DARK KNIGHTS OF THE SOUL
Jeremy Simpson
The heroic ideals of the Templar and Teutonic Knights live on through the charitable groups working today under their names. Yet, like Alistair Crowley or more recently, the leader of the Swiss suicidal cult, the Order of the Solar Temple, corrupt individuals have sometimes claimed to be ancient Templars incarnate.
Dark Knights of the Soul
tells of a neo-Templar Order located on the Swiss/German border at the
end of the 20th century. The public image they project is of the
original Templar: one of protection of Jerusalem and its holy
shrines. However their ambition is to control the Temple Mount
under the auspices of the United Nations. To achieve this they plan the
destruction of the Moslem Dome of the Rock using men dressed as Israeli
soldiers. They ally themselves with a neo-Teutonic order of Knights,
whilst the charismatic Grand Master of the neo-Templar Order
prophesises the 9/11 attacks on America. He claims access to the Holy
Grail in a hidden Templar abbey in Armenia, which will provide the
'elixir of youth' to its inner circle of Templar leaders.
Meanwhile,
the Order invites three historians to study their archives - two
historians from Cambridge and one from Harvard. The academics not only
stumble on the Jerusalem plot, but also the dark secrets of the Order's
spiritual activities, revolving around ancient Mithraic sacrificial
practices. The very essence of evil becomes a stark reality as the
three historians realise they have mistakenly become embroiled in a
plot which threatens the balance of world power.
Jeremy Simpson
read history at Cambridge. He founded Giroflex Ltd in Britain and
was the UK Managing Director of a Scandinavian owned paper company for
which he was awarded the Order of the Finnish Lion. Dark Knights of the Soul springs
from the fourteen years the author spent visiting Swiss colleagues in
Giroflex AG on the Swiss/German border. In 1993, Duckworth published
his first book, Mind the Gap. Lord Gavron, Chairman of the Folio Society, declared 'that rare breed - a business man who can write'. In 2004 he published Love Lies Bleeding, gaining praise from the Archbishop of Canterbury and Father Timothy Radcliffe, past Master of the worldwide Dominican Order.