The Lost Temple

This book took a bit for me to get into, but once the people actually started on their quest it took off. I enjoyed reading about the places that the team visited, especially how they figured out where those places would be based off of different "stories" told in antiquity. Though I do think that the end would never have happened with a modern archeologist, it fit who the characters were, and rang true to the story that Harper had created.

Tom Harper has written some really amazing and fascinating adventures, in the "historical fiction" genre. Starting with his great series with Demetrious Askiates in Byzantium during the first crusades, Tom Harper continues his writing, with a story taking place shortly after WWII. The Lost Temple opens up on the invasion of Greece by the Nazi's in the beginning of WWII. We are introduced into our cunning main character, Grant. As a disgraced ex-special solider, he eventually turned to gun running for the Jews before there was a state of Israel. He had been giving a mysterious tablet, with a language not yet deciphered, and dating back to over 3000yrs ago. Uncoded, this language, Linear B (a real language which was deciphered in the 1950's), would be a map leading to not only the worlds most historical and mythical treasure, but something that could change the future for all human kind. Grant finds himself in the company of a British "spook," an Oxford professor, a CIA man who only goes by the name of "Jackson," and a former lover and patriot of Greece, Marina. Hot on their trails are the Russians, former Nazi's, and a wild adventure leading them across the middle east, and all around the Mediterean Sea and the Black Sea. Now, before saying, "Yeah, i've heard this one before," I don't think comparing this book to the "Da Vinci Code," is the best comparison. It is closer tied to the Indiana Jones series. Tom Harper's writing is very sharp, and you can tell he took great pains to do the immense amount of research for this novel. Not at one point did I ever feel that I was reading a text book, the history flowed naturally from the characters, and seemed real. You might as well call his a 1940's historical action novel, because that is exactly what it is. Through the almost non-stop action, we learn about what our hero's and "gods" were, or could've been like, all while on the race to find our most precious treasure, of a man that will forever live on in name, no matter how long. Readers who enjoy history, historical fiction, puzzles and adventure are sure to Enjoy Tom Harpers, "The Lost Temple!"