The Einstein Proxy

Albert Einstein died of natural causes in 1955. A final manuscript, long believed to be his incomplete deliberations on the most vexing issue in physics, is left in his office. It is a decoy. The brilliant scientist has smuggled the true mathematical solution overseas, and trusted it to a cadre of Jewish academics. It stays hidden for six decades. The year shifts to 2013. A family gathers around the table for a Seder feast at the beginning of Passover in the old Jewish quarter of Istanbul. A stranger invited to the dinner tortures and murders the host family. Alarm bells sound. The competing governments of Russia, Iran, Israel, and the United States dispatch operatives to the ancient walled city. Control of the manuscript is crucial, it holds the key to understanding the universe. Melissa Hastings, an American physicist, is teamed with CIA Case Officer Terry Solak to lead the U.S. efforts to recover the document. At every turn they are confronted by ambiguities and hostile intent. The search for Einstein's lost manuscript is both a layered exercise in espionage and a test of personal survival. Worst among the antagonists is a mystical Turk named Yilmaz. He belongs to a secretive sect descended from Sephardi Jews known as Donmeh. From Istanbul to Casablanca, to Paris, to New York, we follow Melissa and Terry as they strive to secure the document. The final shocking revelations force Melissa to confront moral choices in a world of deceit.