Trust No One

This breezy standalone from Rollins (Arkangel) isn’t up to the author’s usual standard. Sharyn Karr, an American student of magic and occult science at England’s University of Exeter, is studying in the school’s library when professor Julian Wright frantically entrusts her with an ancient tome. The book, a locked and encrypted journal from the Count of Saint-Germain, an 18th-century alchemist, supposedly contains the location of the Count’s vast treasure, and perhaps even the secret to immortality. When Wright is killed shortly after handing Sharyn the volume, she and four other students are blamed for his murder and go on the run from both law enforcement and a shadowy group called Confrérie des Illuminés that’s determined to seize the book. Malick Laurent, member of an opposing group that has sworn to protect the diary, joins the quintet as they’re pursued across England and France to the Italian Alps. Solid action and eye-catching historical tidbits enliven the proceedings, but they can’t offset the story’s underdeveloped characters, dull villains, and improbabilities. Readers drawn to the Dan Brown–esque premise will be disappointed. Agent: Russ Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh. (Feb.)