The Lost Years

Jan Maxwell infuses Clark’s thriller with gravitas via her mellifluous narration and sensitive portrayal of protagonist Mariah Lyons, whose biblical scholar father is found dead after making a discovery (a letter written by Jesus Christ himself) that could upend modern Christianity. Jonathan Lyons is gunned down in his home office in New Jersey, and the culprit appears to be close to home: Mariah finds her mother next to the corpse, covered in blood, and holding what appears to be the murder weapon. Maxwell ably handles book’s third-person narration, while also capturing the spirit of its heroine, a woman traumatized by a tragedy that threatens to rob her of both her parents. A Simon & Schuster paperback. (Apr.)