THE TWELVE is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel about a most unusual man. As a child, Max lives in a world of colours and numbers, not speaking until the age of six. As an adult, Max ventures on a journey of destiny to discover the secret behind the ancient Mayan prophecy about the "end of time," foretold to occur on December 21, 2012. When he is fifteen years old, Max has a near-death experience during which he has a vision that reveals the names of twelve individuals to him. While Max cannot discern the significance of these twelve names, he is unable to shake the sense that they have deep meaning. After completing his schooling at Harvard and Yale, eight years pass before Max meets the first of the twelve. With this first meeting, Max's voyage of discovery begins, as he strives to uncover the identities and implications of the twelve individuals—people he will meet during his journey toward truth, all of whom seem connected, and all of whom may hold the answer to what will happen at the exact moment the world might actually end.