Wilderness Rising

In the sequel to The Church Builder, also by Shields (a pseudonym for Yale law professor and bestselling author Stephen L. Carter), Bethany Barclay travels the world trying to understand why she was framed for terrorism. Her best friend, Annabelle Seaver, has been murdered, and a young colleague kidnapped. Bethany can help herself and free her colleague if she finds the Pilate Stone, a limestone artifact sought by Annabelle and believed to have an inscription about Jesus Christ written by Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. Also seeking the stone is the Wilderness, a cabal of influential intellectuals bent on destroying all forms of religious faith, and the Garden, another mysterious group intent on thwarting the Wilderness. Shields’s complicated narrative drags at times, such as when the plot seems to call for a breathless pace; the changes in tense that signal shifts in point of view are jarring. But the writing is sound, studded with small gems (“the dark falls suddenly, as though the sun... just decides to give up and get some rest”). Readers who enjoy Dan Brown–style intellectual thrillers may enjoy the plot twists and stream of characters hurtling across the pages. (Apr.)