HERESY IS BAD FOR BUSINESS. WAR IS EXCELLENT FOR INTEREST RATES.

History tells us that for five hundred years, Europe burned for the "Five Percent"-the tiny theological differences between the Catholic Mass and the Protestant Service. We are told that men died for creeds, that kings fought for souls, and that martyrs bled for the truth.

The ledger tells a different story.

From the first fires of the Reformation to the exhausted peace of the Good Friday Agreement, a single, secret thread connects the carnage. It isn't a prayer; it's a line of credit. Behind every army that marched and every city that burned stood the silent financiers-the Fugger banking dynasty-who understood the terrifying modernity of the past: the ink is permanent, the fire is hot, and the debt is always outstanding.

WHEN FAITH TURNED FATAL is a sweeping historical thriller that strips away the romance of the past to reveal the cold economics of survival.

• In 1631 Germany, a Swedish musketeer realizes the copper in his gun and the copper in his enemy's cannon were mined by the same company.
• In 1690 Ireland, a farmer watches a brass cannon glitter in the sun and sees not a weapon of war, but a compound interest loan that will take three centuries to pay off.
• In 1685 France, a seamstress buys her life with the same gold coins the King used to pay the dragoons hunting her down.
• In 1998 Belfast, a US Senator discovers that peace is not a spiritual awakening, but a corporate buyout.

Spanning centuries and continents, this is the story of the survivors-the mothers, the soldiers, the refugees-who paid the interest on history's debt.

Perfect for fans of Ken Follett's A Column of Fire and the cynical political intrigue of Robert Harris.