LOVER OF BOOKS

The Cross of Sins by Geoffrey Knight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Queer League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Indiana Jones and searches for the DaVinci Code!

OMG I LOVED this book! It was an action adventure movie for my mind. As I read this I could almost hear the strains of a rather familiar adventuring music. It goes a little like Dun-dun-DUN-dun. Dun-dun-dun.... sing it with me.

The book opens with our 'Indy' character, Jake Stone on a tropical island, hurtling luge-like down lava tubes just ahead of the lava flow from an erupting volcano as he clutches a diamond encrusted statue only to have the nefarious French villain snatch it from him and harpoon his side and leave him for dead in the water. Sharks, doncha know? But fate has other plans for Mr. Stone and he is rescued by a handsome Brazilian doctor by the name of Eden Santiago who has come to collect him for 'the Professor.' Professor Fathom, a wealthy, blind archaeologist with a belief that the ancient treasures of the world need to belong to the world, not hidden away in the art collections of unscrupulous French Villains or hunted down by fanatical religious orders because the art piece is considered an 'abomination' in the eyes of God. Pfft, not on Professor Fathom's watch.

Also joining Stone and Santiago on their quest is the stunningly beautiful Luca da Roma, art expert, Italian model and foundling in search of his past; Shane Houston, a Texan cowboy, ma'am, horse whisperer and cartographer extraordinaire and finally young Will Hunter, rich boy college student with a passion for archaeology, Professor Fathom's top student (not _that_, mind out of the gutter people!) What's at stake? A lost religious relic, The Naked Christ, otherwise known as the Cross of Sins. The church thought the work so abhorrent they sent their secretive group of fanatical nutjobs after him. The order - The Crimson Crown - didn't just kill it's maker, they cut out his eyes, hacked off his hands and gutted him in the town square for all to see what happens to those who defy the church by making Christ, well, _naked_.

This book is a history lover's wet dream - we jaunt from Ankara, Turkey, to Italy, to Vienna, to the USA and all exotic points of the world in between. There are sarcophagi, secret cults, brutal killers and religious zealots, shoot outs, camels chasing BMW's and, yes, there is even some - well _alot_ - of sex. But sex aside, this book is fast paced, engaging and thoroughly enthralling. And there are sequels... at least 4 of them.

To quote the book blurb "Together, they are Fathom's Five, traveling the world, solving ancient mysteries, uncovering priceless treasures, and getting into hot, sticky and sexy situations, while thwarting danger at every turn!"

Definitely worth a read!



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