A bomb in Rome, a flash of bluish-white light, and photojournalist Josh Ryder's world exploded. From that instant nothing would ever be the same.

As Josh recovers, his mind is increasingly invaded with thoughts that have the emotion, the intensity, the intimacy of memories. But they are not his memories. They are ancient—and violent. A battery of medical and psychological tests can't explain Josh's baffling symptoms. And the memories have an urgency he can't ignore—pulling him to save a woman named Sabina—and the treasures she is protecting.

But who is Sabina?

Desperate for answers, Josh turns to the world-renowned Phoenix Foundation—a research facility that scientifically documents cases of past life experiences. His findings there lead him to an archaeological dig and to Professor Gabriella Chase, who has discovered an ancient tomb—a tomb with a powerful secret that threatens to merge the past with the present. Here, the dead call out to the living, and murders of the past become murders of the present.


Reviews:

From Publishers Weekly -

Starred Review. "Best known as an author of erotic thrillers, Rose (Lip Service) delves into religious myth and past-life discovery in her well-paced ninth novel. In present-day Rome, a terrorist bomb explosion triggers flashbacks of pre-Christian Italy in photographer Josh Ryder. Josh experiences the memories as Julius, a pagan priest defending the sacrosanct monuments of his gods and the life of his vestal virgin lover against the emperor-mandated onslaught of Christianity in A.D. 391. Six months later, Josh has teamed with the Phoenix Foundation, an institute specializing in past-life memories in children, to explore a newly excavated tomb that may contain pagan memory stones that incite past-life regressions and will, by proving the existence of reincarnation, challenge the church. The stakes rise after it becomes clear that dangerous outside forces also want the stones. In a series of memory lurches, the narratives of Josh and Julius slowly wind together to reveal a Da Vinci Code–esque tale of intrigue that's more believably plotted and better meets its ambitions than Dan Brown's ubiquitous book." (Sept.)
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From Library Journal -

Starred Review. "The exploding bomb in Rome that nearly took news photographer Josh Ryder's life triggered in him a series of wildly strange historical flashbacks. Determined to find the cause, he turned to the New York-based Phoenix Foundation, a scientific group dedicated to the possibilities of reincarnation. Memories of his past lives in ancient Rome as Julius, a pagan priest in a desperate mission to save his love, and in Victorian New York as Percy Talmage, son of the Phoenix Foundation founder, haunt Josh as he tries to bring his episodes under control. The foundation's interest in the excavation of a fourth-century tomb sends him back to Rome. But at the tomb, the Memory Stones are stolen, flinging Josh and archaeology professor Gabriella Chase into a race to recover these powerful artifacts. Rose's engrossing thriller effortlessly leaps to and fro through the centuries. Dramatic suspense and intriguing characters expertly set the stage for this first in a series. Strongly recommended for all popular fiction collections."



2007 Book Sense Picks Highlights -

"We already know what it's like not to have enough time. In her deftly composed novel, Rose shows us what it would be like to have too much time, to be inextricably caught in a fourth-dimension web of love, greed, and murder that spans centuries. This epic novel marks a new level of accomplishment for the author, melding her well-honed talent for suspense and irresistible characters with a compelling historical context. Rose makes time travel believable, romantic, and terrifying. Forget CSI -- in The Reincarnationist, time is the only evidence that matters." --Robert Gray, Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, VT



About the Author:

M.J. Rose, an international bestselling author, is the author of eight previous novels, including Lip Service and three titles in the Butterfield Institute series: The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex and The Venus Fix and the recently released spell-binding The Memorist which is the second book in her new series. She's also the coauthor of two nonfiction books on marketing. Rose is on the board of directors of the International Thriller Writers and lives in Connecticut.