I read about half of it and skimmed the rest. Despite his other successful books, this one was about as dry as dust with no character development at all. The plot: a rich couple who claim to be archaeologists try to unearth a treasure left by Attila the Hun before another evil rich guy does so. They are aided in their quest by unlimited funds and a woman who knows what they need before they do and orders it to show up at their next hotel magically and without a hitch. We are then given a short history lesson about the area, told what the rich couple dines on (the best food and wine choices) and then on to the next treasure and clue.It's pretty convenient to make your protagonists rich. It keeps you from having to figure out how they get to so many countries so quickly and start digging without authority. It's also pretty convenient to provide a taxi driver that knows all of the cities and has numerous connections of his own in order to get things done. I wouldn't mind all of this convenience for the plot's sake if we were given a more fleshed out version of who Sam and Remi are, but we get nothing. Why should I care if Cussler doesn't? A nice enjoyable treasure-hunty romp. Much as you'd expect from a Cussler. And, as ever, he's written himself into the fricking story again, which always comes across as a cop out - almost as if he couldn't work out a way to get the Fargos out of some scrape or other and so decides to conveniently have himself turn up to help them out. Not that it's him, obviously. It's just some guy with a beard. Anyone can grow a beard, he says in this one. If he just cut out all that crap then things would be much better - having one chapter end on a cliffhanger only for a mysterious man with a beard to turn up with exactly what is needed is just, well, it's crap innit?
Another fun vacation read. Action, mystery, archeology, and history. Unbelievable but fun.
—rach
My introduction to the Fargos - book #4. Good enough i will go back to find books 1,2,3!
—Kimmeywashere23
Another fun adventure about the dynamic Fargo couple. Enjoyable.
—andrew
This was an exciting book. One that you can not put down.
—dqrox13
Not nearly as good as a traditional Clive story.
—Kay
