Bass,
J. (2012). The Inquisitor's Key. New York: William Morrow.
Summary:
Miranda Lovelady, Dr. Bill Brockton's protégé, is spending
the summer helping excavate a newly discovered chamber beneath the spectacular
Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France. There she discovers a stone chest
inscribed with a stunning claim: inside lie the bones of none other than Jesus
of Nazareth. Faced with a case of unimaginable proportions, Miranda summons
Brockton for help proving or refuting the claim. Both scientists are
skeptical—after all, fake relics abounded during the Middle Ages—but evidence
for authenticity looks strong initially, and soon grows stronger. Brockton and
Miranda link the bones to the haunting image on the Shroud of Turin, revered by
millions as the burial cloth of Christ, and then a laboratory test finds the
bones to be two thousand years old. The finding triggers a deadly tug-of-war
between the anthropologists, the Vatican, and a deadly zealot who hopes to use
the bones to bring about the Second Coming—and trigger the end of time. Set
against an international landscape, and weaving a rich tapestry of religion,
history, art, and science, The
Inquisitor's Key takes
Jefferson Bass to an exciting new level of suspense.
Characteristics
of Thrillers:
1) Moves at a rapid pace, driven by the danger faced by the
protagonist(s).
2) Building intensity makes them compelling page turners.
3) Extensive details and technical language related to
occupations are vital.
4) There is often a political focus with national or
international ramifications.
5) Protagonists are generally strong, sympathetic characters.
6) The language of Thrillers reflects the jargon of each
profession.
Read-a-likes:
Gerritsen, T. (2006). The Mephisto Club: A novel. New York: Ballantine Books.
Evil exists. Evil walks the streets. And evil has spawned a
diabolical new disciple in this white-knuckle thriller from New York Times bestselling
author Tess Gerritsen.
PECCAVI…The
Latin word is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman’s brutal murder: I HAVE SINNED. It’s a chilling Christmas
greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli,
who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce
O’Donnell–Jane’s professional nemesis and member of a sinister cabal called the
Mephisto Club….Delving deep into the most baffling and unusual case of their
careers, Maura and Jane embark on a terrifying journey to the very heart of
evil, where they encounter a malevolent foe more dangerous than any they have
ever faced . . . one whose work is only just beginning. (Amazon)
Reichs,
K. (2005). Cross bones. N.Y:
Scribner.
When an Orthodox Jewish man is found shot to death in Montreal,
Temperance Brennan is called in to examine the body and to figure out the
puzzling damage to the corpse. Unexpectedly, a stranger slips her a photograph
of a skeleton and assures her it is the key to the victim's death. Before she
knows it, Tempe is involved in an international mystery as old as Jesus, and
one that could lead to the rewriting of two thousand years of religious history….Using
her skills as a forensic scientist, Tempe plunges into the most controversial
case of her career. The stakes have never been higher -- the more she learns,
the greater the danger….Cross Bones, with its lightning pace, intricately
plotted story, riveting and state-of-the-art forensic detail, is Kathy Reichs's
most compelling and dramatic novel yet. (Amazon)
Castle,
R. (2012). Frozen heat. New York, New York: Hyperion.
NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat gets more mystery than she
imagined when she arrives at her latest crime scene. The body of an
unidentified woman has been found stabbed to death and stuffed inside a
suitcase left sitting on a Manhattan street. A startling enough death, but an
even bigger shock comes when this new homicide surprisingly connects to the
unsolved murder of Detective Heat's own mother. The gruesome killing of this
Jane Doe launches Heat on a dangerous and emotional investigation, rekindling
the cold case that has haunted her since she was nineteen. Paired once again
with her romantic and investigative partner, top journalist Jameson Rook, Heat works
to solve the mystery of the body in the suitcase while she also digs into
unexplored areas of her mother's background-areas Nikki has been afraid to confront
before, but now must. Facing relentless danger as someone targets her for the
next kill, Heat's search will unearth painful family truths, expose a startling
hidden life, and cause Nikki to reexamine her own past. Heat's passionate quest
takes her and Rook from the back alleys of Manhattan to the avenues of Paris,
trying to catch a ruthless killer. The question is, now that her mother's cold
case has unexpectedly thawed, will Nikki Heat finally be able to solve the dark
mystery that has been her demon for ten years? (Amazon)
References:
Amazon. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.amazon.com
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The
readers' advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: American Library
Association.
WorldCat. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2017, from
http://www.worldcat.org
