The Eight (novel)

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The Eight, published December 27, 1988, is Katherine Neville's debut novel. Compared to the works of Umberto Eco when it first appeared, it is a postmodern thriller in which the heroine, accountant Catherine Velis, must recover the pieces of the Montglane Service, a mysterious chess set once owned by Charlemagne and involved in various conspiracies.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Eight was Katherine’s debut novel, a thriller set to feature two separate timeline running in parallel. Despite nearly two centuries of time and space between the years of 1790 and 1972, the characters are nevertheless intertwined and their lives sewn by fate.

The contemporary setting saw Catherine “Cat” Velis, a computing expert working for a Big Eight accounting firm, being sent to Algeria for a special assignment. Turn back the time, the readers are greeted by Mireille de Remy, a novice nun at Montglane Abbey. Both have a task on hand - to unravel the mystery behind the Montglane Service, a chess set that holds the key to a game of unlimited power.

A gift from the Moors to Empreror Charlemagne, these pieces have been hunted fervently throughout the years from those who seeks for the ultimate control. Initially kept in Montglane Abbey, a series of event forced the dispersal of the pieces to prevent these chess pieces from being reassembled and abused by the wrong hands. France, in the throes of revolution, was not exactly conducive for Mireille and her cousin Valentine whose duty was to scatter the Service. With Valentine sacrificed in the process, Mireille was at lost, not knowing who she could trust from those whom she could not. Coming into contact with various historical figures, from Napoleon to Catherine the Great, she ultimately had to forsake these acquaintances and relied on her own intuition to tide her through.

Moving between the two time period, another journey chalked up by Cat was embroiled with more power struggles, from assassination to betrayals. What originally was a request from an unknown antique dealer for her to bring back some chess pieces for him, the event transpired into a game shrouded by clouds of uncertainty. The players planned their moves, and yet were unaware that their very existence made them a pawn as well as a participant in the game. Frustration abound, and uncertainties of the side she belonged to, Cat made some independent moves that brought her deeper and deeper to the plot.