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Perry Sachs #1
A Treasure Deep
The best-seller A Treasure Deep is now available in an inexpensive mass market paperback edition! Treasure-unbelievable, historic, and dangerous-awaits famed engineer Perry Sachs. Buried just outside Tejon, California, the ancient booty is rigged with enough booby traps to send would-be fortune hunters into early retirement-or the grave. But Perry is no mere fortune hunter. He and his team of workers tackle the task with vision and faith while avoiding the increasingly desperate attacks of a modern-day murderer. What is buried in the California soil? Something that will change the world- and could cost Perry his life.
349 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
17 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Alton Gansky
74 books121 followersAlton Gansky is the author of 30 books--24 of them novels, including the Angel Award winner Terminal Justice and Christy Award finalist A Ship Possessed. A frequent speaker at writing conferences, he holds a BA and MA degrees in biblical studies. Alton and his wife reside in Southern California.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 9, 2019
Perry Sachs and the crew is doing a project up in the California hills. A busy body mayor snoops around and gets in everyone's way. She starts a rumor that there's treasure up there, the newspaper picks up the story, and suddenly everyone in the area wants to visit the property...until a dead man is found.
Pretty good, but not as horrific as some of Gansky's best.
Pretty good, but not as horrific as some of Gansky's best.
April 26, 2020
I finished Alton Gansky's 'A Treasure Deep' the other day. When I saw it on sale and read the backcover, the Indiana Jones inside of me just couldn't resist.
The book's plot revolves around one archaeological dig containing a relic which will undoubtedly be the biggest discovery in modern history, effectively re-writing all the history books and confirming the Christian faith beyond all doubt. The problem is that the reader is kept guessing as to what the 'relic' is for most of the book. Cleverly written, fun, and frustrating. Gansky's writing contains less action than I usually enjoy, but his characters and the cleverly written dialogue between them makes up for it.
‘A Treasure Deep’ contains one of the best conversations I have ever read in a novel. A portion of that conversation follows…
“The few times I’ve told my story to a Christian, they immediately try to explain things away. They say they’re sorry, then try to explain why it’s not God’s fault. So go ahead. Who knows; maybe you’ll say something new.”
“You don’t want to hear what I have to say.”
“What no pity? No pat answers to deliver from the Word of God? No ‘You’ll get to see them all in heaven’? You disappoint me. Go on, regale me with your Christian wisdom. I want to hear it.
“You’re an idiot.”
“What… what?” she spluttered.
“I said You’re an idiot. You blame God because you’ve faced a tragedy. You want fairness in an unfair world. You want sinless behaviour from sinners…”
Perry… my hero.
A Treasure Deep is Book One in a trilogy of Perry Sachs mysteries. It is followed by Beneath The Ice and Submerged.
The book's plot revolves around one archaeological dig containing a relic which will undoubtedly be the biggest discovery in modern history, effectively re-writing all the history books and confirming the Christian faith beyond all doubt. The problem is that the reader is kept guessing as to what the 'relic' is for most of the book. Cleverly written, fun, and frustrating. Gansky's writing contains less action than I usually enjoy, but his characters and the cleverly written dialogue between them makes up for it.
‘A Treasure Deep’ contains one of the best conversations I have ever read in a novel. A portion of that conversation follows…
“The few times I’ve told my story to a Christian, they immediately try to explain things away. They say they’re sorry, then try to explain why it’s not God’s fault. So go ahead. Who knows; maybe you’ll say something new.”
“You don’t want to hear what I have to say.”
“What no pity? No pat answers to deliver from the Word of God? No ‘You’ll get to see them all in heaven’? You disappoint me. Go on, regale me with your Christian wisdom. I want to hear it.
“You’re an idiot.”
“What… what?” she spluttered.
“I said You’re an idiot. You blame God because you’ve faced a tragedy. You want fairness in an unfair world. You want sinless behaviour from sinners…”
Perry… my hero.
A Treasure Deep is Book One in a trilogy of Perry Sachs mysteries. It is followed by Beneath The Ice and Submerged.
January 26, 2021
O.M.G!!!!!! I just could not believe the contents in this book. It sounds so real.
I just can't wait to finish the whole series.. somebody read this book!
I just can't wait to finish the whole series.. somebody read this book!
February 2, 2008
Perry Sachs and his friends are digging for a treasure, but the mayor of a nearby town isn't too happy with them and someone else wants the treasure.
At the begining this book was going to get 3 stars as it took awhile to get into it and it overused cliques, but after the first few chapters it picked up and there was less cliques (Lol or I just didn't notice them). I don't think the author wrote the rest of the series, but this book stands on its own. Overall it was very intertaining.
At the begining this book was going to get 3 stars as it took awhile to get into it and it overused cliques, but after the first few chapters it picked up and there was less cliques (Lol or I just didn't notice them). I don't think the author wrote the rest of the series, but this book stands on its own. Overall it was very intertaining.
