Temple (novel)
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (April 2008) |
 Cover of Temple | |
| Author | Matthew Reilly |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Techno-thriller novel |
| Publisher | Pan Macmillan |
Publication date | August, 1999 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | Print (Paperback & Hardback) |
| Pages | 689 pp |
| ISBN | 0-330-48248-3 |
| OCLC | 223355001 |
Temple is a thriller novel written by Australian author Matthew Reilly and first published in 1999. Like Reilly's other books, Temple's major attractions are the fast pace and the complexity of the action scenes.
At the time of publication, Reilly hinted at the possibility of a sequel starring the same protagonist, Professor William Race, but the release of such a book has never been officially confirmed.
Plot introduction
Deep in the jungles of Peru, the hunt for a legendary Incan idol is underway - an idol that in the present day could be used as the basis for a highly destructive and terrifying weapon.
Guiding the US Army team is Professor William Race, a young linguist who must translate an ancient manuscript which contains the location of the idol.
What they find is an ominous stone temple, sealed tight. They open it - and soon discover that some doors are meant to remain unopened...
Temple is split into two stories, both set in South America: One set during the Spanish Occupation and one set in 1999. The main focus of the former story is the journey of a monk named Alberto Santiago who becomes a traitor to his country after witnessing Spanish atrocities among the Incan civilisation. Aiding an Incan Prince named Renco Capac to escape, Santiago begins a quest to protect a special Idol - 'The Spirit of the People', an idol carved from black stone with purple veins running through it, carved from a meteorite. Upon his return to Spain, Santiago records his story in a transcript in a monastery in France. Four hundred years later, a group of armed militia storms the monastery, execute the Jesuit monks living there and recover the Santiago manuscript and another party raids DARPA headquarters. Seeing the seriousness of the mission, DARPA sends Colonel Frank Nash to Peru with the aid of NYU linguistics professor William Race to recover the idol before anyone else can retrieve it. Along the way, Race has to deal with neo-Nazis, a powerplay between the three branches of the US armed forces, group of nihilistic domestic terrorists, The Republican Army of Texas and terrifying rapas (large jaguar like cats). Their mission: to retrieve 'the Spirit of the People' (as the natives call it), carved out of Thyrium-261, a nuclear material from a binary star system that came to Earth via a meteorite. Thyrium has the potential to provide virtually limitless clean energy ... or fuel the Supernova, a next-generation weapon of mass destruction with the power to decimate a third of the Earth's surface and bring about Doomsday.
Plot summary
Alberto Santiago's Story
Santiago's story takes place five hundred years prior to the main events of the story. It is told in the form of a story-within-a-story, the memoirs of a Spanish priest during the discovery of South America. Santiago betrays his countrymen when he frees Renco Capac, an Incan prince, from a prison hulk. Much of Santiago's story details his journey with Renco and a criminal named Bassario from Cuzco to the citadel at Vilcafor as they attempt to defend a sacred Incan idol from pursuing conquistadors who will do anything to get it back. Santiago's manuscript appears several times in the story, often providing the main characters with crucial information.
William Race's Story
Most of the book follows William Race, a professor of linguistics at New York University. He is asked by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to translate a copy of the Santiago Manuscript. DARPA are looking for the idol hidden away by Renco Capac, believing it to be carved from a meteorite and forming the basis of a planet-killing weapon code-named the Supernova. Race reluctantly agrees and leaves with DARPA for Peru, where they find the citadel at Vilcafor. Along the way, he has to deal with a neo-Nazi faction, in-fighting between the United States Army and Navy, and a doomsday cult, all of whom want the legendary idol for their own purposes.