The Samurai Inheritance by James Douglas

Review by The Mole

When Jamie Saintclair is asked to trace a shrunken head he is made an offer too good to refuse and anyway his life partner, Fiona, is in awe of the man making the offer so also insists he take the offer. It appears though that Keith Devlin is not the only one interested in the quest that Jamie has taken up and he quickly becomes embroiled with Russian, Chinese and Japanese criminal gangs - or are some of these "supposed" to be security forces but acting in their own interests? Travelling across the globe and ducking and diving against pursuers, it turns out to be a life or death mission but what does Devlin REALLY want and what will he end up with?

Having read The Excalibur Codex I had met Jamie before but under very different circumstances. One of the things I wasn't sure about before was Jamie's ability to keep his hormones under control but here that problem seems to be played down a lot more.

The back story is littered through the book and at times seems totally irrelevant and really only pulls together at the end in several small "eureka"moments. One of the problems I had had with The Excalibur Codex was it was slow to start but this begins much more quickly and the pace is maintained throughout. It retains many of the same qualities of it's predecessor but the thriller aspect is more pronounced while the "superman" qualities of Jamie are now more mature and less humorous.

This felt a different style of  book although once again I thoroughly enjoyed Douglas's work but for slightly different reasons.

Publisher: Transworld Books
Genre: Crime Thriller

The Excalibur Codex by James Douglas

Review by The Mole

The legendary sword doesn't exist and never has. Or that's what Jamie, an art recovery expert, believes as does nearly everyone else. Then, following the tragic death of his girlfriend, he is approached by an old friend and shown a codex to a will that says it does exist and was stolen in 1937 - it becomes Jamie's task to recover it. Little does he know the repercussions this task will have on the world around him.

I had expected a mystery along the lines of "The Da Vinci Code" yet I looked forward to reading this - I am not a fan of Dan Brown's work. What I got was a bit of "Romancing the Stone", a bit of "Indiana Jones", a bit of Dan Brown and a fair slice of Janet Evanovich. Oh, and don't forget to add a dollop of Gerard Butler. Quite a recipe!

I found it just a little slow to get started as it set the scene rather than tell the story and at times some of the fight scenes (and it's not short of them) are a bit drawn out but once it picks up momentum it really drags you along despite whatever else you should be doing. About two thirds of the way through we learn who the real plotters are but it came as no surprise to me as it is the nature of book that they would always be the guilty party and I had figured that out VERY early on. Did it spoil the book? No, because it's all  the about the chase and not a whodunnit. And does it all end happily? And the way the reader expects? Well look back to the recipe list and ask yourself  "Could it not?" but is it the way the reader expects? Like Indie stories - I would say no. But that is giving nothing away - it's a fantastically fun read for anyone that enjoys over the top thrillers with a mystery thrown in.

Publisher: Transworld Books
Genre: Crime Thriller

Buy The Excalibur Codex from Amazon