Philip Gardiner has spent his life on a crusade uncovering the truth behind myths, legends and ancient mysteries.

Author of the best selling Secrets of the Serpent and The Ark the Shroud and Mary, he now delves into another aspect of the human enigma with Secret Societies.

Gardiner's quest is to uncover truths and secrets of the world's most powerful men in history.

The journey takes him to dark places - sinister places that existed then and still exist today - a world that is formidably hidden from our eyes and finds himself in situations that seem to mirror the fictional world of the Da Vinci Code.