Episode 154: William J. Carl's Assassin's Manuscript

This episode of Across The Margin: The Podcast features an interview with William J. Carl (PhD), a Greek scholar, screenwriter and playwright, former professor, seminary president, and pastor, who has spoken at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, as well as many other schools in the U.S., and internationally. He is the author of eight nonfiction books and one novel entitled Assassin's Manuscript — the focus of this episode. He also lectures on the Brain at medical schools and medical conferences. Assassin’s Manuscript tells the story of when former CIA assassin Adam Hunter’s last hit goes awry and he attempts to leave behind his world of espionage and murder by embarking on a career in ministry. But soon, he is pulled back in to crack a code hidden in an ancient manuscript in order to foil a terrorist plot. In the meantime, Renie Ellis, a lawyer in the small town he’s moved to, gets caught up in his dilemma and falls in love with him, not realizing he killed her fiancé by accident. The heist of a famous Codex from the British Museum, Papal intrigue in the Vatican, Sicilian and Russian Mafia involvement, and a U.S. President who knows more than she admits, all play key roles in a story that keeps the reader guessing until the end. From Rome to Jerusalem, from Egypt’s Mt. Sinai to Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, the characters in Assassin’s Manuscript scramble for their lives, racing the clock to prevent an international disaster. In this episode host Michael Shields and William Carl discuss the vast amount of research involved in bringing Assassin’s Manuscript to life (including interviewing multiple real-life assassins). They discuss the exotic locations brought vividly to life in the book and the diverse and unique motivations of the eclectic grouping of characters found in the novel. They explore the weighty themes present in the book, the legendary text (the Codex Sinaiticus) that lies at the heart of Assassin’s Manuscript, what might be in store for the character of Adam Hunter moving forward, and so much more.

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