Product Description

When Robert Reckliss is sent what seems to be a copper puzzle box, he has no idea his life is about to undergo violent transformation. That night, an acquaintance kills himself in curious circumstances; the following day, an old friend reveals the existence of an arcane weapon that could wipe the western world from the face of the planet. And the responsibility for hunting down this weapon, this Malice Box, lies with Robert. The weapon is primed to explode in seven days and Robert must undergo a quest a series of trials around Manhattan in order to track down the keys vital to prevent detonation. In a desperate race against the clock, Robert trails the streets of Manhattan guided by Terri, a mysterious psychic, and under the constant gaze of the Watchman. Higher forces are battling to prevent him completing the quest for the Minotaur and Unicorn are circling their prey.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #449717 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

About the Author
Martin Langfield is the former East Coast Bureau Chief of Reuters in New York. The Malice Box is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

A rattling good yarn
A rattling good adventure sweeping you through Manhattan on a quest to retrieve 7 keys before they unlock a device which will destroy the world. Classic good versus evil stuff: an unwitting hero asked to step up and follow the Path to help the guardians of the Perfect Light defeat the Brotherhood of Inwn.

Robert Reckliss is an English journo in New York, whose strange and compulsive pastime is collecting scale models of NY buildings. This obsession sets the scene for a tale which uses the architecture and history of New York to drive a fascinating hunt against the clock. But the story has roots in his Cambridge days where he was drawn into the scavenger hunt games of the Unicorn Club by its enigmatic leader who twenty years on sends him a "Boîte à Malice" the Malice Box with the plea "Help me! Time is running out!" along with a cryptic puzzle to launch him on the first of seven trials to challenge him over the next 7 days.

Each trial is accompanied by fascinating puzzles for the reader to solve along with the hero - although he gets the help of the guardians. There is lots of stuff to interest and intrigue: science from Isaac Newton to the Manhattan Project, alchemy and metaphysics, religion and mysticism, all cleverly interwoven in a story where the hero has to find the power of the Light within him before he can defeat the dark powers of the Brotherhood.

And forget Paris and the da Vinci Code, a lot of people will be taking this book on a trip to Manhattan to follow the Path for themselves!

What a ride!
After having experienced a rather long dry spell trying to find intelligent AND entertaining suspense-fiction, I stumbled across The Malice Box. I had a hard time putting it down at night, which I paid for with two extremely groggy days at work. And I found myself preoccupied trying to figure out how the story was going to end. Congratulations to M. Langfield. I finished the book yesterday and it is still resonating! Here's hoping for a follow up!

Disappointing
I've been struggling to get through this and after reaching the halfway point, I have decided it's not worth the effort.
Ridiculous plot and shallow characters. Probably the worst effort at a 'Da Vinci' I have ever read.