Another cutting-edge thriller set at the intersection of science, religion, and history from the bestselling author of "The Last Templar" "New York Times" bestselling author Raymond Khourya whose debut novel, "The Last Templar," has sold more than a million copies in the United States, and whose second, "The Sanctuary," was also a major national bestsellerareturns with "The Sign." Like the first two, this new thriller combines gripping contemporary suspense with a high-concept mystery rooted in history, philosophy, religion, and science. And like those novels, it is bound for bestseller lists nationwide. In Antarctica, a scientific expedition drops anchor for a live news feed. As the CNN journalist begins her report, a massive, shimmering sphere of light suddenly appears in the sky, enveloping the ship in luminous white light before disappearing as mysteriously as it arrivedathe entire event witnessed by an incredulous world audience. Meanwhile in a dusty bar in Egypt, a dozen men are lazily discussing the state of the world when the brilliant, glowing symbol on the television stops them cold. One man breaks out in a sweat, crosses himself repeatedly, and rushes out of the bar muttering the same phrase over and over again: "It canat be." Across the Internet and around the globe, a stunning controversy threatens to consume the world: Has God finally decided to reveal himself? Or is something more sinister at hand? Raymond Khoury/Steve Berry interview STEVE BERRY: Your new thriller, "THE SIGN"aIam gonna come right out and say it: I think itas your best one yet. What do you think? RAMOND KHOURY: Tough call. Itas my new baby, and much as I adore its elder siblings, it does have that newborn magic to it. STEVE: Trust me, it is. Itas also a bit of a departure from your first two books, in that it doesnat have the past-and-present storylines. Knowing how stories kind of take on a life of their own, that wasnat a conscious decision from the get-go, was it? RAYMOND KHOURY: No, it wasnat premeditated. Itas just the way the story came out. The whole story happens in the present. It takes place over a few manic daysaI think youare familiar with that pacing, right?aand it deals with the present, itas about a awhat ifa situation thatas very today and now, thereas a mystery, something to figure out, but thereas no throwback to the past, no long lost secret to uncover. STEVE BERRY: Itas also very topical. Your editors must be pleased. RAYMOND: I guess it happened that way because the story came out of some very strong feelings I had, feelings about what was going on around the world, in the US and abroad. STEVE: Tell me about that process. Where the story came from. RAYMOND: Itas where they all come from, isnat it? That kernel, that one thought or one observation you have that just sticks and triggers a book, the one that bugs you late at night and that you canat shake. This one came to me while watching the news one day, and every item, one after another, it was all bad news. Not just bad, but it was like a lot of people were behaving so insanely in so many places around the worldaand, sadly, a lot of it was fuelled by the manipulation or distortion of religious faitha STEVE: aby intolerancea RAYMOND: aexactly. Intolerance and closed minds. And it got me thinking. About how divided we are, about how so many people all over the world believe in the absolute infallibility of their faith and how it rules every aspect of their livesayou know what I mean, aweare right, everyone else is wrong, a that medieval mindsetaand wondering if anything could ever unite the planet under a single faith. STEVE: One global religion. RAYMOND: Well, imagine if something did happen that convinced everyone that what we had until now, all these different religions that have grown over the last few thousand yearsawhat if something new came along that was so overwhelming that it was impossible to ignore? Would we listen? Would we drop our previous faiths and embrace it? STEVE: But your bookas about much more than that. Without wanting to give too much away, itas really a political thriller, isnat it? RAYMOND: Itas always so hard to talk about a book without giving too much awaya STEVE: aitas the fine line we walk. RAYMOND: True. But yes, youare rightaitas really about the absolute power something like that would bringaand how it could be abused. Cause above all else, itas a thriller. Thereas got to be a brilliantly dastardly scheme, right? STEVE: Always. And this one certainly is dastardly. One thing Iave noticed, though, in all three of your books so faratheyare all, essentially, about the big questions that face us: why we believe, whether or not we have to die. Religion, longevity, life and death, science vs. faith ... Big questions. And in this one, you revisitathough in a completely different wayathe power of religion, the good it can bring as well as the bad, something that was also central to "THE LAST TEMPLAR." Will this always be your signature genreabooks that have a big, central athemea at their core? RAYMOND: You asked me earlier about where the story came from. For me, in order to get excited about a book, it has to have a big central theme about how we live at its heart, something Iam interested in exploring. Itas got to be about something I care about deeply. Thatas what drives the story and the characters forward for me. Thatas what I hope makes the books stand out. That theyare not just page-turnersawhich ainat easy in itselfabut that theyare also about something. I see it in your books too. A point of view about things, a passion for laying out interesting information about a topic that interests you. Michael Crichton used to do that very successfully. Dan Brown, of course, does it brilliantly. Thatas what makes the books worth writing, I think. STEVE: And in reading the book, itas clear you still h