Codex (2004)

New York investment banker Edward Wozny is a bullying boss, bent on advancing his career. When wealthy clients mysteriously choose him to locate a medieval manuscript (''the codex''), he becomes embroiled in a gothic thriller. Often sophisticated, but occasionally deteriorating into the kind of ''cheap paperback mystery novel'' Edward says his life has become, ''Codex'' is rife with far-fetched coincidences and anticlimactic plot twists. Still, Grossman (a writer for EW's sister magazine TIME) creates an alluring and meticulous fantasy world, replete with a sexy duchess, a jaded academic (''a cross between Stephen Hawking and Nancy Drew''), and a shadowy programmer whose virtual-reality game seems to parallel Edward's own chaotic quest.