February 24, 2026
This book has sat on my shelves for many years and I’ve never taken particular note of it. I couldn’t tell you when or where I acquired it but if I had to guess I would venture to say it was probably a hastily grabbed item from the now-defunct Holland Hall Book Sale. During the final hour of that old annual event you could fill a grocery bag for $5 and I would stuff a few bags as full as I could get them with anything that looked remotely interesting.
Over the past few years I’ve made an effort to declutter my library and remove old paperbacks and anything I didn’t plan to reread. Since I hadn’t read this particular book yet it was spared from multiple purges and I finally decided to open it a few weeks ago.
Mystery novels and treasure hunts aren’t my usual cup of tea so I couldn’t tell you what possessed me to chose this book over the dozens of other unread novels I have laying around, but I’m glad I did. It was a surprisingly splendid read.
Reading the back cover, I expected a bit of an Indiana Jones type of protagonist. The lead character, Perry Sachs, was more conventional and normal than I expected. And despite semi-extraordinary characters such as an autistic savant and the world’s leading mind in bioengineering, most of the characters were fairly normal. There’s a tendency in fiction to write our heroes with quite a bit of plot armor, and sure there’s a bit of that here, but there are no Mary Sues on the side of the good guys. Well-qualified and capable men and women, but otherwise fairly normal and qualified by providence rather than their own exceptionalism.
The plot is fantastic but grounded—a Christian layman’s Da Vinci Code, if you will. I honestly didn’t even realize it was a Christian novel till about halfway through. I failed to read the author’s bio and the one mention of a “mission from God” on the cover felt like a common expression rather than the literal sense of divine tasking. The Christian themes were a surprising delight and even more enjoyable was the fact that a non-Christian could probably enjoy this book despite its faith grounding. As I said, I was thoroughly engrossed for 200 pages before faith was ever mention.
The novel opens with a murder mystery before transitioning into archeological discovery, though the mystery continues well into the novel. I had a solid guess as to what the treasure was and was fairly confident right up until the big reveal. And I was wrong. Kudos to the writer for that.
My only criticisms of the novel are that the ending felt a bit rushed, unsatisfying, and unrealistic—but only slightly. It certainly wasn’t bad, just not ideal. There was a bit too much providence (aka plot armor) for me. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it deus ex machina, but things went a fair bit too smoothly for our heroes in my opinion. Another criticism is that there are only three female characters in the whole book, one villain and two damsels in distress who add little to the plot other than serving as opportunities for Perry to rescue them. I liked the character of Anne, just wish the author had done a little more with her.
That said, I still thoroughly enjoyed a book that I was mostly just reading so I could get rid of it. I hope to find the sequels someday but unfortunately they don’t appear to be in my county library’s system.
Over the past few years I’ve made an effort to declutter my library and remove old paperbacks and anything I didn’t plan to reread. Since I hadn’t read this particular book yet it was spared from multiple purges and I finally decided to open it a few weeks ago.
Mystery novels and treasure hunts aren’t my usual cup of tea so I couldn’t tell you what possessed me to chose this book over the dozens of other unread novels I have laying around, but I’m glad I did. It was a surprisingly splendid read.
Reading the back cover, I expected a bit of an Indiana Jones type of protagonist. The lead character, Perry Sachs, was more conventional and normal than I expected. And despite semi-extraordinary characters such as an autistic savant and the world’s leading mind in bioengineering, most of the characters were fairly normal. There’s a tendency in fiction to write our heroes with quite a bit of plot armor, and sure there’s a bit of that here, but there are no Mary Sues on the side of the good guys. Well-qualified and capable men and women, but otherwise fairly normal and qualified by providence rather than their own exceptionalism.
The plot is fantastic but grounded—a Christian layman’s Da Vinci Code, if you will. I honestly didn’t even realize it was a Christian novel till about halfway through. I failed to read the author’s bio and the one mention of a “mission from God” on the cover felt like a common expression rather than the literal sense of divine tasking. The Christian themes were a surprising delight and even more enjoyable was the fact that a non-Christian could probably enjoy this book despite its faith grounding. As I said, I was thoroughly engrossed for 200 pages before faith was ever mention.
The novel opens with a murder mystery before transitioning into archeological discovery, though the mystery continues well into the novel. I had a solid guess as to what the treasure was and was fairly confident right up until the big reveal. And I was wrong. Kudos to the writer for that.
My only criticisms of the novel are that the ending felt a bit rushed, unsatisfying, and unrealistic—but only slightly. It certainly wasn’t bad, just not ideal. There was a bit too much providence (aka plot armor) for me. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it deus ex machina, but things went a fair bit too smoothly for our heroes in my opinion. Another criticism is that there are only three female characters in the whole book, one villain and two damsels in distress who add little to the plot other than serving as opportunities for Perry to rescue them. I liked the character of Anne, just wish the author had done a little more with her.
That said, I still thoroughly enjoyed a book that I was mostly just reading so I could get rid of it. I hope to find the sequels someday but unfortunately they don’t appear to be in my county library’s system.
