"It is the near future, and a genetic research team from the NIH is asked by the Vatican to use the latest findings of the Human Genome Project to shed new light on the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. The lead researcher, Robert Strickland M. D. , is an agnostic with spiritual leanings. But as the inquiry proceeds, it appears that this is indeed the burial cloth of the historical Jesus -- and the vestment's bloodstains open up the possibility of cloning. The ensuing investigative journey -- from Washington D. C. , to Israel, to Belize -- has global repercussions, and forever transforms the lives of all involved. "--Cover p. [4].