The Black Sun

just finished reading the black sun, and all i can say is that i'm really enjoying the tom kirk series! i'm looking forward to reading the next installment!

I had no idea what I was in for when I bought this book. Tom Kirk is the tarnished hero that I have come to like. He used to be CIA and an art thief. But gets recruited to find out what his uncle is up to. At first you think that it involves a lost painting from a Jewish painter around WW2. But it goes deeper than that, getting the Amber Room and Hungarian Gold Train in it too. I loved the twist at the end I never would have guessed what they were looking for. This book has great action, plot twists, and great character development. I didn't realize that there were other books with Tom Kirk in them. I think I am going to have to expand my library.

The Black Sun provides everything readers crave in a historical mystery: entertainment, suspense, a vicarious trip to previously unexplored venues and, finally, the enjoyment of experiencing a writers' magnificent "spin" on historical events. Even if you are not a fan of thrillers that relate to events and occurrences circa WWII, this book will make you one. While other authors may have already explored some of the subjects put forth in this endeavor (The Hungarian Gold Train, the strange goings-on by the SS at Wewelsburg Castle, the disappearance of The Amber Room), Twining manages to take all of these events and weave them together into a finely wrought modern day tale filled with tension and intrigue. More anti-hero than hero, Tom Kirk is an ex- CIA agent and ex-art thief is a slightly ambiguous character whose previous life has left him with a rather jaded perception of his fellow man. Kirk first made an appearance in Twinings' previous novel The Double Eagle. He is a flawed but likeable character who seems to have a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Currently living in London, he is "recruited" by MI6 to aid them in finding the culprit responsible for three vicious murders, the theft of an Enigma machine and some seemingly worthless canvases painted in the 1940's by a relatively unknown Jewish artist. Tom and his cohorts are swept up in this adventure which in addition to providing us with a stimulating read also leads us to explore the fascinating mindset of the Nazis who believed that art was a valuable and powerful weapon in reshaping Europe's cultural heritage to conform to their Aryan ideals. This reviewer loved The Double Eagle and is equally enamored with The Black Sun.

"It was one of the greatest works of art ever made. It must be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. What else would have warranted Himmler assigning his most elite troops to guard duty? What else would they have gone to such lengths to conceal?" At this point, Tom Kirk, art thief turned thief catcher, has unraveled the mystery that lies at the center of THE BLACK SUN. He thinks. Kirk is collaborating with the people "I don't trust...never have. Never will." --- the British intelligence services. To maintain his chosen lifestyle, always on the move and always on the prowl, waiting for that lovely day when he can retire to the Cayman Islands on his ill-gotten gains, Kirk is sometimes forced to cooperate with the law. In this case, if the bloody stump of sliced-off arm and an apparently worthless painting lying beside it in his freezer weren't enough, there is the intriguing possibility of catching up with missing pieces of his past. Kirk believes that the man he is hunting can tell him something important about his father, an international art thief who died carrying secrets that continue to torment Kirk. We know that the British can write spy thrillers. They may have invented the genre, beginning with one Bond. James Bond. Bond's creator, a roué of the upper classes, had experience in spy-craft during World War II. And there's John le Carre, author and former practitioner of the craft of espionage. THE BLACK SUN is the brain child of a new voice in the literary art of intrigue. James Twining is an Oxford graduate and international entrepreneur who has done his homework well, researching the treasures that Kirk and the bad guys are out to recoup, and cleverly connecting their factual history to fictional antagonists. The legendary Hungarian Gold Train and the remarkable lost Amber Room each plays a role. When the arm is examined, Kirk and his Foreign Office minders find that a tattoo has been surgically removed from it. Assuming it to have been a concentration camp number, they reconstruct the markings. What they uncover is far more puzzling, and leads Kirk on the road to the inner sanctum of the Black Sun, the perverted Nazi cult of Camelot. Always dogging the trail of the elusive Renwick, who he believes holds the answers to the mystery of his own father, Kirk finds that the treasures stored up by the infamous cult reach far beyond the world of great artworks. Despite extreme and constant danger, Kirk is compelled to chase the demons of the past and confront them. As the beautiful Viktor tells him, "You're angry, like me. I can see it in your eyes." THE BLACK SUN, the second in a series that started with THE DOUBLE EAGLE, spans two continents and two centuries. It has enough twists and switchbacks, grit, gore and glory to satisfy the hardcore thriller fan, and enough historical detail and cleverly conceived spy-craft to rope in the lovers of the intellectual espionage genre. --- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott

James Twining has done it again. Coming off his first best seller, The Double Eagle, this new young talent's latest novel, The Black Sun, is guaranteed to become another best seller. Fast paced and action packed with a nicely twisting plot, a slightly reformed, still brooding Tom Kirk helps unravel a trans-Atlantic mystery shrouded in the past of a group of neo-Nazis. A quick read, a great diversion for every reader who wants a great escape from the mundane world. Can't wait to see the movie!