Where do you go when you start out at the top?

This was the challenge facing Andrew Gross. Before his first book was published, he was called on to co-write books with James Patterson, the 800-pound gorilla of thriller writers. This is like going for a first audition and getting the starring role in the next James Bond movie. Having just read “The Dark Tide” (Morrow, 435 pages, $25.95), Mr. Gross’s second solo novel, it seems safe to say he’s a lot more Pierce Brosnan than George Lazenby.

Although Mr. Patterson wrote the first novel about the Women’s Murder Club, “1st to Die,” the next five were co-authored by him and Mr. Gross. Unlike some writers (Robert Tannenbaum, Margaret Truman) who did not acknowledge the contribution of any other hand, Mr. Patterson gave his collaborator a small mention on the front cover of the next two books in the series, “2nd Chance” and “3rd Degree,” and equal billing on the next three, “The Jester,” “The Lifeguard,” and “Judge and Jury.” Sales were, of course, spectacular, and then Mr. Gross flew the nest and set out on his own, producing “The Blue Zone,” which hit all the significant best-seller lists, as I am certain “The Dark Tide” will. And why not? This man knows how to write a page-turner.

If you read the first two dozen pages without getting hooked, you might consider therapy. A charming, happy family scene on a normal morning soon becomes the last such day in the lives of this particular family.

Charles Friedman — husband, father, and successful hedge fund manager — takes a train from his home in Greenwich, Conn., and, as it pulls into Grand Central Station, terrorists set off bombs that destroy both it and the station, killing and wounding uncounted hundreds. Flames, smoke, blood, screams, and faces of agony fill TV screens as his wife, Karen, and millions of other Americans watch the carnage. When a charred fragment of his briefcase is recovered, Karen’s profound sense of loss plunges her into a period of painful loneliness as she mourns the heartbreaking end of her 18-year marriage.

On the same day, a hit-and-run death in Greenwich shocks the peaceful town, but is quickly overshadowed by the enormity of the terrorist attack. Ty Hauck, a police detective, investigates and comes to believe that the young man who was run down was not the victim of an accident, but was the target of a killer. Could the murder somehow be connected to the terrorist attack in New York City?

Inevitably, when discussing a plot-driven thriller, it becomes necessary to stop divulging what happens next, but experienced readers will guess a few things right off, including that the husband may not have been all he seemed, that the wife will be put at risk, and that romance will gently, if fervently, poke its head in the door.

That is merely the tip of a very large iceberg, as Mr. Gross crams onto these pages a plot packed tighter than a kielbasa, with more twists and turns than the Pacific Coast Highway.

Readers do not customarily turn to hugely successful thriller writers for stylistic subtlety or grace, and this is not the place to look for an exception. Although much of the dialogue is compact and adept, some of the exposition has less agility than an oil tanker.

In one four-page stretch of overheated prose, the following remarkable events occur to Detective Hauck’s body: “Hauck felt his blood stir”; “Now Hauck’s blood was racing”; “… something sent his antennae buzzing”; “Then it hit him, like a punch in the solar plexus”; “His skin started to feel all tingly”; “Hauck’s heart slammed to a stop”; “Hauck’s blood became ice”; “… something made his pulse skyrocket”; “His heart started going wild.”

Trite as this stuff is, and there’s a good deal more (Note to Mr. Gross’s editor: Suggest that your author tone it down a few decibels) it is not typical of the prose throughout this exciting novel. Several of the characters, especially Karen, are wonderfully brought to full life, and the bad guys are genuinely scary, as dangerous as living with a gas leak.

At the end of the day, there is one major criterion for judging a thriller: Does it, in fact, thrill? Well, “The Dark Tide” is definitely thrilling, and I look forward eagerly to the author’s next book.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories. He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.