Tyler Locke, the Indiana Jones-type character that Boyd introduced us to in The Ark is back for another fast-paced action ride. This time the former Army Ranger, who now runs a cutting-edge technology company called Gordian, has been enlisted against his will to find the truth behind the legend of King Midas's touch.
Jordan Orr is a master thief who has personal knowledge that the legend is based on fact. As a boy, he had stumbled across a cavernous room deep below Naples Italy, with walls of gold and containing the source behind Midas's incredible curse - the ability to turn everything he touched into gold. Now, after decades of planning and preparing himself for the day when he could harness that power himself, he's ready to return. He needs the special skill set Locke possesses though in order to carry out his plan. So he kidnaps Locke's father in order to obtain his cooperation and away we go.
I mentioned that the book was a lot of fun, and it is. When his next book comes out, I'll be buying it and reading it quickly. But I'm hoping that as he continues to write, Boyd will spend a little less time devising outlandish plots and a little more time fine tuning the dialogue between his characters. It got a little distracting reading the glib comments his characters were making while they narrowly escaped various forms of certain death. I know Indiana Jones made a habit of doing it, but Jones was best when he didn't say a word, he simply dispatched the sword-wielding man with a pistol shot. Boyd would do well to take that lesson to heart.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
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