"The Book of Blood and Shadow" by Robin Wasserman

Whoa.  And my-oh-my.  Combine "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" with "The Da Vinci Code," add in seriously strong literary merit, and you have a very very complex book with a predictable and yet fully engaging story.  "The Book of Blood and Shadow" not only exceeds 400 pages, but uses words like "miasma" and has paragraph-long sentences -- which is to say, it's not a short read.  But it shouldn't be.  Drawing the plot through time and place, touching on alchemy, astronomy, religion and mysticism, Wasserman's tale takes us from a real-life poetess of thirteenth century Czechoslovakia to modern day New England; from Rabbi Judah Loew's Golem to the mysterious and untranslatable Voynich manuscript ... even Johannes Kepler makes a guest appearance.  This book is not for the faint of heart or the uncommitted, but I found myself inexorably drawn in.  Nora, a high school student in an unusual friendship with a couple at her upscale prep school, works on a college campus with an eccentric professor trying to find the "Lumen Dei" -- the Light of God.  Think of it as a modern-day cell-phone call to the Almighty, who would then answer all of your questions.  There is murder and madness and a clue or two buried in letters written in Latin.  Nora translates them, finding a soul-mate in a woman long gone, and uncovers her possible connection to a questionable invention lost in the dust.  Along the way, she reflects a good deal on the weirdness of the world around her -- longing to be part of it but recognizing inherent separateness.  Those familiar with this kind of tale will know that there are secrets within secrets and quite a number of fanatical religious soldiers intent on fulfilling or stopping a centuries-old prophecy so most of the "surprises" were of little surprise to me.  It didn't matter.  This was a book that had me stopping early, at pages 10, then 13, and so-on and so-on, to re-read passages that required the reader to really think about what was being said.  The word "layers" simply does not do it justice.  Highly satisfying, with only one glaring boo-boo (they leave one city with no luggage, only to find their luggage "ripped apart" in the hotel room of the next city), this one is worth spending the time with.  I'd say "enjoy," but it's a little dark for that -- let's just say it is totally worth the visit.