The Wheel of Darkness

This series, featuring FBI special agent Aloysius Pendergast, and his ward, Constance Greene, are somewhat different from the usual procedurals or thrillers in that Pendergast, and now Constance, are studying Buddhism. They have come to a remote Tibetan monastery to seek respite from the world and to study. So remote is the monastery, in fact, that the Chinese do not even know of its existence. While there, an impossible theft takes place. An ancient artifact that has the power to cleanse the earth of humanity has been stolen from the most secret and well-guarded part of the monastery. Pendergast and Constance are tasked with its return. They are hot on the trail of the thief, only to find him brutally murdered. They determine that the murderer must be one of the passengers scheduled on the inaugural sailing of the largest British ocean liner, the Brittainia. Disappearances and murders begin to accumulate on the voyage to New York city, but the captain of the ship refuses to turn back or alter course. When the officers declare him unfit for command and take over the ship, matters seem to be improving. But  the world is quickly turned upside down as the new commander sets the ship on a suicidal collision course for dangerous rocks off the coast of Canada. Anti-terrorism measures mean that once she has locked herself in the bridge, no one can gain access or change course. To top it off, Pendergast has changed personality and now plans to abandon ship rather than trying to save the ship and passengers. Can Constance bring Pendergast back to himself in time, and what is the strange force that has infected the minds of the commander and Pendergast? Those are the questions that will drive you along to the end. I would not turn down reading another book by this duo, but I also would not go out of my way to find more.