As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, the rich are not like most of us. And in this fast-moving thriller, there are ten ultra-rich men who place themselves above all the rest of us, not only in accumulating wealth, but hoarding the world’s treasures in the form of hundreds of gold- and precious gem-covered books in a secret location. Then one of the books, “The Book of Spies,” is smuggled out and becomes the source for the location of the “book club.”
Meanwhile, a clandestine, super-secret CIA group discovers an alleged link between the library and a terrorist bank account, setting off a chase around the world. A former curator for the Getty Museum, Eva Blake, serving a sentence for the vehicular murder of her husband, is enlisted to assist in the effort. She’s teamed with Judd Ryder, a troubled ex-military intelligence operative. Together, they chase leads from Paris to Rome, to Athens and Istanbul, seeking the secret location.
Ms. Lynds is the author of five suspense/espionage novels [all, up until now, standalones] and co-author [with Robert Ludlum] of three others.
Parenthetically, it should perhaps be noted that the author ran a contest in which entrants vied to have their names affixed to various characters. In the interest of full disclosure, Gloria Feit (wife of this reviewer, who also appears offstage – or, rather, offpage – a few times as her fictional, as well as being her real-life, husband) appears in a minor but crucial role in the novel. As for the others, as Ms. Lynds writes, “I won’t tell you which ones are theirs. That’s called suspense.” And there is plenty of suspense in Spies to keep the reader on the edge of the chair with every page turned. And, since Spies is indicated as the first of a series, apparently there’s a lot more to come. We will look forward to future entries, and this one is highly recommended.
