I found the relationship with his mentor's daughter, whom he first met when she was seven years old and he was a high-school senior, to be kind of creepy. Actually there was a lot of the plot that was kind of creepy. ( )

Billed as a psychological thriller, this one falls short. Set on a midwestern college campus, whose landmark is the Spire, a former football hero is named president. Mark Darrow returns to deal with embezzlement and his guilt over his best friend serving a life sentence for a racially-motivated murder, but the facts evetually come to light through Mark Darrow's perseverence and intelligence. ( )

Patterson's Spire is about this successful who comes back to his alma mater on the calling of his mentor to salvage the reputation of his old college. The college is in the midst of an embezzlement scam and whilst Mark Darrow sorts it out, he revisits a tragedy that took place here years ago concerning the death of a girl he knew and his close friend who is convicted of the murder and is languishing in jail for years.

In the process of unravelling the mystery, Darrow revisits his past, his friends and how they had changed over the years. I approached this book as a whodunnit - which it is not. It is not so much about who murdered the girl years ago, why Darrow left the place or who is behind the scam that brings Darrow back. It is more of an exploration of relationships, about how circumstances change people for the better or worst.

I wouldn't say this is his better novel for I have better far better ones than this one. But Patterson has a very compelling style which keeps you turning pages till you get to the end.

Overall an average book, but a good story.

Read it only if you are a diehard Patterson fan. ( )

This was a new author for me to read. Just not my genre of late, but I read it for a book group and that is why I enjoy a good book group, you read stuff you wouldn't normally pick up. The story line was written at a good pace and the intense stuff came at the end with a twist I didn't see coming! The characters were easy to follow and believable. I always love to read books based on historic colleges, and the small towns that encompasses them. ( )

Life is too short...did not finish this one...solution was too easy to figure out. ( )