The Spire

by Richard North Patterson

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.

• ISBN10: 0805087737
• ISBN13: 9780805087734
• Publish Date: 1 September 2009
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 July 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Henry Holt & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

I consider RNP one of the masters of the character-driven thriller. Here, he gets away from the politics of his last few books and takes us to a small college campus (a particularly compelling venue for me). Mark Darrow is being called back to the place where he found himself, Caldwell College. The current president is caught up in an embezzlement scandal, and Darrow, now a corporate lawyer, is being asked to take his place.

It’s not exactly a happy reunion. Darrow has had his share of personal tragedy, and returning to campus brings back the memories of an awful murder that his best friend was convicted of. He is supposed to be devoting his time to pulling the college out of its doldrums, but instead he can’t stop himself from trying to prove his friend’s innocence. And along the way, well, he just happens to fall in love with his mentor’s daughter.

I like how RNP gives every character a secret. No one is black and white, even the most minor character. The story does turn out to be a little predictable… I realized who the bad guy was going to be almost immediately, and the final confrontation is a giant cliché that you expect as soon as the location is declared. But all of that doesn’t take away from another winning story.