The Thirteenth Apostle

What if the story of Jesus isn’t the one that happened?


After terrorists attack a cathedral in Chicago and steal an ancient relic belonging to one of Jesus’ apostles, ex-Army Ranger and professor of religious studies Silas Grey chances upon someone from his past who appears with a remarkable offer. Eli Denton invites Silas to help him verify one of early Christianity’s most recent—and most controversial—archaeological finds: The Gospel of Judas. 


Containing “the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke with Judas Iscariot,” it tells a remarkably different story than the one contained in the Church’s recognized Gospels. But the motives of this long-lost friend are mysterious, and the consequences for Silas’s faith are ominous.


Meanwhile, the Order of Thaddeus, ancient defender of the Christian faith, discovers the stolen apostle relic is part of a larger conspiracy that grows in significance and severity with each passing day. With this grave threat against the apostolic memory deepening, Silas’s mission to uncover the mysteries of the Gospel of Judas and motives of his friend is made more urgent—but there are doubts, and his efforts are thwarted at every turn.


Can he preserve the eyewitness memory of Jesus’ earliest apostles before Jesus’ story is altered forever?


The Thirteenth Apostle is the second book in the bestselling Order of Thaddeus action-adventure thriller series that leverages the familiar conspiracy suspense of Dan Brown and special-ops thrill of James Rollins, wrapped in the historical insight of Steve Berry and inspiration of Ted Dekker.


Join this explosively inventive, action-packed adventure by emerging author J. A. Bouma, straddling thrill and thought, faith and doubt—a ride people are saying “will not only excite and thrill you but give you something to think about and inspire you.”