The Book of Air and Shadows
By Michael Gruber, read by Stephen Hoye
Tantor Media
Literary thrillers are suddenly a hot genre, thanks perhaps in part to the popularity of “The Da Vinci Code.” Everyone it seems is eager to find wonder in a dusty old book, especially if it has been lost for a few centuries. Michael Gruber’s clever novel “The Book of Air and Shadows” centers on the feverish hunt for a lost Shakespeare manuscript. Throw in a murder of a Shakespearean expert and a splash of romance, and you have a heart-thumping adventure. Here are some other literary thrillers that, in addition to making your pulse race, will make you feel a bit more clever:
The Shadow of the Wind
By Carlos Ruiz Zafon, read by James Wilby
Orion
This Spanish best seller takes place in 1950s Barcelona, where a boy becomes obsessed with a mystifying novel and its unknown author.
The Rule of Four
By Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, read by Jeff Woodman
Simon & Schuster Audio
A Renaissance text intrigues four Princeton University students.
The Secret of Lost Things
By Sheridan Hay, read by Vanessa Benjamin
Blackstone Audiobooks
A mammoth New York City bookstore is chock full of erudite eccentrics who become involved in the hunt for . . . a lost manuscript, this one by Herman Melville.
———–
Kristin Kloberdanz is a former Time magazine writer.
