Secret of the Seventh Son by Glenn Cooper

The provided text is comprised of excerpts from the novel "Secret of the Seventh Son" by Glenn Cooper, which features a complex narrative structure employing a non-linear timeline across vast spans of history and multiple locations. The story follows FBI Special Agent Will Piper as he investigates a serial killer dubbed the "Doomsday Killer" in New York City, who sends victims postcards with their date of death pre-printed. Simultaneously, the plot involves a seemingly unrelated character, Mark Shackleton/Peter Benedict, a government computer expert from Area 51 in Las Vegas, who is connected to the murders and possesses access to a secret database—referred to as the Library—that can predict the exact date of death (DOD) for individuals. Interspersed with this modern thriller are historical sections set in Vectis, Britannia (Isle of Wight), detailing the origin of this predictive ability with the birth and life of the seventh son, Octavus, in the 8th century, and events concerning the discovery and secrecy surrounding the Library in the 13th century and post-WWII London/Roswell, revealing the long history of this powerful knowledge and the ongoing government conspiracy to control it.