Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A Treasure Deep


A Treasure Deep by Alton L. Gansky
Barbour Publishing, 2003
paperback, 350 pages
ISBN-13: 9781593106706
Action, Christian fiction
recommended

Synopsis from back cover:
The wealth is unbelievable.
The impact on history immeasurable
The danger unimaginable.
And Perry Sachs is just the man for the job.
It started as an effort to save one man's life. It became a project more important than anything Perry Sachs has ever done. More significant than anything he ever could do in the future...
In a few hours he would return to the spot that very well might change the course of history. It would be dark by then, but that didn't matter. This was an around-the-clock operation.
My thoughts:

For the most part A Treasure Deep was a pleasant summer read. Perry Sachs is sort of like a Christian Indiana Jones, only he's a wealthy, well educated (more on that later) engineer. The story sets up a mystery and suspense right at the beginning.... and then it stalls out for most of the book. The action picks up again toward the end and there is a satisfying conclusion. Gansky did a great job showing a Christian living his faith without making the character seem false.
Recommended

Gansky drove me crazy with his many similes like: "...Perry felt out of place, like a prune in a basket of oranges." (pg. 25). I also am quite tired of reading about how his whole team are MIT graduates. I'm currently reading another Gansky and he had his characters introduce themselves as their occupation and then MIT. Hint: Once people are successful professionals in their thirties and have a major position in a world-wide company, they normally don't say, for example, I'm ________, civil engineer, MIT, unless they have some really major insecurities or are incredible bores. At this point in his characters' careers they should be secure enough to simple state their area of expertise within the company. If Gansky really needs to let us know they all went to MIT, then he can add it. And he will.

Quotes:

His legs were on fire, the muscles mere kindling in a blast furnace of exertion. opening

He hopped once in a brave effort to distance himself from the criminal behind him and to protect the precious bundle in his arms. It was one hop too many. Dr. Jamison Henri fell to the wet, trash-littered alley. pg. 7

Henri shook his head. "Teacher. North Pacific Seminary. New Testament..." He seized again. A moment later he took a deep breath and said, "Take it. I have to trust you." He released his arms from around the leather case. "Let no one have it. Trust no one. Learn from it. Promise me. Learn from it. Protect it." pg.11-12

Doubts surfaced like a whale breaching and spouting. The odds that he was right were astronomical, the evidence he followed was thin, and the experts who agreed with him were zero. Still, he thought he was right, and more importantly, he felt he was right. pg. 16

"Looks like a chamber or something buried. I expected that. It's this that strikes me as odd." He ran his finger along a fuzzy streak on the page. pg. 27

"I may be crossing the line here," Brent said, "but what are we looking for? I mean, if that's not too much to ask."
Perry studies the young man for a moment then said, "Sorry, newbie. You're asking too much - at least for now." pg. 28

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