It is followed by The Fraternity of the Stone (1985) and The League of Night and Fog (1987),[1] and a short story, The Abelard Sanction.

The Brotherhood of the Rose tells the story of Saul and Chris, two orphans from Philadelphia.

They are adopted by a man named Elliot, who treats the boys like his own children and raises them to become assassins, but when a mission goes wrong for Saul, and Chris is involved in an international incident, they begin to question their lives and their missions, and start to see Eliot in a new light.

The novel was adapted by Gy Waldron as Brotherhood of the Rose, a two-part television movie directed by Marvin J. Chomsky.

The cast included Robert Mitchum, Connie Sellecca, and James Sikking.