FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

GOLD OF KINGS: A Novel

by Davis Bunn

(Howard Books / Simon & Schuster)

Reader Appeal: Teen to Adult

Genre: Adventure Fiction

Davis Bunn has managed to make a respectable name for himself writing all kinds of different books: historical sagas, romances, thrillers, inspirational books. So it’s exciting to see him turn his hand to adventure with Gold of Kings, a book that pairs an Indiana Jones/Dirk Pitt-style treasure-hunting rogue with a smart antiquities dealer on a quest to find the Copper Scroll of Qumran that will lead them to the golden riches of the Second Temple (of Jerusalem). And the result isn’t half bad.

In some ways, the characters and the plot of this book will be familiar to anyone who has seen Indiana Jones or read a Clive Cussler novel. Storm Syrrell is the lovely dealer in antiquities whose world is suddenly shattered when her grandfather is murdered. Soon she is united with treasure hunter Harry Bennett, who was freed from prison by her grandfather just before he died. Needless to say, things get pretty complicated, and the pair hop all over the world to Cypress, Africa, and the Middle East trying to track down clues and being hunted by a series of international power-players. Some people want the treasure to make a killing in the antiquities market, some want to use it gain leverage over Israel, some want to use it to promote peace. It’s exactly the sort of tangled situation that makes for fun reading.

I’ll admit to being an adventure book junkie right from the moment I first cracked the classic King Solomon’s Mines. Adventure books aren’t high art, but it takes some skill to create a really compelling tale. Bunn’s story has the right characters and intrigues that are needed to keep the tension rolling without letting it become too melodramatic. The book also manages to include a nice amount of historical and local detail about the exotic locations to make them come alive--without slowing the tale down too much.

Overall, this book held my interest and provided a good deal of fun, even if it wasn’t my favorite adventure book ever.

 If I had to compare this book to something by another author, I would probably pick one of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels, which share many of the same virtues of excitement, exotic locations, interesting local details, classic characters, and intrigue. Even though it doesn’t represent a large departure from those books, it does have this going for it: it’s by a Christian author. One of the downsides of Clive Cussler’s books is that the conduct of the characters isn’t always entirely family-appropriate. The violence is sometimes excessive, and the main character constantly engages in a series of shallow sexual relationships with the stereotypically ravishing heroines. Cussler’s characters are snappy and lively, but Dunn’s are more complex, and are definitely more interesting and acceptable from a Christian perspective.

All in all, this book is a great choice for someone looking for an adventure novel that isn’t weighed down by unnecessary gore or sexual conquests. The story does quite well without them, though it certainly doesn’t skimp on the action and the romance. It’s not Shakespeare, but you don’t expect this kind of novel to be high art. You want it to be fun and relaxing to read. And it does a pretty decent job at doing that.

FAMILYFANS RATING: B

--MV

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