Tag: Israel

The Defector by Chris Hadfield

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Thriller2 Comments

The Defector Cover

Publisher: Quercus (Trade Paperback – 10 October 2023)

Series: The Apollo Murders – Book Two

Length: 369 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Former astronaut turned thriller author Chris Hadfield returns with his second excellent novel, the intriguing and clever historical read, The Defector.

Back in 2021, I was lucky enough to receive a copy of superstar astronaut Chris Hadfield’s cool and much-hyped debut novel, The Apollo Murders.  Set during the Cold War, The Apollo Murders depicted an alternate history adventure where a fictional Apollo flight mission to the moon suffered all manner of calamity, including murder, treachery, and unexpected Russian hitchhikers.  Thanks to Hadfield’s knowledge of history and spaceflight, this turned out to be quite the gripping read, and The Apollo Murders ended up being one of my top debuts for 2021.  As such, I have been eager to see how Hadfield planned to follow up his first book, and I was quite excited when I saw that his second novel was a sequel to The Apollo Murders.  This book, The Defector, was an excellent and compelling thriller which I had a brilliant time getting through.

Israel, 1973.  On the eve of the Yom Kippur War, a Soviet test pilot makes the bold decision to fake a crash in his state-of-the-art MiG fighter and secretly land in Israel.  Claiming that he wants to defect to the United States, the pilot, known by his codename, Grief, and his plane are traded to the Americans, who desperately want to know the secrets of the MiG and how it achieves such impressive altitude.

Having witnessed Grief’s defection while on holiday in Israel, NASA flight controller and former Navy test pilot Kaz Zemeckis is quickly drafted in to take carriage of the captured MiG and to work with Grief to fully understand the plane’s limitations and capabilities.  Their unlikely partnership eventually takes them to the most secure and secret location in the United States, Area 51, where Grief looks set to provide all the information the Americans have ever wanted about the MiG.  However, not everything is as it seems, and it soon becomes apparent that Grief has his own reasons for wanting to defect to the United States.  Can Kaz get to truth before it is too late, or has he let a wolf right into the heart of America’s most secret air base?

This ended up being an excellent and exciting novel from Hadfield that successfully follows up his original debut and provides a cool and intense new story that proves very hard to put down.  Hadfield tells a pretty tight and compelling story in The Defector that starts strong with the mysterious Grief defecting right in the middle of the Yom Kippur War.  This initial excitement morphs into an intense and gripping game of cat and mouse, as Kaz attempts to utilised Grief’s knowledge and keep his defection secret from the Soviets, while the Russian pilot works to initiate his own plans.

This continues for much of the book, and I thought this ended up being a much more focused and well-structured thriller narrative than we previously saw from Hadfield in The Apollo Murders.  The focus on espionage and military secrets was a great centre for the plot, and Hadfield did a good job on also utilising some intriguing characters, especially Kaz and the mysterious Grief.  The inclusion of a couple of fictional supporting characters from The Apollo Murders, namely a cosmonaut and a major Soviet antagonist, was also quite interesting, although as they were mainly there to set up a future entry in the series it did disrupt the narrative flow a little.  Everything leads up to the big conclusion, which Hadfield set up nicely throughout the course of the story.  While I do think that Hadfield might have considered utilising a twist to change the antagonist around, it was still really fun to see the full plan unfold, as well as the real reasons behind the defection.  Watching the manipulation and the resulting violence unfold was very impressive, and it led to a satisfying, if slightly predictable, final showdown with the protagonist that ended everything on a high note.

I really enjoyed how well The Defector came together, especially as Hadfield reused all his best writing elements from The Apollo Murders, while also strongly utilising his own personal experiences and knowledge as a test pilot.  The constant switching between perspective characters, as well as several interludes and flashback sequences, helped to produce a complex, multilayered storyline, and I liked seeing the various players in the plot attempt to work out what everyone else is doing.  It also allowed Hadfield to hide some good hints about the antagonist’s true motivations and feelings, which came out perfectly at the end of the book.  There was also some great character growth around the protagonist Kaz, especially as Hadfield successfully built on his personality and relationships from the first book, and it is clear that the author has some future adventures planned for him.

