The Compendium of Srem (7 page)
Read The Compendium of Srem Online
Authors: F. Paul Wilson
In the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition spreads terror throughout the land, with Prior Tomás de Torquemada serving as the ultimate judge of who will live and who will be consigned to the purifying flames. Never has Torquemada questioned his own faith or his sacred duty to rid the world of heretics, blasphemers, and nonbelievers.
Now, however, an extraordinary volume has come into his possession – an ancient book that radiates pure evil. The prior realizes this abomination must be destroyed along with anyone who has come into contact with it, for it is surely the devil’s work, corrupting and possessing all those who touch it. But whom can Torquemada trust to help him achieve his mission now that The Compendium of Srem has passed through numerous hands... including his own?
P
RAISE
FOR
D
EATH
S
ENTENCES
“What treats you have in store! All these stories show their authors to be masters of their craft.”
Ian Rankin
P
RAISE
FOR
F. P
AUL
W
ILSON
“F. Paul Wilson is a great storyteller and a thoughtful one.”
David Morrell
F. P
AUL
W
ILSON
is a New York Times bestselling author specializing in thriller, science fiction and horror. He won the Prometheus award in 1979 and 2004, as well as a special Prometheus Lifetime Achievement award in 2015.
O
TTO
P
ENZLER
is the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and an Edgar-award winning anthologist.
I
AN
R
ANKIN
is the bestselling author of the Rebus series.
Sigmund Freud deals with an unwelcome visitor; Columbo confronts a murderous bookseller; a Mexican cartel kingpin with a fatal weakness for rare books; deadly secrets deep in the London Library: who knew literature could be so lethal? Here are 27 short stories to die for from the world’s best crime writers.
Includes original, specially commissioned stories about deadly books from Jeffrey Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates, Andrew Taylor, R. L. Stine, Laura Lippman, C.J. Box, Anne Perry, Ken Bruen, Thomas H. Cook, Micky Spillaine & Max Adam Collins, Nelson DeMille and John Connolly.
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