A young college president struggles to save his once prestigious alma mater, Caldwell College, from a financial scandal which may be linked to the murder of a student, some seventeen years previously. The Caldwell campus is dominated by a large bell tower known as The Spire. The Spire ornaments the school yearbook, stationary, all publications. Steeped in lore, it tolls every hour of the school day; or to mark notable events such as athletic triumphs. But in 1993, the body of Angela Hall, a black student, was found at the foot of the Spire. Raped and murdered, she seemed oddly like a sacrifice to the newly-ominous college landmark...Gripping and razor-sharp, "The Spire" is both a hugely satisfying thriller and a poignant love story. Richard North Patterson has outdone himself - this is his most compelling novel in years.
From Publishers Weekly
This thoughtful if less than suspenseful thriller from bestseller Patterson (Eclipse) charts the impact of the brutal murder of black coed Angela Hall at Caldwell College in Wayne, Ohio, on gifted athlete Mark Darrow, who discovered the body and later became a nationally renowned lawyer. Mark's best friend was convicted of the crime, but many aspects of the trial troubled Mark. Lionel Farr, Caldwell's provost and Mark's former mentor, offers Mark the post of college president 16 years after Angela's murder. Mark agrees to return to Caldwell, now struggling with the suspected embezzlement of $900,000 from its endowment by its current president. With Lionel's support, Mark investigates both the embezzlement and the old murder. Patterson evokes the quiet schism between town and gown in Wayne as well as the fragile relationship between blacks and whites, while Mark's probing hits exposed nerves with fatal results. (Sept.)
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Review
“Intriguing ... When we begin to develop a sense of the real truths behind the various screens created by several of the main characters, [we] can’t read fast enough to reach the finale.” —The San Francisco Chronicle
“A gripping story peopled with plausible characters ... A page turner with multiple twists and a well-earned conclusion at once shocking and inevitable.”—Richmond Times Dispatch
“Inventive, shocking, and thrilling ... Patterson grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck and holds him until the very last page ... [The Spire] might just be his best to date.”—Tucson Citizen
“[This] intriguing novel of psychological suspense... intensifies until the shocking conclusion of this tightly plotted story... sure to please fans of Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly, and James Lee Burke.”—Library Journal
“The novel picks up steam and builds to a shocking conclusion. Fans of Patterson’s legal thrillers, the books that made him famous, will be glad to see him back in murder-mystery mode.”—Booklist
“Thoughtful ... Patterson evokes the quiet schism between town and gown... as well as the fragile relationship between blacks and whites, while Mark’s probing hits exposed nerves with fatal results.”—Publishers Weekly