Gold of Kings, by Davis Bunn

I received this book in a website giveaway (Fiction Addict) a few weeks ago, and when it showed up in the mail, I shrugged my shoulders and set it on my shelf, next to other books I felt I would not likely read. Well, I don't mean that to be rude - I'd never heard of the book or the author, got it for free, etc. It was cool to win it, but I really didn't know when - or if - I'd get to it, with so many other great books ahead of it on my "to be read" list. But I'd just got done giving up on the previous fantasy novel (that unnamed book that proved a source of controversy!), and so it was the perfect time to pick up a new book.

So, what can I say? I grabbed it and started reading, deciding to give it a chance to hook me.

Right from the first page, I could tell it was going to be a good read. Davis Bunn is an author that knows his way around a page, that's for sure. Effective hooks, clean structure, easy to read, compelling characters, just the right amount of environmental description (enough to paint a quick picture without overdoing it), and good (occasionally great) dialog.

The 3 Key Players: Storm Syrell is the grand-daughter of a high-end antiques dealer - her renowned grandfather Sean (head of the family business) has just been murdered.Henry Bennett is a treasure hunter, and close friend of the recently murdered Sean, who has salvaged antiques and treasures for Sean for years. And rounding out the three main characters is Emma Webb, a US Government lawyer, who is assigned to protect Storm in light of Sean's death.

These three are sent on a wild ride on the trail of the Big Prize that got Sean killed in the first place - the gold treasures from King Herod's temple, that were somehow smuggled out of Jerusalem before the Roman's completed their siege in the first century AD and destroyed the city, tearing the temple down to the ground. The list of treasures they brought back to Rome as part of the victory spoils did not include a rather sizable list of items found in historical records of Herod's Temple. They are still out there, somewhere.

So the story is part treasure hunt, part spy thriller, part love story, and sadly, part cheese. The first half of the book is terrific. In fact, the writing is good/great throughout the whole book. But the story, in my opinion, fizzles. The climax is rather anti-climactic... but really, when pondering how I would have improved the ending, I was at a loss. The way the treasure hunt was resolved is likely the only way it could have been resolved, considering the way the story was crafted. So I can't fault the author there.

I can, however, fault him for the way the story finished up *after* the treasure hunt was resolved. Without giving too much away, there's a "rescue" scene toward the end which is, by all rights, ridiculous, and struck me as the author either deciding on his own - or feeling pressure from an outside source - to add a final (needed) punch to the tale, to make up for the (likely) unavoidably tepid resolution to the treasure hunt itself. It feels very tacked-on, very Hollywood, which saddened me.

But overall, the read was well worth it, even if only to see how a really good author can spin a great tale, and make it seem so effortless. I don't mean to sound down on the author - it is a good, fun, easy, satisfying and fairly quick read (at under 350 pages, hardback). I just wish there was some way to resolve the chase a bit better.

Summary: 4/5 stars. A good, solid read from a Christy Award Winning author who deserves a deeper look. I'll likely check out other books of his if I get the chance. He has many, though he has apparently dropped the T. from his name. He used to be T. Davis Bunn.