December 1, 2009

Review: Ark of Fire by C.M. Palov



When cataloging rare artifacts for the Hopkins Museum of Near Eastern Art, photographer Edie Miller witnesses a murder of the chief curator. Just as she bends down to check on some loose cable wires the murderer walks in and shoots the curator with no questions asked and steals an ancient Hebrew relic. Saved by her convenient hiding place Edie just makes it out of the museum alive where she sees the killer meet up with a D.C. policeman.

Fearing for her life she refuses to turn to the police because of what she saw. Instead she turns to the historian, Caedmon Aisquith who the curator was about to send Edie’s pictures to.

Together with Caedmon they realize who the killers are working for and what they are after… The Ark of the Covenant. But if Edie and Caedmon can find it first they’ll stop the killers from seeing their plans through to the deadly end.

Reading the endorsements on the cover of this book had me really looking forward to Ark of Fire. On the front cover is a blurb by Steve Berry one of my favorite action thriller authors and a blurb on the back cover from Karen Dionne describes the book as “Part Dan Brown, part Indiana Jones and part James Bond…” With the two things I was expecting a lot more from Ark of Fire.

It was a good story but a little too over the top. I can’t exactly explain some of the major aspects that bothered me without giving any spoilers away but a couple of small things that made me roll my eyes where just how many times Caedmon and Edie were saved by the killers being out of bullets or their gun jamming and how many times they escaped death and other horrific acts just in the nick of time. Not to mention the whole escaping from Washington D.C. to Europe. I found it hard to believe it was really that easy to flee the country with only $3,000 and a conveniently remembered passport with a killer breathing down her neck.

With those vents out of the way the storyline was pretty good and there was obviously a lot of action. I would recommend this one as loaner or library read for anyone who loves a good suspense thriller.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my review.

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3 comments :

Enid Wilson said...

A site teaching people to write mystery said authors shouldn't rely too much on good luck or readers will not believe their stories.

Bargain with the Devil

bermudaonion said...

Oh well - it sounds like it was a good story other than all the lucky breaks.

Ladytink_534 said...

Oh neat! Sounds like a National Treasure/Da Vinci Code plot and I LOVE those. Sorry to hear that it's over the top though. Understated is always better for these types of books.