The Jester is a thriller novel focused on a man named Hugh De Luc.[1] Set in the year 1096, Hugh is living in a time of unrest when peasants like himself are treated poorly. The region is ruled by the tyrannical Duke Baldwin. In seeking freedom, Hugh joins the Crusades. While invading one of the Turk cities, Hugh realizes the horror around him and decides he cannot face it. He passes a church, where he sees a priest being beaten, and kills the men attacking him. At the dead priest's side lies a staff, which Hugh decides to carry with him from then on.