From Publishers Weekly
The Nazi plunder of Europe's art and antiquities during WWII sets the stage for a thriller spun around a religious coverup so devastating it could topple the Vatican and crush Western religion. A dying, repentant Nazi, Willi Max, calls renowned American art broker/historian Zoe Ridgeway, to Switzerland, where he reveals his cache of looted treasure, hiring her to catalogue and return it to the owners or heirs. Shortly after she tells her husband, Seth--an ex-L.A. cop turned comparative religion professor at UCLA--about the exciting job, she is kidnapped from their Zurich hotel room. The dismissive Swiss police do little to search for Zoe, so Seth takes charge when he reads that Willi Max died when a fire demolished his mansion just hours after Zoe met with him. Seth discovers that the destroyed treasures are only a fraction of the spoils stashed in a booby-trapped salt mine since WWII. One religious relic's very existence was kept secret by the Vatican for centuries: it's a burial shroud clearly showing the image of a young girl, a second messiah. This "daughter of God" was killed, along with her entire village, in the time of Constantine, because her sex and her healing powers threatened the fledgling Christian religion. When the Nazis found out about the shroud, Hitler used the relic to blackmail Pope Pius into silence about Nazi atrocities. Seth has sole access to the salt mine and soon the head of Vatican intelligence, the Russian mafiya and other sinister agents give murderous chase. Perdue's speedy tale of greed and power boasts strong heroes and villains with credible motivation. He steps nimbly between Switzerland and L.A., putting Zoe in peril, but with the wits to save herself. A valiant cadre of aging war survivors add color to the cast. Agent, Natasha Kem. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Former investigative reporter Perdue spent years tracing missing art all over Europe. The value of that experience is made clear in this edge-of-your-seat thriller about Sophia, a female Messiah born three centuries after Christ. Sophia's very existence, her healing miracles, and the fact that she was attracting a serious following, added up to a major threat to religious dogma treating women as strictly inferior beings. The threat ended with her execution--or so Church authorities thought--and her existence remained a well-kept Vatican secret until Hitler's art looters stumbled on it. Fast forward to the present. Zoe Ridgeway, art expert and broker is in Switzerland to handle an amazing collection for a dying German. The German's death is speeded up by outside forces including Russian gangsters, American agents, and a Cardinal-who-would-be-Pope, all of whom seek the proof of Sophia's existence. Zoe is kidnapped by the Russians and almost murdered before matters reach a surprising finale. Perdue makes superb use of apocalyptic themes in what is an outstanding thriller on every level. This one will cause a lot of sleepless nights. Budd Arthur


From Kirkus Reviews
Former investigative journalist Perdue, who specialized in recovery of art missing in Europe offers a thriller about a world-shattering secret kept under wraps by the Catholic Church for more than 1600 years. Art broker and appraiser Zoe Ridgeway goes to Switzerland with her husband, Seth, a professor of comparative religion at UCLA, at the call of dying collector Willi Max, whose mansion is hung with lost masterworks. Max, a former Nazi entrusted with hiding stolen art, wants to atone for the Leonardos and Vermeers he has kept from human viewand also for hiding documents from the time of Emperor Constantine that attest to the rise of a second Messiah during Constantines reign, as well as of the existence of a second shroud, one perhaps even more convincing than the Shroud of Turin. Unhappily for the Church, this one holds the image of a female messiah. Soon after Max presents these documents to both Zoe, who receives them with feminist cynicism toward the Church, and Seth, a wavering believer, the works are stolen from them and Zoe is kidnaped. Cut to the Vatican, where the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) holds sway and defends the truth of the Faith against opposing truths, recalling the time when the maid Sophia arose, around the period of the editorial disputes of the Bishops of Nicea as they assembled Church doctrine, and began preaching, healing, and performing miracles before she was put to deathto save ameliorative doctrine issued and enforced by Constantine. One doctrine: that Jesus was or is consubstantial with God. Sophia, or Wisdom, Perdue suggests, might well be the Logos of the Christian Trinity before it was decreed all male. Persuasively written, fact-based fiction that takes on an endlessly gripping subjectmatters of faith decided by political expediency rather than spiritual value. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Indianapolis Star
"A superb thriller!"


Review
"Daughter of God is the way thrillers are supposed to be written . . . A read yoou won't soon forget."


Clive Cussler
"Daughter of God is the way thrillers are supposed to be written . . . A read yoou won't soon forget."


Review
"A superb thriller."--Indianapolis Star

"Daughter of God is the way thrillers are supposed to be written...A read you won't soon forget."--Clive Cussler

"An edge-of-your-seat thriller...A surprising finale. Perdue makes superb use of apocalyptic themes in what is an outstanding thriller on every level. This one will cause alot of sleepless nights."--Booklist (starred review)



Book Description
When Zoe Ridgeway, a prominent art broker, visits Switzerland with her husband Seth, she expects to purchase the rich estate of a secretive art collector. But before Zoe can complete the transaction, she and Seth are drawn into a thousand-year-old web of conspiracy, murder and intrigue that begins and ends with the mystery of a female Messiah, a young girl whose existence, if proven, would explode the very foundation of Western culture.



From the Publisher
"DAUGHTER OF GOD is the way thrillers are supposed to be written. The plot and concept are unlike any on the shelves today. A read you won't soon forget." --Clive Cussler

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Zoe Ridgeway, a prominent art broker, visits Switzerland with her husband Seth, she expects to purchase the rich estate of a secretive art collector. But before Zoe can complete the transaction, she and Seth are drawn into a thousand-year-old web of conspiracy, murder and intrigue that begins and ends with the mystery of a female Messiah, a young girl whose existence, if proven, would explode the very foundation of Western culture.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly