakthrough British authors of crime and mystery thrillers. Adept is his debut novel; Ex Machina, the sequel, is due out in autumn 2007. Finn lives and works in London.