Chess is Life. –Bobby Fischer
Life is a kind of chess –Benjamin Franklin

Bobby and Benjamin both make cameo appearances in this thriller/spy novel set both in the 1970’s and in the time of the French Revolution. But the main characters are a couple of women: a French nun named Mireille and an American computer expert, Catherine Velis. Both of the women become involved with a chess set that dates back to the time of Charlemagne, the set called the Montglane Service. As the story progresses, every historical character you’ve ever heard of (and some you probably haven’t) from the mid to late 1700’s makes at least an appearance from Robespierre to Catherine the Great to Fibonacci the mathemetician. The game of chess plays a prominent role in the story, and the number eight is pivotal. In fact, if I have any complaint about the book it’s that there is altogether too much chess, too many eights, and too many historical figures to keep straight. I think all the loose ends get tied together in the end, but I’m not completely sure.

Even though I’ve never read The Da Vinci Code and don’t plan to do so, The Eight, published in 1989 before Dan Brown’s bestseller, reminds me of what I’ve read about that book. I was also reminded of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, lots of whom-can we-trust kinds of scenes and situations. The MacGuffin, of course, is the fabulous chess set, which happens to conceal a dangerous secret handed down from antiquity. Or does it? The author is able to weave mathematics, history, chemistry, music, chess, characters and plot together to keep the reader guessing until the end of the book.

I enjoyed this novel and found it to be fascinating even though the ending was a bit disappointing. It didn’t seem that the characters had any reason to make the decisions they made in the end. However, the intricacy of the puzzle that sustains the action made up for any letdown at the end. In fact, although good vs. evil is a theme throughout the book, the world of The Eight makes very little reference to God. This world is a world of people who are chess pieces on a game board, and the pieces are playing the game. No one else is in charge. The book has no explicitly Christian themes, except for the generic “love conquers all” ideal, and some of the plot devices are occult in nature, having to do mostly with alchemy. It’s harmless stuff as far as I could judge, and I really doubt anyone would take this book seriously as more than entertainment. (I’ve heard that some people did take the revisionist history and unbelievable theology of The Da Vinci Code seriously.)

Read and enjoy.