This is the second book that features Agent Frankie Cash of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Sheriff James Colcord of Eagle County, Colorado.
Cash and Colcord first worked together in Extinction, when they investigated the disappearance of honeymooners from the Erebus Resort in the Colorado mountains.
The Erebus Resort featured 'de-extincted' Pleistocene animals, and a disaster resulted in the escape of a group of hostile Neanderthal hominids (Neanders).
That's all you need to know if you want to read 'Paradox' as a standalone.
*****
Early in 'Paradox', the body of a reclusive grizzled gold miner named Willy Grooms is found in his mountain cabin, near the town of Burns, Colorado. There's chatter about Neanders killing Willy, but that turns out to be a false assumption.
FBI Agent Frankie Cash and Sheriff James Colcord get the case, drop everything, and hike up to Grooms' remote cabin to observe the disturbing scene.
After the CSI team and medical examiner do their work, the investigators learn that Grooms' foot was crushed by an Inquisition torture device called a 'Spanish boot'; he was force-fed Catholic Communion wafers and red wine; he was embalmed perimortem; and his body was washed and dressed in a white shroud. Also, Willy's cabin was searched methodically and thoroughly.
The case gets stranger when Cash and Colcord learn Grooms had been sending large sums of money to an organization called Paradox, which researches UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, aka UFOs). Moreover, Grooms claimed to have SEEN a UAP crash in the Colorado mountains, and to have retrieved an alien artifact from the crash site.
Willy Grooms' bizarre death is getting a lot of publicity, and the director of the CBI - Blaisdell Holmes, and the District Attorney - Udoka Adewale, want a quick arrest.
With diligent police work, Cash and Colcord find a likely suspect. A good samaritan and financial planner called Margie Brooksfield had been bringing food to Willy Grooms and helping him with money matters. Bank records prove Margie stole $220,000 from Grooms (which she says was for her daughter's heart operation), and Margie is the sole heir to Grooms' fortune (which she claims is a big surprise). Regardless, Margie is arrested for Willy's murder, and part of the book revolves around the prosecution, defense, and court proceedings.
In the meanwhile, a Vatican monk called Brother Niall Armagh, from the Irish Pallottine Fathers of the Basilica, arrives in Colorado.
Brother Armagh tells the authorities that an important Christian relic, a small piece of the skull of Saint John the Baptist, was cut out of a Vatican display and stolen.
CCTV footage reveals the thief was Javier Castillo, an American exobiology professor who runs Paradox, and who recently visited Burns, Colorado. Castillo is known to collect evidence of UFO visits, sightings, and abductions from all over the world.
Brother Armagh's mission is to retrieve the precious relic and return it to the Vatican - and to do it quietly, with no scandal. Armagh hopes he can just ask Castillo for the relic back, with no fuss no muss.
I don't want to give away spoilers, but there are additional murders, and the religious relic and the alien artifact are important to the plot, as is the organization Paradox and a devout Catholic group called Devotio.
As always in Preston's thrillers, there's danger and action in the story, and Cash and Colcord have to be at the top of their game to succeed.
I enjoyed book, but would have liked to learn about the Devotio group earlier in the story, as I felt something was missing. That said, the novel is a fine addition to the Cash and Colcord saga. Highly recommended.
Note: In an afterword, the authors - who base the novel on real life beliefs - explain the rationale for the plot, and it's a fascinating tale.
Authors Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston
I had a digital copy of the book and the audiobook, narrated by Stephanie Németh-Parker, who does a fine job.
Thanks to Netgalley, Douglas Preston, Aletheia Preston, Forge Books and Macmillan Audio for copies of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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