The Spire [Mass Market Paperback]

Richard North Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2010

Mark Darrow grew up in small-town Ohio with no real advantages. But thanks to Lionel Farr, a professor at a nearby college, Darrow became an excellent scholar/athlete and, later, a superb trial lawyer. Now Farr offers his protégé a job as his alma mater’s new president, which Darrow accepts. But being back on campus opens old wounds. Sixteen years ago, on the night of his greatest football triumph, Darrow found the body of a black female student at the base of the college bell tower, known as the Spire…

Darrow’s best friend was charged with the murder, and was sent to prison for life. But Darrow is about to discover that the case against his college friend left crucial questions unanswered. Despite his new obligations—and his deepening attachment to Farr’s beautiful though troubled daughter—Darrow begins an inquiry into the murder and is soon convinced that the real killer is still at large…and that his own life is surely at risk.

Editorial Reviews

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

DEGREE OF GUILT

“A page-turner.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Compulsively readable.”—People

“One intense courtroom clash after another...An intelligent and gripping thriller.”—The Washington Post

“Flamboyant and entertaining.”—The Boston Globe

“Electrifying.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“One of the year’s best thrillers…Superb characterizations and intense dialogue make this utterly compelling reading.”—Library Journal

“Absorbing.”—Publishers Weekly

ECLIPSE

“Passionate…exciting [and] eye-opening, page by page.”—Washington Post

“Compelling and credible…guaranteed to rouse you to thought.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“This stellar legal thriller both informs and entertains… Patterson has exerted all his considerable skill in creating a nightmare atmosphere that will cling to readers long after the last page is turned.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A satisfying fable that pits a hero who deeply believes in the rule of law against a violent, lawless regime that holds all the cards.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Nearly flawless—by the time you realize how well Patterson is writing, you are already caught up in this novel.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Suspenseful—pervasive danger as real as the actual reality.”—New York Daily News

“A terrific legal thriller populated by rich, well drawn characters [Patterson] magnificently brings to life. Not to be missed.”—Providence Sunday Journal

“Fascinating.”—Booklist

“[A] compelling legal thriller, reminiscent of Exile. Patterson once again brings a timely, controversial subject—America’s dependence on foreign oil—to the forefront in this…engrossing read.” —Library Journal

 THE RACE

"An electrifying page-turner.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Patterson has redefined himself as a writer willing to take risks.”—USA Today

“Absorbing and suspenseful.”—Publishers Weekly

“Required reading.”—New York Post

“With verve, intelligence, passion and humanity, Patterson tells an important story—and one that may find a place with Advise and Consent and Seven Days in May on the shelf of honored political thrillers.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Absorbing…timely…a gripping read.”—Booklist      

“Will get your blood boiling…”—Grand Rapid Press

“A timely, fast-paced political yarn....Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“A slick new entertainment…Frank Capra idealism meets Karl Rove reality.”—Entertainment Weekly

EXILE

“Torn from the headlines…Exile delivers.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Artful…compelling.”—USA Today

“Astonishing, hugely entertaining.”—Bill Clinton

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; Premium Edition edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312946392
• ISBN-13: 978-0312946395
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON is the author of The Spire, Eclipse and fourteen other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, he was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups. He lives in San Francisco and on Martha's Vineyard with his wife, Dr. Nancy Clair.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put this book down!, August 4, 2009

By 

W. E. Phillips (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spire: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Richard North Patterson has returned to writing the types of books that made him one of my favorite authors! This is a great psychological suspense novel, and drew me in from the first pages.

Mark Darrow is a succesful lawyer, but after some life crises he returns to his old alma mater as the college president. His job is to try to restore the school's reputation, which has been on the decline since a murder during his college days. This brings back many conflicts for Mark, in part because his best friend was convicted of the murder and is in prison for life.

Flipping between the past and the present, Patterson does a great job of re-telling the story and tying it into the present day. He keeps you in suspense until the very end, although I will say my hunch about the real murderer was correct. Patterson also develops a beautiful love story and tale of healing for Mark and his love interest.

