History Literature / TheApocalypseDoor

[[caption-width-right:205:He's a priest. She's a nun. [[TheyFightCrime They fight crime.]]]]

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* ReformedCriminal: Implied to be common among Peter Crossman's colleagues. Crossman himself is [[spoiler:a former [[{{CIA}} Company man]]]].

[[caption-width-right:205:He's a priest. She's a nun. They fight crime.]]

* CelibateHero: Peter Crossman, being a priest, and Mary Magdalene, being a nun. (It is established, though, that [[AManIsNotAVirgin Crossman wasn't celibate before he became a priest]].)

''The Apocalypse Door'' is a novel by James D. Macdonald. A hybrid of spy thriller and urban fantasy, it concerns the actions of the Catholic Church's secret service, in the person of Father Peter Crossman (of the Inner Temple of TheKnightsTemplar) and Sister Mary Magdalene (of the Special Action Executive of the Poor Clares), and a mission involving mushrooms, a brazen idol, and the imminent end of the world. A series of interludes tell the story of a man named Michael on a doomed op that connects to the main plot in ways both obvious and unexpected.

** TheKnightsTemplar weren't disbanded in the 14th century, they just went underground; Peter Crossman and his colleagues are Templars. The legends surrounding them in the 14th century turn out to have an element of truth that's relevant to the plot.
** TheTeutonicKnights are also involved.

* {{Cross-Melting Aura}}:

Peter Crossman and Mary Magdalene have also appeared in various short stories that originally appeared in Katherine Kurtz's ''Tales of the Knights Templar'' anthologies and have been collected in ''The Confessions of Peter Crossman''.

* CallBack: When Sister Mary Magdalene shows up, there's a call back to their first meeting in "Stealing God".

!!''The Confessions of Peter Crossman'' provides examples of:

* AlterKocker: The Wandering Jew in "Sleeping Kings".
* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: The Wandering Jew in "Sleeping Kings" is a (stereo)typical American Jew, but then he's been living in New York long enough for things to rub off, and anyhow [[RuleOfFunny it's funny that way]].
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy:
** "Selling the Devil" adds TheKnightsHospitallers to the mix.
** "Sleeping Kings" claims that Lord Kitchener was also one of the Templars.
* DemonicPossession: In "Selling the Devil".
* EmpathicWeapon: The sword in "Selling the Devil"; when Crossman uses it, he finds himself doing moves he's never trained for and feels that it's more like ''it's'' wielding ''him''. It doesn't just take over during fights; it can also influence the person holding it to seek out particular people and pick fights with them, for its own motives. Legend credits it with an implacable sense of justice (which, as Crossman notes, is a very dangerous thing when untempered by mercy).
* FollowThatCar: In "Stealing God", Crossman notes that he's never yet had occasion to do this, but there's always a first time. (But this time isn't it either.)
* HiddenInPlainSight: The Grail in "Stealing God". It helps that very few people remember that the original description of it didn't say it was a cup.
* InvisibilityCloak: Crossman gets to use one in "Stealing God". It's one of only three known to exist in the world. By the end of the story, there are only two.
* KingInTheMountain: "Sleeping Kings" features [[NumerologicalMotif seven]] of them.
* MasterOfYourDomain: "Stealing God" reveals that Peter Crossman has some training in this area:
-->With enough concentration some people can slow their heartbeat down to where doctors can't detect it. Other people can slow their breathing to where they can make a coffinful of air last a week. I concentrated on finding all the molecules of poison in my bloodstream and making Maxwell's Demon shunt them off to somewhere harmless.
* MeaningfulName: The members of the Kipling Society in "Sleeping Kings" all have names of characters from RudyardKipling's works, which are meaningful if you know the originals. (And not flattering, so presumably not chosen by the men themselves.)
* OutsideRide: Crossman assays one in "Stealing God".
* PublicDomainArtifact:
** The Holy Grail and the Capstone of the Great Pyramid of Giza in "Stealing God".
** KingArthur's ''other'' sword, Clarent, in "Selling the Devil".
** The Lance of Longinus in "Sleeping Kings".
* TheSpymaster: Prester John, Crossman's boss, appears in "Stealing God".
* TarotTroubles: In "Selling the Devil", Crossman gets a Tarot reading done. The usual clichés are avoided (no Death card).
* VirginPower: Used by Sister Mary Magdalene against a demon in "Selling the Devil".
* WanderingJew: "Sleeping Kings" features a guest appearance by the one and only original Wandering Jew, who's been living in New York for the last few centuries. There's also a passing mention of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Nephites the Three Nephites]]; the Wandering Jew mentions that he hasn't seen them about lately, and Crossman points out that this is because they moved out to Utah in the 19th century.

* CrossMeltingAura:

* {{Cross-Melting Aura}}: