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.