This is a great book-you will not regret a minute spent reading it!

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A pedestrian return to psychological thrillers: 3.5 stars, August 12, 2009

By 

S. McGee (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spire: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Richard North Patterson has written some truly gripping thrillers in his day. The compelling Eyes of a Child springs to mind immediately as an example of what this writer can do when he's on top form -- a rollercoaster ride, where the reader never really knows which way is up and who to trust. Unfortunately, in this return to the genre (after recent books that have too often been tedious reads set in the world of presidential politics and the supreme court, where Patterson allowed his passion for causes like gun control to take priority over the telling of a great story, a big no-no in my opinion), the bad guy was obvious to me from very nearly his first appearance on the scene, long before the commission of any crime. (I can't say why without a giant spoiler, alas.) So my only question revolved around the specifics of 'how', and a bit of the 'why', rather than the 'who'. The result? A disappointing book.

The plot revolves around Mark Darrow, a lawyer who owes his current life and career to his football scholarship to Caldwell College and, especially, to his mentor, philosophy professor Lionel Farr. Now, Farr calls on the recently-widowed and directionless Darrow to give back to his alma mater, asking him to return as the college's president and rebuild its reputation in the wake of an embezzlement that the last president seems to have orchestrated. Together with the murder of a young African-American female student in Darrow's final year, a crime of which Darrow's best friend was convicted, this scandal leaves Caldwell College vulnerable, and Darrow accepts the challenge.

It's an intriguing premise, but it never really pans out. The characters' relationships (with the exception of those between Darrow and Farr and his daughter) are very sketchily developed and never really convincing. The plot twists were modest and telegraphed in advance, and the whole book felt rushed. Patterson himself has tackled this theme -- that of a man going back to the place where he came of age, solving a contemporary crime as well as one in the hero's past -- before in one of his best books, Silent Witness, and did it again with a female protagonist in the book now titled Caroline Masters. One of the strengths of those two books were Patterson's courtroom scenes, which are typically fabulous -- and which are absent in this book, which wraps up not in a trial with Perry Mason-style fireworks but in a series of sudden revelations that appear suddenly at the end of the book.

This is a ho-hum effort by Patterson, and I'd recommend it only to the author's die-hard fans who have already read his other books. For those new to Patterson's works, by all means seek out -- as rapidly as possible -- books like those above as well as Degree of Guilt or Dark Lady. Generally, I'd advise getting this from a library, and turning to other thrillers, like those by Greg Iles or Thomas Perry, if you're in search of some real dramatic tension.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very well written but a little predictable (at least for this reader), August 14, 2009

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a - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spire: A Novel (Hardcover)

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I really enjoyed Richard North Patterson's latest and found myself hooked within the first few pages. The idea of a former college football star coming back to his old college as school president sixteen years later to handle a crisis, while suddenly re-investigating an old, presumably solved murder case, struck me as a brilliant premise, and it was handled very well. Clearly a skilled writer, Patterson slowly reveals clues while amplifying characterizations, constructing a murder mystery alongside a seemingly unconnected financial mystery with a poignant, if slightly underdeveloped, love story forming its emotional center. One might argue that the novel's middle is a little flabby with dialogue-heavy chapters as the protagonist informally interviews person after person involved in the sixteen-year-old murder of student Angela Hall. However, all great murder mystery novels use this device, and while it can be tedious in the hands of a less skilled author, I found myself eagerly turning page after page even when two characters are sitting in a diner, chatting over coffee.

The most surprising part of my reading experience was the novel's ultimate predictability. In no way am I skilled at guessing the endings of books; indeed, quite the opposite. I'm usually guessing until the final chapter and always am I most surprised at the end. Strangely, I had this one figured out about fifty pages in, and was both pleased and disappointed when every subsequent clue simply confirmed what seemed to be the obvious outcome from the start. Yet I remain steadfast in giving this novel a glowing review because it is well written and, even though I was able to figure it out well in advance of the protagonist, I very much enjoyed the ride. Four big stars, minus one because, in the end, I was hoping for a little out of the blue twist that never materialized. Still, highly recommended!