Helpful Score: 16
Give this man credit: whereas most lawyers who decide to write a novel stay fairly close to home, Berry, a Georgia trial attorney, wanders far off the beaten path. Although his debut novel features a trial judge as its central character and opens with a pretty typical courtroom scene, it soon steps outside the courtroom--way outside. When Judge Rachel Cutler's father dies under suspicious circumstances, he leaves his daughter tantalizing clues to a decades-old secret: the Amber Room, an exquisite treasure that, so the legend goes, was appropriated by the Nazis when they invaded the Soviet Union. Now, to find out why her father died, and who's responsible, Rachel (with her ex-husband, Paul) heads off to Germany, where she hopes to find the truth about the Amber Room. Based loosely, very loosely, on certain historical events, the novel is plotted cleverly and written with style and substance. A welcome change from the usual legal-thriller fare from wanna-be Turows.
BOOKLIST REVIEW
BOOKLIST REVIEW
Helpful Score: 14
Very fun and not annoying as Dan Brown's DaVinci Code! Treasure hunters, assassins, secrets, intrigue, Nazi/Russian amber... and a divorced couple caught in the middle. Very fast read, interesting facts of lost European treasures.
Helpful Score: 9
I was very excited to start this book, but it didn't last long. I was expecing a fast paced thriller, a treasure hunt type book. I didn't get it. It started very slow, and never really picked up. I couldn't get into any of the characters, good or bad, and therefore had no one to cheer on. And the writing was so flat it was like being lectured. I applaud the author for the amount of research he did for this novel, but the story itself never seemed to move out of 2nd gear. I'd heard many good things about this book, but none of them made themselves apparent to me.
Helpful Score: 7
This a wonderful book, by Steve Berry,an author so admired by his peers that the top banner is taken over by a review from Dan Brown. This book is exciting and wonderful from page 1 through to the end. Cleverly plotted and written with both style and substance. An absolute jewel of a book.
Helpful Score: 3
Good read. I'll will read more of his books.
