The Thieves of Darkness by Richard Doetsch

Synopsis:

WILL A TREACHEROUS MISSION LEAD THEM INTO ANCIENT PARADISE . . .

Reformed master thief Michael St. Pierre thinks his criminal days are behind him when his best friend Simon is sentenced to die in a brutal desert prison. Breaking into jail for the first time in his checkered career, Michael frees his friend only to discover his own girlfriend in the next cell. . . .

OR STRAIGHT TO A RUTHLESS ENEMY?

With a madman on their heels, the trio plots a series of daring thefts inside the world’s most celebrated and heavily guarded sanctums to find the mysterious artifact that landed them behind bars: a map to a secret holy place predating Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. From the glittering banks of the Bosporus to the highest peaks of the Himalayas, they embark on a globe-trotting adventure to preserve the priceless relics at stake and protect the fate of humanity.

My thoughts;
I haven't read a thriller in a pretty long time, not because I was avoiding them but I think I had forgotten about them a little.  This book was offered to me for review purposes from Gallery Books Publicity and I decided it was time to give a thriller another try.  For me this book had a slow start, but once I got into it I finished it in one night.  It reminded me a bit of The Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Davinci Code, Angels and Demons and even The Mummy.  There was a lot of research and religious texts and finds.  This book is part of a series, but I had no trouble picking it up as a stand alone novel.

Michael has a security business.  Part of the reason he is sought after and is so good at security is the time he spent as a thief.  His friend, a priest and also a thief of stolen or lost religious items, ends up in jail and Michael receives an anonymous tip that his friend is in jail slated for a five am death sentence.  When Michael breaks into the prison in the middle of the desert in a foreign country he finds out that Simon is not alone, he is with Michael's girlfriend.  So starts a journey in a private jet across different countries and into numerous dangerous situations.  Some of the surprises I anticipated but there were a few truly big surprises along the way.

Along the journey background information on each of the characters is revealed. At times I felt like too much background was given, especially at the beginning.  That was part of the reason why this novel was a slow start for me, but as I read further I saw that having that information was important to the rest of the story.  Doetsch was very descriptive in the pictures he painted of the restored harem they visit in Turkey and the mountain they climbed, in the hotels they stayed in and restaurants they visited.  It was obvious that he put as much thought into his settings as he did the actions that were taking place.  It seems like he did a lot of research as well because the places were believable and felt real.

I enjoyed this book, last night I read more than four hundred pages because I just couldn't find a spot where I wanted to stop.  I must admit I am a bit tired today since I read later than I should have, but it was so action packed that I couldn't put it down.  I am glad that I had the chance to read this book.  That is part of what I love about receiving review books, often times they are ones that I would not have selected on my own and when I love them, as I did with this one, I realize that I would have missed a good book because it wasn't in my usual genres.


Product Details

Pub. Date: February 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Format: Mass Market Paperback , 592pp
ISBN-13: 9781416598978
ISBN: 1416598979