However, the real strength of The Defector lies in Hadfield’s encyclopaedic knowledge of military airplanes, Cold War espionage history and spaceflight, which was masterfully inserted into the plot.  Much of the plot revolves around the desire for both sides of the Cold War to get a better understanding of their opponent’s aircraft capability, and Hadfield expertly examines the history and mechanics around this.  The discussions about aircraft, fighter capabilities and more, are all quite fascinating, and Hadfield does a wonderful job of exploring them in a highly detailed way that readers unfamiliar with aircraft can easily understand.  His experience also allows for some highly realistic and intense aerial combat sequences, and I really enjoyed the elaborate scenes that resulted, especially the cool conclusion.  This grasp of aircraft, the history surrounding their development, and the espionage involved, are well worked into the plot of The Defector, and I loved how much it increased the authenticity of the book, making it so much better.

Overall, The Defector was an outstanding second novel from Hadfield that I had a wonderful time reading.  Containing a clever and well-paced spy thriller narrative loaded with intriguing details about aircraft and the cold war, The Defector had me hooked from its first awesome scene, and I managed to power through this book in no time at all.  Compelling and action packed, The Defector was an outstanding follow-up to The Apollo Murders and I cannot wait to see what Hadfield writes next.

The Defector Cover 2

Amazon

Cave 13 by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Thriller4 Comments

Cave 13 Cover

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 29 August 2023)

Series: Rogue Team International/Joe Ledger – Book 3/13

Length: 19 hours and 5 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

One of my favourite twisted authors returns with an outstanding new entry in one of his best series with Cave 13 by Jonathan Maberry.

It has already been a massive year for fans of thriller/horror author Jonathan Maberry, who previously released the exhilarating and intense dark fantasy novel Son of the Poison Rose.  The awesome sequel to Kagen the Damned (one of my favourite novels and audiobooks of 2022), Son of the Poison Rose was one of my favourite books and audiobooks from the first half of the year, and if that had been the only Maberry novel I’d received in 2023 I would have been content.  However, Maberry chose to spoil us by providing us with another epic Joe Ledger novel, which is so damn amazing.

The Joe Ledger novels are an amazing science fiction thriller series that follows titular protagonist Joe Ledger as he attempts to stop a series of insane world-ending threats initiated by compelling group of villains.  The initial Joe Ledger series featured 10 epic books with some outrageous and addictive stories around them, including Patient Zero, The Dragon Factory, Code Zero, Predator One and Deep Silence, just to name a few.  Maberry followed up these novels with a new Joe Ledger focused series, the Rogue Team International books.  This series has so far featured Rage (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019) and Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), both of which were pretty exceptional in their own ways.  As such, I have been quite excited to see a new Rogue Team International book and Cave 13 was one of my most anticipated books for 2023 as a result.

To many, Jason Aydelotte, better known to the world as Mr. Miracle, is a smiling and beatific public figure celebrated for his archaeological endeavours and his vast antiquities business.  However, beneath the smiles, Mr. Miracle is a far more ruthless and sinister operator.  Smart, determined and ambitious, Aydelotte has entered the world of international arms dealing and is willing to sell his advanced weapons to anyone who will buy them, including ISIS, and his latest product might be the scariest thing ever created.

Thanks to discoveries made in a hidden ancient Egyptian tomb, Aydelotte’s team has developed a powerful new bioweapon that drives its victims insane with a mere breath.  Its effect is terrifying and its potential for destruction in the wrong hands is immeasurable.  With the world going insane and chaos rising in the Middle East, the only people who might be able to stop such a potent weapon are Joe Ledger and the highly specialised agents of the independent intelligence agency, Rogue Team International.