March 9, 2018
The mystery keeps you hooked...
I didn't want to put this book down. The mystery and the characters keep you wanting to know...what is Joseph drawing and how does this connect to the treasure. There is a wonderful connection between Perry and his crew and you can really feel the love that Jesus has for them and Anne. The treasure really does make you think...what if....What would you do, if you found the TREASURE?
Cindy
I didn't want to put this book down. The mystery and the characters keep you wanting to know...what is Joseph drawing and how does this connect to the treasure. There is a wonderful connection between Perry and his crew and you can really feel the love that Jesus has for them and Anne. The treasure really does make you think...what if....What would you do, if you found the TREASURE?
Cindy
January 24, 2021
This is a good book for those who like Steve Berry and other historical adventure thriller books. I love the Christian aspect and the language was not questionable. I would recommend this book to middle schoolers on up.
July 8, 2023
Interesting story with good decent people. But the compressed timeline detracted. I found Joseph the savant to be the most interesting, and found myself wondering again about what the mind can be capable of doing.
Read
November 10, 2023Read all in this series as I could not put them down once I had started. Kept the series to read again and again.
December 7, 2024
I can’t believe I kept reading this book. It’s about a lot of damn dirt, and not a lot of actual suspense or storytelling.
March 18, 2017
Easy fun read mixed
Easy fun read mixed with Biblical truth and fiction. Perry and Jack are believable characters. The villain not so much, but fun.
Easy fun read mixed with Biblical truth and fiction. Perry and Jack are believable characters. The villain not so much, but fun.
June 21, 2023
Jeff Book Review #119
A Treasure Deep, Alton Gansy (mystery, thriller)
A 2003 novel I found, Treasure Deep is the first "Christian fiction" read in my new reading binge. It isn't really my thing, but like all of the mysteries I've read so far, there are things I liked and things I didn't like about it.
It starts with a construction company official getting rights outside an archaeological dig in a small California town and the community is curious about what he's looking for. That's the mystery - so it already has a minor nitpick of mine with mysteries - the protagonist knows something and we're supposed to figure out what he knows, rather than the protagonist and us trying to figure out a mystery together. People in town are trying to figure out what he's up to (just like we are) and he's saying go away, this is none of your business. But whatever. There's also a threatened-with-torture sequence that I guess doesn't count as actual torture because it was just ("just") a threat but we see a mom struggle with her conscience and circumstances as her autistic son is threatened with torture. The torture-drives-tough-moral-decisions thing is always just lazy writing.
We have some true good guys, some beyond-evil bad guys, some folks in between having conflicts of purpose, and a historical what-if that doesn't disappoint.
Verdict: A fun, clean modern organizational adventure that is better than I described above but those are the things I'll remember most about it.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG
A Treasure Deep, Alton Gansy (mystery, thriller)
A 2003 novel I found, Treasure Deep is the first "Christian fiction" read in my new reading binge. It isn't really my thing, but like all of the mysteries I've read so far, there are things I liked and things I didn't like about it.
It starts with a construction company official getting rights outside an archaeological dig in a small California town and the community is curious about what he's looking for. That's the mystery - so it already has a minor nitpick of mine with mysteries - the protagonist knows something and we're supposed to figure out what he knows, rather than the protagonist and us trying to figure out a mystery together. People in town are trying to figure out what he's up to (just like we are) and he's saying go away, this is none of your business. But whatever. There's also a threatened-with-torture sequence that I guess doesn't count as actual torture because it was just ("just") a threat but we see a mom struggle with her conscience and circumstances as her autistic son is threatened with torture. The torture-drives-tough-moral-decisions thing is always just lazy writing.
We have some true good guys, some beyond-evil bad guys, some folks in between having conflicts of purpose, and a historical what-if that doesn't disappoint.
Verdict: A fun, clean modern organizational adventure that is better than I described above but those are the things I'll remember most about it.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG
January 11, 2014
A good read with with a hidden treasure that keeps you wondering till the end.
I would rate this book a 6 out of 10. it holds your interest throughout the book although the plot doesn't get as intense as I would like. Perry's secret is intriguing and shows how important archeology is in writing history. I would think the story would appeal to Christian teenagers and men of all ages.
I would rate this book a 6 out of 10. it holds your interest throughout the book although the plot doesn't get as intense as I would like. Perry's secret is intriguing and shows how important archeology is in writing history. I would think the story would appeal to Christian teenagers and men of all ages.
March 3, 2009
A novel about finding the burial cloth of Jesus hidden underground in California, buried near the graves of Roman soldiers and Mary Magdalene.
June 23, 2011
Wonderful series. Kept my interest all the way through.
August 18, 2012
treasure hunting intrigue!
August 3, 2016
A hunt for a treasure that could change the whole world is taking place in a small town in USA. It was fast paced and had a easy flow to it. I also liked the storyline,interesting and intriguing.
April 10, 2015
Excellent
April 20, 2016
An exciting, Biblically-themed suspense read!
November 20, 2009
These are the BEST!!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews