Review – Gold of Kings

Sean Syrrell, dealer in rare artwork, dies suddenly, supposedly of a heart attack. Targeted by unseen enemies, Syrrell’s art dealership is going bankrupt, and his will makes no mention of his young granddaughter, Storm. Nevertheless, Storm is tasked with selling off the dealership’s remaining artworks at the Palm Beach Art and Treasures Fair. Then an attorney named Emma Webb enters with instructions given her to execute upon Sean Syrrell’s death. Emma leads Storm to a safe deposit vault in a bank. Title to the vault and its contents-artworks and thousands in cash-were deeded to Storm shortly before her grandfather’s death. Emma also hands Storm her grandfather’s latest medical fitness report, which certified that he was in perfect health.

Also by Sean’s arrangement, treasure hunter Harry Bennett is released a year early from a Barbados jail and given two instructions and a warning. The instructions: to visit a certain man in London and to protect Storm Syrrell. The warning: “the rewards could be great, but the risks are even greater.” The Londoner shows Harry a document suggesting the existence of undiscovered treasures that survived the ancient Romans’ destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. As Harry departs, the Londoner is murdered-another supposed heart attack. Harry arrives in Palm Beach just in time to prevent a similar attack on Storm and the lawyer Emma, who is revealed as a U.S. Treasury agent and her “law firm” a front for the Treasury Department’s investigation of Sean Syrrell.

Thus begins the trio’s dangerous search over two continents and the Mediterranean Sea to find rumored treasures of the Second Temple, to expose the unseen enemies who ruined Sean Syrrell and keep trying to murder Storm, Emma, and Harry-and to stay alive while doing it.

In Gold of Kings, Davis Bunn delivers a tightly-plotted thriller that follows believable characters through continuously unexpected plot twists. The author’s thorough research raises the novel above mere genre and enriches it with a multitude of exact geographical and historical details. And Bunn’s narration often gratifies the reader with stylistic gems: “Corridors lined with metal shelves marched into oblivion.” Or, “The gull gave one operatic call and swept away, leaving the sky empty of all but her dreams.”

Through all of these qualities in Gold of Kings, Davis Bunn delivers an exceptionally satisfying reading experience.