Internationally acclaimed crime writer John Gardner returns with a magnificent new cutting-edge thriller in the grand espionage tradition for which he is famous.

Charlie Gauntlet, a retired lawyer who was "something dodgy for the Foreign Office," is recently married to the much younger Rebecca "Bex" Olesker, a Detective Sergeant in the London Metropolitan Police's Anti-Terrorist Branch. Charlie has more or less come to terms with Bex's demanding and dangerous job, though its hard for him to stay home when his young wife is on the front lines. Especially when she's facing Alchemist, an unidentified hired assassin who strikes high-profile targets and demands a big payoff. Now Bex may be the one to find him, but will she survive the encounter?

Charlie takes a strange and perhaps perilous journey of his own, exploring a remote monastery which may hold the secrets for a new explanation of the Christian faith. The monks who are guarding the scrolls, however, don't seem like the religious type to Charlie; they carry side arms and he's seen them before in decidedly unholy circumstances.

With Gardner's signature style and wit, Day of Absolution builds to an electrifying conclusion as it examines some of life's most eternal questions.

"John Gardner is truly a maestro himself, and this is his tour de force into the world of espionage. A great read, a moving and engaging novel." —Nelson DeMille

" One of the best writers of espionage fiction ."—Booklist