:''This article relates to the 2004 novel. For the legal practice, see
Rule of four
{{about, the legal term, the 2004 novel, The Rule of Four
The rule of four is a US Supreme Court practice that permits four of the nine justices to grant a writ of certiorari. It has the specific purpose to prevent a majority of the Court's membe ...
''.
The Rule of Four is a novel written by the American authors
Ian Caldwell
Ian Mackinnon Caldwell is an American novelist 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 dur ...
and
Dustin Thomason
Dustin Thomason (born 1976) is an American writer and producer who co-authored the ''New York Times'' bestselling historical fiction novel '' The Rule of Four'' with Ian Caldwell.
Novels
Thomason began his career as a novelist. He is a co-autho ...
, and published in 2004. Caldwell, a
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 ...
graduate, and Thomason, a
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
graduate, are childhood friends who wrote the book after their graduations.
''The Rule of Four'' reached the top of the
''New York Times'' Bestseller list, where it remained for more than six months.
Plot summary
The book is set on the Princeton campus during Easter weekend in 1999. The story involves four Princeton seniors, both friends and roommates, getting ready for graduation: Tom, Paul, Charlie and Gil. Tom and Paul are trying to solve the mystery contained within an extremely rare, and mysterious book, 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 wor ...
'', which was an
incunabulum
In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were p ...
published in 1499 in Venice, Italy; it is a complex allegorical work written in a modified Italian language frequently interspersed with material from other languages as well as its anonymous author's own made-up words.
Tom, the narrator, is the son of a professor who had dedicated his life to the ''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili''. Throughout the novel, he struggles between being fascinated by the book and trying to pull away from the obsession that drew a rift between his father and his mother and is now causing discord between him and his girlfriend, Katie Marchand. Paul Harris is a young scholar who is writing his senior thesis on the ''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili'' and has spent all four of his undergraduate years studying the book and is on the edge of solving the book's mystery. His thesis advisors, Richard Curry and Vincent Taft, were friends and later rivals of Tom's father; Taft and Corelli found, stole, and concealed documents that provided clues to decode the mysterious book.
The title refers to a cipher that the characters find was used to encode a hidden message in the ''Hypnerotomachia'', which leads to a secret vault in
Rome, Italy of books and art that the author,
Francesco Colonna, hid to protect them from
Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...
's
bonfire of the vanities
A bonfire of the vanities ( it, falò delle vanità) is a burning of objects condemned by religious authorities as occasions of sin. The phrase itself usually refers to the bonfire of 7 February 1497, when supporters of the Dominican friar G ...
. It also turns out that Paul's friend Bill Stein and his thesis advisor Vincent Taft were conspiring together to steal Paul's thesis and claim credit for it, and the sealed vault of treasures. They were murdered by Paul's wealthy but unstable benefactor Richard Curry to prevent this from happening. In a struggle with Curry that leads to a fire breaking out at
Ivy Club
The Ivy Club, often simply Ivy, is the oldest eating club at Princeton University, and it is "still considered the most prestigious" by its members. It was founded in 1879 with Arthur Hawley Scribner as its first head. Ivy is one of the "Big Four ...
, a
Princeton eating club of which Gil is the president, Tom escapes but Paul and Curry are assumed to perish. The remains of a fragment of jawbone, found a few days after the tragic fire, ultimately match Curry's dental records, thus concluding that Curry perished when a gas main exploded due to the fire. Although no remains were ever found that would link to Paul's demise, he was assumed dead when he remained missing after some time. Five years later, Tom, who is still traumatized and has had a failed engagement with another woman, receives an authentic ancient (and unknown)
Botticelli canvas in the mail with a mysterious return address neatly printed on the mailing tube. A bit of quick research by Tom revealed that the painting was mailed from
Florence, Italy. Another mysterious inscription on the tube, GEN4519, catches Tom's attention at once. After puzzling over its meaning, he finally makes the connection. Genesis Ch 45 Verse 19 in the Holy Bible. It says, "...get your father and come," followed by 45:20 "Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours." The painting was sent by Paul. The book ends with Tom preparing to pack for a flight to
Florence, Italy,to reunite with Paul.
Critical reception
The book has been well received by critics, with the ''
New York Times Book Review'' calling it "the ultimate puzzle book", and several others comparing it positively to ''
The Da Vinci Code
''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Lang ...
''. It received an aggregate score of 74 out of 100 (based on 17 reviews) on the review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
See also
*
Joscelyn Godwin
Joscelyn Godwin (born 16 January 1945 at Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England) is a composer, musicologist, and translator, known for his work on ancient music, paganism, and music in the occult.
Biography
He was educated as a chorister at Chris ...
*
Italian literature
Italian literature is written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian, including ...
*
Incunabulum
In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were p ...
References
External links
''The Rule of Four'' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rule of Four, The
2004 American novels
Collaborative novels
Fiction set in 1999
Princeton University
Novels set in New Jersey
Campus novels