José Rodrigues dos Santos

The Author

José Rodrigues dos Santos is the bestselling novelist in Portugal. He is the author of five essays and nine novels, including Portuguese blockbusters Codex 632, which sold 201 000 copies, The Einstein Enigma, 184 000 copies, The Seventh Seal, 193 000 copies, and The Wrath of God, 182 000 copies. His overall sales are above one million books, astonishing figures considering Portugal’s tiny market.

José’s fiction is published or is about to be published in 18 languages. His novel The Wrath of God won the 2009 Porto Literary Club Award and his other novels Codex 632 and The Einstein Enigma, were longlisted for the 2010 and 2012 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

His first novel, The Island of Darkness, is in the process of being adapted for cinema by one of Portugal’s leading film directors, Leonel Vieira.

José is also a journalist and a university lecturer. He works for Portuguese public television, where he presents RTP’s Evening News. As a reporter he has covered wars around the globe, including Angola, East Timor, South Africa, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, Lebanon, Georgia and Libya. He has been awarded three times by CNN for his reporting and twice by the Portuguese Press Club.

José teaches journalism at Lisbon’s New University and has a Ph. D. on war reporting.

His latest novel, The Last Secret, has just been released and has already sold 143 000 copies. The book begins with the mysterious killing of an historian in the Vatican Library. The killer leaves a riddle behind and world-famous cryptanalyst Tomás Noronha is hired by the Italian police to decipher it. The investigation takes Tomás on a journey to the Holy Land, a quest that leads him to the true identity of Jesus. Based on genuine historical, biblical and scientific information, The Last Secret leads us to the heart of the mysteries that surround Jesus.

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