Johnathan L. Reefe
Advance copies of The Oldest Fragment are in readers' hands. Reviews go live July 15.
“The kind of manuscript thriller that makes you want to look up every footnote. Mercer is a protagonist you’ll be thinking about long after you close the book.”
“Reefe writes like someone who has actually held a 2,000-year-old codex. The scholarship isn’t decoration — it’s the engine.”
“I read ‘The Da Vinci Code’ years ago and have been waiting for something that takes the premise seriously. This does.”
About the Book
When scholar-for-hire Nathan Hale Mercer is called to authenticate what may be the oldest surviving fragment of the New Testament, he expects a routine job. What he uncovers is a suppressed variant text — and a 2,000-year-old secret powerful enough that someone is willing to kill to keep it buried. Set against the world of biblical manuscript authentication, The Oldest Fragment: The Judean Variant is a novel that takes its scholarship as seriously as its suspense.
A limited number of advance reader copies are still available for qualified reviewers — book bloggers, Goodreads reviewers, biblical history enthusiasts, and historical fiction readers. If you'd like to receive a copy in exchange for an honest review, reach out directly.
Request an ARC →Ebook format (EPUB/MOBI). Publication date: August 15, 2026.
Full reviews will appear here on publication day. Come back July 15.
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