However, the release of a deadly bioweapon soon proves to be the least of Ledger’s problems in the Middle East.  Far more dangerous materials were recovered from the tomb, including bizarre books of magic dating back to the time of Moses.  At the same time, greater secrets have been pillaged from a hidden cave containing even more Dead Sea Scrolls, some of which could alter the very fabric of the universe.  With threats piling up all around them, and enemies on all sides engaging in their own dangerous plots, can Ledger survive both the carnage and his own fractured mind to save the day, or will a new ruthless opponent destroy everything?

Cave 13 was another outstanding and captivating Joe Ledger adventure from Maberry that sets his troubled protagonist against another brilliantly elaborate world-ending plot.  Slick, intense and loaded with complex characters, Cave 13 was an amazing read that gets an easy five-star rating from me, especially in its audiobook format.

Maberry produced another unique and compelling story for Cave 13 that is once again perfectly told in his unique writing style.  Utilising a vast number of shorter chapters, Maberry quickly starts the story off, reintroducing the protagonist and his team, while also setting up the compelling antagonists and their complex evil plan.  A series of well-placed and absolutely fascinating interludes throughout the book provide greater context to the events that are about to unfold, and you get to see the entire genesis of the antagonist and their plans, which adds a lot to the overall story.  Maberry artfully blends this together with the main storyline that sees Ledger and his team investigate several unique occurrences, including conflicts in the Middle East, increases in unique weapon trafficking, the recovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as mysterious events that could only have been done by certain biblical magic (“you’re playing with the big boys now”).  The intriguing blend of science, mysticism, faith and mystery gives Cave 13 a particularly fun edge, and I really liked the intriguing set-up surrounding the antagonist’s plot and its full potential for destruction. At the same time, the author also dives back into the complexity surrounding his protagonist’s damaged psyche, and how this new case might affect it.

While I loved all the set-up in the first third or so of the novel, it does ensure that the initial plot is a tad slower.  This changes once Ledger and his team arrive in Israel and find themselves under attack in a particularly brutal action sequence right off the bat.  Maberry’s action scenes are always extremely awesome, and you have to love the attention and detail he puts into making them as intense as possible.  This cool action sequence is well balanced at this point by some further background, as well as a compelling sequence of events surrounding recurring side-character Toys, who finds themselves at a different side of the conflict following an undercover operation gone wrong.  This part of the story, especially the twist about the antagonist’s true plan, really increases the stakes and intensity of the story, and Maberry has a lot of fun creating some intense visual horrors for the readers, especially when it comes to a series of twisted and brutal hallucinations.

The final third of Cave 13 is probably the strongest part of the book, and I honestly was hooked the entire way through, desperately trying to get to the end.  All the great set-up, intriguing interludes, and multitudes of well-established characters comes together for the big confrontation at the end as the antagonist’s plan goes full circle and Ledger and his team once again find themselves in hell.  Things get so damn dark, desperate and freaky at this point in the book, and you are left completely worried about all your favourite characters as Maberry doesn’t have the best track record of keeping likeable cast members alive.  There are some brutal scenes here, as well as a ton of tragedy, and the reader is left on the edge of their seat right until the very end.  While I came away from parts of this book a bit shellshocked, I was overall very happy with the conclusion, which was dark, had a good twist around the villain, raised a lot of questions about the protagonists, and left you with a little ray of hope that will no doubt get snuffed out in the future.  An overall pretty epic story that really came to life in Maberry’s hands, especially thanks to his unique set out and brilliant ability to write an action sequence.

Cave 13 ended up being quite an interesting Joe Ledger novel, especially as it presents a great story and the first original villain of the Rogue Team International era, while also cleverly diving into the prior events of the series and utilising them to enhance the characters and narrative.  I really enjoyed the step away from the villains of Rage and Relentless for this one book, although I also appreciated how well the author examined the aftermath of these novels and the dark things they’ve done to the protagonist.  Like most of the Joe Ledger books, Cave 13 can be read as a standalone novel, and Maberry does a good job of recapping all the relevant prior events and characters to ensure that new readers can fully understand and appreciate everything going on.  However, established fans of Maberry are going to get the most out of Cave 13, and there are a ton of unique hints or suggestions about what is to come.  I found it particularly interesting that Maberry chose to include multiple scenes in Cave 13 that were clearly intended to set up certain events for future entries.  While these scenes are a tad disjointed from the main story, I won’t lie and say it didn’t make me excited for the next book in the series, especially when it comes to those hints about certain villains returning.  I was a little less impressed that several storylines or mysterious events from Cave 13 were deliberately left unanswered by Maberry, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens with them in the next exciting Joe Ledger novel.

