How to describe Blood of Alexander by Tom Wilde? It is a modern day, high tech, caper, thriller, adventure, spy, crime novel. It is not really any of those things. It is a mashup of them all. The novel opens with our hero, Jonathan Blake, visiting the site of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. These 6thcentury statues were destroyed by the Taliban in early 2001. Our hero is here to purchase a stolen artifact from a local warlord and opium dealer. The scene is reminiscent of a classic James Bond opening. Complete with a double dealing arms dealer and a dramatic escape.
It turns out that our hero works for the Argo Foundation, a private organization that is dedicated to the preservation of historical artifacts. It does so through means both legal and extralegal. Blake is the prime operative on the less than legal side. His job is to find stolen artifacts and steal them from the thieves. This is not an altogether altruistic organization. They turn around and either gain the insurance money, or sell the item to private donors who will preserve the artifacts.
Unfortunately for our hero the US government learns of his abilities and forces him to help them track down a mysterious character named Vanya. Vanya is a villain right out of the James Bond playbook. He has seemingly unlimited financial resources, minions, his own private island, yacht, and helipad. He has a deadly female right hand. All he wants is to take over the world using secrets that he will find in the tomb of Alexander the Great.
The story unfolds very much like a James Bond film. Yes, this is the third time that I’ve mentioned Bond because the pacing, hero, and villains are all reminiscent of a James Bond film. The hero is constantly getting into impossible situations and escaping through improbable means. After a while you find yourself wait for the next moment of betrayal or amazing escape. There is also a little of Clive Cussler here because you have the expert in artifacts along with the slightly strained re-writing of history.
Over all the book is very enjoyable. The pacing is fast and the characters are fun if not overly developed. If you love James Bond movies from the early Roger Moore era then I think that you will find a lot to enjoy in this novel. I certainly hope that Wilde will write more of these books in the future.
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