Review Techno-Thriller

More Nina & Eddie

'The Valhalla Prophecy'I have previously posted on Andy McDermott‘s series starring archaeologist Nina Wilde and her bodyguard/ex-SAS/boyfriend and now husband Eddie Chase.

As noted, the first eight Wilde and Chase novels comprised a loose series, as they had a secondary story-line dealing with Atlantis that started with the first novel and is wrapped up with the eighth.

The next novel, The Valhalla Prophecy, starts a new phase for both characters. It’s interesting that even the cover style changed with this one. Here they learn of an ancient and deadly substance found by the Vikings with can cause death and mutations.

The Russians had discovered one source of it and knew it was so dangerous, they destroyed it and setup a group to monitor and discover any other sources. Wilde and Chase team up with them to find the other known source and destroy it before a dangerous American can obtain it and use it. But in doing so, this has unexpected consequences for both Nina and Eddie that leads to them leaving the International Heritage Agency, the UN agency formed to protect Atlantis and that Nina finally got to head.

Kingdom of Darkness has the pair on a quest for Alexander the Great‘s tomb. And this is important, as it will lead them (or whoever finds it) to a fountain of youth! (And maybe a cure for Nina.) But they are not the only ones after it. A group of former SS members tasted it and are looking for the source. I was actually surprised that this subplot about Nina was closed out with this work, instead of playing out a little longer. A short story, “The Last Survivor,” closes out this storyline. It appears as an “ebook.” I hoped this would be included as a bonus with a future paperback edition (as has been done by other authors who do such works of late), but not so far. I was also surprised that the work, The Romance of Alexander, mentioned in the book is real, as I had never heard of it.

In The Revelation Code, we have a quest after “angels” mentioned in the Book of Revelation. An ex-CIA agent, now leader of a cult, is after three angel statues, after finding one in Iraq. And he thinks the now-pregnant Nina, who has been so successful at finding other such lost treasures, is his key to to finding them. This is not helped that an old enemy of Nina and Eddie’s is behind this, and is more than happy to use them for his own purposes and a bit of revenge.

Most recent is 'The Midas Legacy'The Midas Legacy. Set three years later, Nina and Eddie now have a 3-year-old girl to contend with. Nina also meets her maternal grandmother, who she always thought was dead. Her grandmother passes along notes from her mother (who, along with her father, had been killed searching to Atlantis when Nina was a girl, and she basically completed their work in the first novel). Her mother, before looking for Atlantis, was searching for the “Midas Cave,” which ties to the legend of King Midas. Nina learns that the legend of Midas was also tied to Atlantis, and so is on another quest to learn the truth and finish what her mother started. And, of course, there are others also on the quest, and Nina’s daughter will be put into danger.

A humorous element in the novel is that a Hollywood blockbuster movie was made based on Nina’s first book, detailing the finding of Atlantis. Of course, the movie is apparently an over-the-top fictionalized version of it, with even the character names changed.

Coming up in 2018 will be King Solomon’s Curse.

Andy has also written a solo novel, The Shadow Protocol. More an espionage thriller, I haven’t yet read it. It is based on similar ideas as the old UK TV series, Joe 90.

If you haven’t checked out this series yet, do so. I find it one of the more creative action-thriller stories. The two characters complement each other, with Nina being the more cerebral one, and Eddie providing the muscle and action, though he is not an idiot. It will be interesting to see how adding a child to the mix will affect future stories. Nina being pregnant was important in the story in The Revelation Code, and dealing with a kid was an element in The Midas Legacy. This may be a first for action series. There are some married couples, for instance the Fargos in Clive Cussler‘s series of the same name. But I don’t know any with a pregnant woman or one with a child.

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