As with all Maberry’s work, one of the main highlights of Cave 13 was the excellent and complex characters.  Maberry features a pretty massive cast in this novel, including a range of recurring figures from the previous novels, as well as several intriguing new figures who I really enjoyed.  As usual, Maberry does a remarkable job of showcasing all his characters, diving into the compelling histories and minds, and showcasing just how crazy or morally dubious they are (you have to be in order to survive in this universe).

Naturally, the most prominent character is protagonist Joe Ledger, who has been the leading figure and main point-of-view character in this series since the beginning.  An unstoppable action man and natural leader, Ledger is always a fun character to follow, especially as Maberry installs an overwhelming level of snark and disrespect in his personality, ensuring that every scene he’s in is full of quips, jokes and very funny observations about the crazy things he encounters.  While this alone makes him a great character, and the source of much of Cave 13’s humour, Maberry ensures that Ledger is one of his most complex protagonists ever due to the sheer amount of trauma the character experiences.  Ledger has gone through so much damage, darkness, loss and despair during the course of the series, and Maberry spends a substantial part of the protagonist’s chapters diving into this, showcasing just how emotionally and mentally battered Ledger is.  While I always love how effectively Maberry showcases the building trauma surrounding his character, it is even more poignant and important in Cave 13, as this is Ledger’s first adventure since the events of Relentless, where Ledger was taken over by a murderous personification of his own inner darkness and went on a deadly revenge trip.  Some of the most emotionally powerful parts of the book revolve around Ledger and his friends coming to terms with his terrible actions in the last book, and it is clear that Ledger has been extremely changed by the events of the prior book.  Naturally, Maberry decides to twist the knife even further in Cave 13 by subjecting Ledger to a series of traumatising visions and hallucinations thanks to the book’s big bioweapon.  This drives Ledger even further over the edge, and there are some fascinating and highly revealing scenes that give you further insights into just how cracked this protagonist is and the dangers lurking just beneath his mental surface.  Honestly one of the best and most compelling action protagonists out there, I really love how Maberry showcases Ledger in this gripping novel.

In addition to Ledger, Cave 13 features a range of other compelling characters who get their moment to shine.  My favourite would have to be the always mysterious Mr Church, the head of the secretive Rogue Team International.  A highly elusive and deadly figure whose origins and full capabilities are only hinted at; Church is easily one of the best characters featured in the entire series.  Maberry makes exceptional use of Church in Cave 13, and there are so many more tantalising hints about who or what this character might be.  This actually proves to be one of the most substantial Church novels in the entire series, and Maberry goes out of his way to not only show that this seemingly unstoppable figure is actually vulnerable, and is in some ways just as much of a bastard as the book’s villains.  There are several amazing and highly powerful monologues from Church in Cave 13 that give you some fascinating insights into his mind, especially when it comes to Ledger and the constant war that he and Church are fighting, and I loved getting an idea of just how ruthless this figure can be.  Several of these monologues are delivered to another awesome figure in Cave 13, the team’s psychiatrist, Rudy Sanchez, a notoriously calm figure who finally loses his cool in this novel after Ledger goes back into the field, straining their relationship.  I loved seeing Rudy particularly passionate and angry in Cave 13, especially when he stands up to Church, and Maberry’s portrayal of his concern really helps to highlight just how much damage was done to Ledger in the previous book.

