Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Kingdom of Darkness

Kingdom of Darkness by Andy McDermott
Random House: 4/28/2015
eBook review copy, 512 pages
Mass Market Paperback ISBN-13: 9780345537089
Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase series #10
www.andy-mcdermott.com

History’s most sought after treasure is now mankind’s worst fear.
In Los Angeles, a desperate man seeks out renowned archaeologist Nina Wilde and her husband, ex-SAS soldier Eddie Chase - only to be gunned down in front of them. The assassin is soon identified as a ninety-year-old Nazi war criminal - with the body of a healthy forty-year-old.
Following the victim’s final warnings, Nina and Eddie travel to Cairo to inspect the newly discovered tomb of Alexander the Great. But the real find is hidden in one of its treasures - a mechanical guide leading to one of antiquity’s most tantalizing myths: a spring of water said to give eternal life to those who drink it.
Nina, Eddie, and a team of Mossad agents realize that the myth is real, and that a group of former SS men who have tasted this water are now hunting for its source. But before she and her alliance can act, Nina is kidnapped and spirited away to a secret Nazi enclave in Argentina, igniting a fierce, fateful, globe-spanning struggle in which her life hangs in the balance. All the while a terrifying possibility emerges - that the world’s darkest evil could live on forever.

My Thoughts:
 

Kingdom of Darkness by Andy McDermott is a highly recommended adrenaline packed thriller for action/adventure junkies.

This tenth addition to the Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase series opens with Nazi's finding a jar that descendants of Andreas, the cook for Alexander the Great, have hidden away. It contains the secret of immortality that Andreas found in the Kingdom of Darkness.

Then the action jumps to the present day. Nina and Eddie are in Hollywood when a young man approaches them, telling Nina, “Dr. Wilde, I must give you this. They must not be allowed to raid Alexander’s tomb!” He manages to show Nina the plans and tells her "...they are going to break into the tomb and steal the statue of Bucephalus. You have to stop them!”


Eddie is naturally alarmed, but Nina explains to him that the papers show a plan of Alexander the Great’s tomb, in Egypt. The young man manages to tell Nina that the "Oberkommando” is behind the planned theft and that he needs the statue to lead them to the Spring of Immortality. Then, suddenly the young man is killed by a mysterious gunman. The chase is on, as Eddie tries to find out the identity of the gunman.

After the dust settles (barely) Nina and Eddie are off on another globe-trotting adventure to discover the statue and the location of the rumored Spring of Immortality. This time there are real Nazi's, and plenty of action and ground to be covered in order to untangle the truth behind the myth of Alexander the Great's tomb. To add to the stress, Nina is not well, but she and Eddie are as devoted to each other as ever and Eddie is still quick witted and full of one liners.

Nina and Eddie are well established characters at this point, but that shouldn't deter anyone in just picking up this book and reading it. It can stand alone because, let's face it, we're reading these books for the action-packed plot more than anything else. McDermott knows what his fans want at this point and he delivers. (There is a series changing event in this one.)


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Random House for review purposes.

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