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Author Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason booklist (click here)

Book Review By Jerry Naradzay
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

This is a suspense novel about a Princeton student, Tom Sullivan, who is coming of age with his three college friends. As they all complete their senior thesis, Tom must face his past and the death of his father. Paul Harris, Tom's roommate is a brilliant senior who is on the verge of solving a 500 year old riddle written in a book called the Hypnerotomachia. Paul is solving the book's riddles and is on the verge of uncovering some of the world's yet unknow Renaissance treasure. Tom must help Paul solve the mysteries hidden in the book because Tom's father devoted his life to investigating the same book before his tragic death. Mysterious deaths and threats dog the students as they race to solve the riddles hidden within the book before they become victims to the book's allure and tragic ending. The story take place within the tradition rich Princeton campus but also within the beauty and wisdom of the Renaissance era.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets:
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes

Main Character
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 60's-90's
Profession/status:
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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