Another major figure from Cave 13 that I need to highlight is the intriguing figure of Alexander “Toys” Chismer.  A former villain turned repentant ally, Maberry set Toys on a redemptive arc several novels ago, and it has been really paying off as Toys has turned into a fascinating figure trying to atone for his past.  His impressive long-running storyline is extremely well featured in Cave 13, and indeed he is one of the major protagonists, leading his own team and experiencing some substantial additional trauma.  Toys honestly has one of the darkest and most impressive character arcs in the entire novel, and the scenes he shared with Ledger are particularly moving and play into their complex antagonist history perfectly.  The various recurring members of Rogue Team International are well featured again in Cave 13, and it was fascinating to see how some of their character arcs have developed over the course of 13 novels.  My favourite fuzzy assassin, Ledger’s dog, Ghost, was of course awesome in this book, and I always loved just how in touch with his human’s emotions Ghost is.  There was even an intriguing extended cameo from F. Paul Wilson’s iconic protagonist, Repairman Jack, who Maberry utilises extremely well in Cave 13’s story, simultaneously working them into the plot while also diving into the Repairman’s unique life in his own series.

Finally, I must highlight some of the villains in this book.  Maberry always excels in creating complex and insane antagonists for each of his novels, and Cave 13 is no exception, as you are introduced to several intriguing villains who are set to unleash chaos upon the world.  I won’t give away too much about them and their plans here, but I will say that Maberry did an exceptional job of introducing them and diving into their various quirks, plans and desires, in some cases humanising them.  This actually helps to make them even more sinister as you start to understand and appreciate some of their actions, even if they are reprehensible.  I deeply enjoyed the complex examinations of each of Cave 13’s main villains, especially as the various interludes showcase their intriguing histories as well as the genesis of their current plans and schemes, allowing you to fully appreciate everything about them.  These villains, as well as a couple of seemingly returning antagonists hidden in the shadows, ensure that Cave 13’s stakes are always extremely high, and I loved how well the various complex character arcs mixed together to create an outstanding and powerful read.

As with every Jonathan Maberry novel I have so far had the pleasure of enjoy, I chose to check out Cave 13 on audiobook, which is the only way to enjoy one of Maberry’s epic tales.  Not only does the author’s awesome writing style and action sequences really come across well in the audiobook format, but the exceptional narration of acclaimed voice actor Ray Porter, who narrates all of Maberry’s projects, is so damn awesome.  Porter has such a brilliant handle on Maberry’s great characters, and it is always fun to hear the familiar voices of the main cast come out of Porter’s mouth again.  I particular love Porter’s take on main character Joe Ledger, as Porter always manages to capture the key parts of his personality, including the humour, mental instability and the pure rage contained within.  This, and other excellent performances, really helps to turn Cave 13 into an amazing listen, and I had such a brilliant time getting through it, and its 19-hour runtime just flew by.  Indeed, it really helped to ensure an extended road trip in an uncomfortable van was actually pretty tolerable, so kudos for that.  Easily one of the better audiobooks of 2023 so far, I cannot recommend this format enough to anyone wanting to check this epic novel out.

Unsurprisingly, I had fun with the latest Rogue Team International novel by Jonathan Maberry and it is always so damn epic to get another Joe Ledger adventure.  Cave 13 was a particularly awesome and intense entry in the series that expertly brings together an elaborate narrative, evil villains, exceptional action and complex character in an impressive overall read.  Fun, exciting and oh so darkly addictive, Cave 13 was a powerful and gripping novel that I cannot recommend enough, especially for established fans of Ledger’s amazing books.

Amazon

The Emerald Tablet by Meaghan Wilson Anastasios

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Historical Fiction, Thriller2 Comments

The Emerald Tablet Cover

Publisher: Macmillan (Trade Paperback – 25 June 2019)

Series: Benedict Hitchens series – Book 2

Length: 404 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Amazon     Book Depository

It’s time for another exciting archaeological adventure in the turbulent 1950s as Meaghan Wilson Anastasios returns with the second book in her Benedict Hitchens series, The Emerald Tablet.

Anastasios is an Australian academic who started writing fiction back in 2014 when she co-wrote her first historical fiction novel, The Water Diviner, with her husband, Andrew Anastasios. This first book was fairly successful and was loosely adapted into a film of the same name featuring Russel Crowe. Last year, Meaghan Anastasios wrote her first solo novel, The Honourable Thief. The Honourable Thief serves as the first book in the Benedict Hitchens series, which follows the adventures of the series’ titular protagonist, Benedict Hitchens, an ambitious American archaeologist living in Turkey.

