The Lost Labyrinth

Daniel Knox #3

by Will Adams

Fact collides with fiction in Will Adams third pulse-pounding adventure featuring the enigmatic Daniel Knox. Twenty years after vanishing without a trace, French archaeologist Roland Petitier makes a dramatic reappearance at a major Athens conference, promising an astonishing find - the legendary Golden Fleece. But before he can give his talk, he's found dead in a hotel room; and an out-of-control policeman puts Petitier's onetime protege Augustin Pascal into intensive care, then later accuses him of Petitier's murder. Only Augustin's two closest friends, Daniel Knox and Gaille Bonnard can prove his innocence. However, rumours of the fleece's rediscovery have spread, and. ambitious Georgian oligarch Nergadze is determined to get it first. He sends his psychopathic grandson Mikhail to Athens with orders to bring it back. Mikhail quickly becomes convinced that Dan Knox has it, and slowly moves in for the kill!

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Action

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Will Adams has tried his hand at a multitude of careers over the years. Most recently, he worked for a London-based firm of communications consultants, before giving it up to pursue his lifelong dream of writing fiction. His first novel, The Alexander Cipher, is a modern-day quest to find the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. Published in November 2007 by Harper Collins, it is being translated into twelve languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch, and will be published in the USA by Grand Central Publishing.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars to Will Adams's The Lost Labyrinth, the third in his Daniel Knox archaeological/adventure thriller series. For fans of Adams and this genre, you will enjoy this release but there were a few times when I felt like it wasn't substantially different than his first two novels.

Story
Daniel Knox and his girlfriend Gaille are visiting long-time friends Augustin and Claire prior to a conference in Greece when they find a twenty-year missing archaeologist dead in Augustin's hotel room. The police believe Augustin had something to do with it and a physical altercation puts him in the hospital for most of the book. Daniel takes over the speaking engagement but through some additional research, he starts believing the historical Grecian Golden Fleece may actually exist. Meanwhile, a [European] Georgia crime family with a plan to takeover the Georgian presidency wants to get their hands on the Golden Fleece to look like the heroes who can save their country. Capture and torture ensue. A few other sub-plots help move the story along, but in the end, someone finds the Golden Fleece and there's also a tragic death that alters the course of the story.

Strengths
1. Adams is quite knowledgeable of Greek, Egyptian and Eastern European history. He is adept at creating drama through words to help readers better imagine history and understand the basics of historical conflicts. He is also quite strong at alternating points of view chapter by chapter creating many small and large pockets of suspense where you just can't put the book down.

2. There are so many good characters and individual sub-plots to keep you entertained. It's not just about the quest for the Golden Fleece but you get caught up in the reporter's revenge, the psychopath's blood lust, the business man's romance, the politican's protection of his family, etc. You get enough breaks from major drama to find some more natural and relaxed complexity in the secondary characters' stories.

Weaknesses
1. At times, the descriptions are so detailed you find yourself skipping large sections of text just to get to the action pieces when in the middle of a conflict. I thought on several occasions "yeah, i get it... there's a cliff and a gun is shooting at him and he's gotta escape, so get to it. Don't tell me what the cliff looked like for the last two thousand years!" In some places, it works well. In others, I found it a bit indulgent.

2. The story wasn't as interesting as the first two books. The Golden Fleece is important, and it has a lot of tragedy and drama associated with it, but I didn't feel a deep connection with it like I had in prior books. I understand the crime family wants it so they look like heroes and win the election, but other than that, what about the historical significance of the find? What will this change about how people think of ancient Greece? Who would be against someone finding this artifact? It seemed to be missing a piece of the puzzle this time.

Final Thoughts
It was a good book. I breezed through it in 3 days at about 2 hours per day, and it was over 500 pages. I didn't lose interest, but I also didn't feel a major connection this time. I will give book 4 a chance as it's the last in the series but may hold off until next year. I also want to pick a few new authors in this genre with a story that maybe I have a larger connection with... but overall, still worth the read for anyone who likes the author, the genre and has an interest in ancient Greek and Egyptian history.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

[Gilda Felt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book a slightly higher rating. Because, while I did eventually get into the story, it took awhile. That’s a problem I didn’t have with the first two books.

I’ve never been one for mysteries; I’ve been reading Adams’ books because of their archaeology slant. But the focus wasn’t really on the archaeology. Instead, the book focuses on a crime family, turning the book more into a long chase, rather than a search.

The second problem is how much the villain reads more like a cut-out character than an actual person. He’s nuts. Period. So his horrendous acts often have no reasoning behind them.

Lastly,

what was the deal with bringing in a dog, giving the poor creature a day or two of a decent life, and then killing it off?! What was the point? I hated that Adams kills off Gaille, but he made it worse by killing off the dog. It just seemed as if he was just trying to push peoples’ buttons.

[Jennifer Eifrig · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Mr. