Title: Knights of the Black and White
Author: Jack Whyte
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Publisher: Jove
Copyright: 2006
ISBN: 0515143332
Pages: 749
Keywords: historical
Reading period: 28 October-1 November, 2007

The first book in a trilogy that tells the fictional history of the Templars.

The Order of the Rebirth in Sion is a secret society whose roots go back to Jerusalem before the time of Christ, whose members are drawn from French noble families. When the Pope starts the First Crusade to seize Jerusalem back from the Muslims, a handful of the Order tag along in the hopes of discovering their order's secrets in the long-lost Temple of Solomon. Under the guise of warrior-monks protecting the bandit-infested roads, they dig deep beneath the Temple on the Mount and find the treasure they have been looking for.

A rather hokey potboiler. Occasionally entertaining, but much too long.