In The Honourable Thief, Hitchens, a respected academic and war hero, was seduced by the beautiful Eris, who showed him a fabulous collection of artefacts she had apparently recovered. The seduction and the artefacts were revealed to be part of an elaborate con which ended up ruining Hitchens’s academic reputation and forced him to live a life of exile in Istanbul. The incident also provided Hitchens with a series of clues which eventually leads him to the hidden tomb of Achilles. However, this was revealed to be part of a further con: while he was able to find the tomb, Eris and her employer, Garvé, a man who Hitchens had significant history with during World War II, subsequently stole the tomb’s greatest treasure, the Shield of Achilles.

Now, a year later in 1956, Hitchens’s excavation of Achilles’s tomb has helped restore his academic reputation, and his life is back on track. However, he has never forgotten Eris, who still has a hold on his heart even after she betrayed him. When he finds out that Eris, now calling herself Essie, is in Istanbul researching a rare and ancient document, he decides to investigate what she is up to. He quickly discovers that she and Garvé are searching for the Emerald Tablet, a legendary artefact rumoured to hold powerful alchemical secrets that could alter the world.

Determined to keep the Emerald Tablet out of Garvé’s hands, Hitchens begins his own hunt for the tablet. With his friend the crooked antiques dealer Ilhan Aslan at his side, Hitchens follows a series of clues deep into the Middle East. However, this is a dangerous time, as tensions between Egypt, Israel and the European powers are at an all-time high. Hitchens and Aslan soon find that the Emerald Tablet’s trail leads them right into the middle of the chaotic Suez Canal crisis. With agents of the various world powers also searching for the tablet and a murderous assassin following Hitchens’s every move, can he recover the tablet before it is too late, or will Garvé once again outsmart him? And what will happen when Hitchens once again comes face-to-face with the woman who stole his heart?

This was a fantastic follow-up to Anastasios’s first solo novel, and the author has done a great job continuing the story from the first Benedict Hitchens book. The Emerald Tablet has a fast-paced and exciting story focused on the search for an intriguing artefact and featuring an interesting look at a major historical event of the 1950s. In addition, Anastasios tries out some new storytelling methods and a focus on one of the villains from the first novel, which work well to create a fascinating overall narrative. All of this results in an amazing book which I had a fun time reading.

While the first book in the series, The Honourable Thief, employed several separate timelines spread out through the book, Anastasios chose a different format for The Emerald Tablet. This second book is told in a linear way, with the events occurring in a chronological order. This time, however, the story is told from the perspectives of Hitchens and Eris/Essie, who show two different sides of the hunt for the Emerald Tablet.

I really enjoyed the central hunt for the Emerald Tablet that formed the main part of the book. Not only has Anastasios chosen an absolutely fascinating artefact for all the characters to chase but she has created a compelling archaeological and historical mystery surrounding its hidden location. The point-of-view characters are forced to follow a series of elaborate historical clues, many of which can be interpreted in different ways thanks to historical context or locations. Having the two-separate point-of-view characters works incredibly well for this part of the story, as both Hitchens and Eris receive different hints or have conflicting interpretations of the same historical clues, which results in them searching in different locations. This central story is filled with a number of great twists and betrayals, and I quite liked how the protagonists had to contend with agents of the various world powers who have an interest in the tablet for their own ends. Agents of the American, Soviet, British, Israeli and Turkish governments all have a role to play in the adventure, as well as agents of the central antagonist, Garvé. Not only does this increase the action and intrigue of the book but it also raises the stakes of the hunt for the artefact. The reader is constantly left guessing about the location and nature of the artefact Hitchens is hunting for. This was an excellent central narrative for this book, and I had a great time exploring this new archaeological mystery.

Just like she did with The Honourable Thief, Anastasios has chosen a fascinating treasure that the book’s various characters are trying to locate. The Emerald Tablet is an intriguing item out of history and mythology, which is rumoured to hold the secrets to transmutation. The author does a fantastic job of exploring the various myths and theories about the origins and nature of the tablet and the reader gets a great idea of its potential and why it has been hidden. It was a great summary of such an intriguing and unique item from history, especially as the author plays up the mystical side of the whole artefact. There are also outright hints that magic or alchemy, especially the alchemical transmutation of the Emerald Tablet, are real in this universe, which not only makes this story just that little more entertaining, but it could result in some fun adventures in the future. The whole mystical angle also allowed the author to explore some of the occultist groups of the early 20th century, such as the followers of Aleister Crowley, who was quite a peculiar historical figure. Readers will find all of this incredibly riveting, and I felt that these curious subjects added a lot of interest to the overall story.

Anastasios’s use of historical Turkey and Crete was one of the highlights of The Honourable Thief, and I loved that she has once again chosen another captivating historical setting to use as the backdrop for this sequel. While the author does set a bit of The Emerald Tablet in Turkey, this book also explores the Suez Crisis of 1956, as the point-of-view characters spend time in Egypt and Israel and witness some of the crisis firsthand. Most of the course of the war is shown through the excellent use of realistic newspaper clippings set at the front several chapters that showcase how the situation between Egypt, Israel, France, England, the United States and other nations broke down and led to conflict. However, the accounts from Hitchens and Eris reveal that parts of the crisis where instigated as a cover for some of the sides to attempt to seize the Emerald Tablet. This makes for a fun tweak to history which fits the rest of the story quite well. The use of two separate point-of-view characters also allowed for a broader vision of the crisis, as one character mostly viewed it from Egypt, while the other saw it from within Israel, and both characters interacted with members of the country who had opinions about the upcoming conflict. I once again really enjoyed Anastasios’s use of 1950s historical settings, especially the Suez Crisis, and I feel it is one of the best parts of her Benedict Hitchens books.

There is a lot of good character work included in The Emerald Tablet. Not only do we finally get a close look at the mysterious character from the first book, Eris, but we get to further explore the psyche of Hitchens following the traumatic events of the previous book. Eris’s background is revealed in this book and it is a pretty interesting tale. I really enjoyed seeing her side of the story in this book. Not only does it allow the author to showcase this character’s past and her association with the villainous Garvé but we also get to see her motivations for the actions in this book and The Honourable Thief, including her feelings for Hitchen’s following her betrayal of him. Hitchens was already a fairly emotionally damaged character in the first book due to the death of his wife during World War II. However, Eris’s betrayal in the previous book has also had a marked impact on him, and he is obsessed with finding her again. This becomes one of his main motivations in The Emerald Thief, and he goes to extreme lengths to try and claim the tablet before she does, partially to frustrate her and partially in case it leads him to her. Their eventual meeting is an excellent part of the book, and we finally get to see how their relationship might be without the manipulations of Garvé. Certain complications will likely make this relationship an intriguing part of any future books in the series, and I look forward to them reuniting again. Can I also say: thank goodness that Hitchens wised up a little in this book. After some serious blunders from the genius archaeologist in the first book, I was glad that it took a little more to fool him this time.

I feel the need to comment on some of the rather racy scenes that Anastasios included in this book which may prove to be a bit surprising for some readers. Not only is there a rather disturbing ritualistic orgy as part of the story but there was a rather explicit scene in the first few pages of the book that nearly threw me off right at the start. I personally thought that these scenes were a bit unnecessary and somewhat distracting from the main story, but there were some plot reasons for them, and the rest of the story is really enjoyable.

Overall, The Emerald Tablet is an extremely entertaining novel, which does a superb job building on the foundations of the first book in the series. Anastasios has done an outstanding job combining together a fascinating archaeological mystery with emotional character work and an excellent historical setting. The Emerald Tablet is an amazing read, and I look forward to seeing what crazy artefact Benedict Hitchens attempts to find in his next book.

Amazon     Book Depository