A CHURCH IN IPSWICH

A rising power couple consider the fate of an old church in this debut novel.

For almost three centuries, St. Thomas Cathedral has loomed above the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, though it’s been years since anyone has prayed in it. The town hires the Boston-based engineering firm Hennessy Brothers to conduct a historical assessment of the property. The experts tasked with this appraisal are Carrie Medford and Jason Wiltshire, whose long-simmering romantic tension has only recently erupted into a brief courtship and a high-profile wedding (Carrie is the daughter of one of the richest men in New England). While on a honeymoon in Britain checking out cathedrals of a similar age as St. Thomas, the couple manage to uncover a massive pornography ring, making them heroes to the country’s public and earning Jason a knighthood. (They also meet an odd woman who foretells that Jason will be a “Master Builder” and “the one who will restore the holy and sanctify the holy ground.”) When they get back to Massachusetts, Jason is determined to find a way to save and renovate St. Thomas, though Carrie isn’t sure it’s possible. The project will hinge on many factors, including Jason and Carrie’s quick rise within their company; her wealthy father, a former Green Beret; and some gangland murders in China. The ambitious book flips between a few different modes: Sometimes it reads like a political thriller and sometimes a marriage story with intriguing elements of Dan Brown–style religious mystery. The novel has plenty of fun moments along the way. Unfortunately, Hill’s odd linguistic tics take some getting used to (“F-ck” appears on nearly every other page). Still, the novel’s original sin is its nearly 800-page length. Events (some of them unbelievable) keep happening, but they fail to build on one another in a meaningful way, and many readers won’t care about Carrie and Jason enough to follow them on their long journey.

An entertaining but uneven tale about marriage, violence, and historical preservation.