Some years ago, Charles Ardai, founder of Hard Case Crime, conceived of an adventure series featuring (and ostensibly written by) Gabriel Hunt, a swashbuckling adventurer, but actually authored by others. There have apparently been five prior novels, and this one is written by Mr. Ardai himself.

The book reminds me of the serials that used to be shown on Saturdays, along with double features, in which a cliffhanger left us kids panting to find out what happen in the next [what we called] chapter. Or like the silent film called “The Perils of Pauline.” Only in this novel, the cliffhangers don’t come with every chapter, but they come with great frequency, beginning in Chapter One, as Gabriel rescues Sheba McCoy from the clutches of DeGroet, a rich Hungarian, who kidnapped her in an effort to get her to assist him in a quest for a secret treasure. The plot involves the chase for the treasure, with both Gabriel and Sheba being captured by DeGroet, and escaping several times until the end.

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