Ian Mackinnon Caldwell is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspi ...

known for co-authoring the 2004 novel '' The Rule of Four''. His second book, ''The Fifth Gospel'', was published in 2015.

Personal life

Caldwell was born and raised in

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C ...

during which time he met his future writing collaborator, Dustin Thomason. Both graduated from the

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, TJ, or Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the b ...

in 1994. Caldwell graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ar ...

with an A.B. in history from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1998 after completing an 127-page-long senior thesis, titled "The French Popular Front and the Debate over Intervention in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

", under the supervision of Thomas J. Dandelet. After college, while working with Thomason on their first novel, Caldwell worked at

MicroStrategy MicroStrategy Incorporated is an American company that provides business intelligence (BI), mobile software, and cloud-based services. Founded in 1989 by Michael J. Saylor, Sanju Bansal, and Thomas Spahr, the firm develops software to analyze ...

in Tyson Corner and taught test preparation for Kaplan in Blacksburg while his wife, Meredith, earned her DVM at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

. The couple lived in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Unit ...

, before moving to Vienna, Virginia, to raise their three children: Ethan, Jude, and Luke.

Writing career

Upon graduating from their respective colleges, Caldwell began working with Thomason on the novel '' The Rule of Four''. After writing together for a summer, the two continued to collaborate online and by telephone for the next five years. The plot centers on four Princeton seniors attempting to solve a mystery related to the ''

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili'' (; ), called in English ''Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream'' or ''The Dream of Poliphilus'', is a book said to be by Francesco Colonna. It is a famous example of an incunable (a work of early printing). The wo ...

'', an Italian work from the early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

. The book was published by

Dial Press The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh. The Dial Press shared a building with '' The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R ...

in 2004, spent 49 weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list and has sold almost 2 million copies. It was often compared to

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels '' Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), '' The Lost Symbol'' (2009), ''Inferno'' (2013), ...

's novel '' The Da Vinci Code'' due to its similar style of teaching history through a fictional plot as well as the proximity in date of publication. It took Caldwell ten years to complete his second work, ''The Fifth Gospel'', which was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

in 2015. This solo work tells the fictional story of two brothers, both priests, exploring the ''

Diatessaron The ''Diatessaron'' ( syr, ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܕܡܚܠܛܐ, Ewangeliyôn Damhalltê; c. 160–175 AD) is the most prominent early gospel harmony, and was created by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to c ...

'', the "fifth" gospel, and how it might lead to reconciliation between the Roman Catholic and

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonica ...

churches.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Ian 1976 births 21st-century American novelists Princeton University alumni People from Vienna, Virginia Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology alumni People from Fairfax County, Virginia American male novelists Living people 21st-century American male writers