The Devil's Truth

After the abrupt termination of the Fourth Beginning, Adam and Eve Smith reluctantly settle back into their old lives until, unexpectedly, Adam is recruited by the business consultancy firm Slievens as one of their chosen executives. David Minofel, a partner in Slievens, is Adam’s sponsor.

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Adam’s first Slievens’ posting is in Geneva, as Marketing Director of ZeD, a major Swiss pharmaceutical company.  Adam's mentor in Geneva is the beautiful and highly intelligent Miss Gorgeous Tomic, personal assistant to the MD of ZeD and also another Slievens’ protégée.  Adam quickly learns the Slievens philosophy. Define your goals, devise the most efficient way of achieving them regardless of moral considerations, and act, uninhibited by any scruples.

 

Meanwhile, at the Smith’s house in Harrow, the other questors, including Kit, the enigmatic blind man from the Fourth Beginning, have joined Eve. Kit is keen to reactivate the Fourth Beginning but Eve (who is now pregnant with Adam's second child) and the other questors are less enthusiastic, fearful of swift retribution from whatever aborted the Fourth Beginning. Kit, undeterred, visits Adam in Geneva but meets with a cool reception.

 

Adam feels challenged but fulfilled by the demands of his new job.  He enjoys the power he has to get things done and the extraordinary financial incentives he is given to succeed - but Adam soon discovers that the application of Slievens modus operandi involves him in bribery, blackmail and, finally, murder.

 

Minofel is grooming Adam.  He knows that Adam and Eve had set out with the Storyteller to find the truth.  Minofel is going to provide Adam with a different kind of truth, one which will satisfy him and ensure that he and Eve are never again tempted to set out on another quest.