The Twelve »

William Gladstone majored in Spanish literature at Yale University and cultural anthropology at Harvard University. He has worked at the highest levels of book publishing. He resides in Cardiff, California.

In the tradition of The Celestine Prophecy, this novel will capture the imagination of a generation, as one man journeys to understand the age-old Mayan prophecy about the “end of time.”

Publishers Weekly

Gladstone's meandering debut, the latest thriller tied to the mystical date of December 12, 2012, when Mayan legend predicts the world's end, charts the life of Max Doff, starting with his conception in 1949 in Tarrytown, N.Y. After Max “dies” briefly at the age 15, he has a vision of 12 people. On returning to consciousness, he begins a decades-long quest to find them. His path takes him to Yale, where his radical philosophical ideas lead to his forced departure from campus. A formulation like “ 'A is, and is not, equal to A' as the ultimate equation in explaining how to penetrate the impenetrable intellectual domain of 'understanding understanding' ” is symptomatic of Max's difficulty in getting his message, whatever it actually is, across. Max then begins globe-trotting as part of the production team for a documentary on ancient astronauts. Serendipitous encounters with “the twelve” will strike many readers as more contrived than magical. (Sept.)