In the heart of revolutionary Cuba and the ancient jungles of the Maya, the lives of a revolutionary hero and a young archaeologist become bound by a destiny neither could have imagined.

As Havana erupts against the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado, Alberto Ruiz is drawn into the struggle of revolutionary leader Antonio Gutiérrez and his sister, Calixta. Together, they are swept into a dangerous world of Marxists and Mafia, bankers and politicians, secret alliances and the dark rituals of the occult.

Driven into exile in Mexico, Alberto and Calixta join an archaeological expedition into the jungles of Palenque, where beneath the ruins of the ancient Maya they uncover something that was never meant to be found: an extraordinary staff and a golden codex whose secrets reach far beyond the civilization that created them—and into a future ruled by artificial intelligence.

Blending real historical figures and events with archaeology, romance, political intrigue, ancient mystery, and a glimpse into humanity’s future, Palenque: The Golden Codex is the first book in Jonathan Thompson’s Xibalba Series—a saga of men and women caught between love and duty, power and sacrifice, as the struggle for freedom becomes part of a much greater search for the mystery of human existence and its ultimate destiny.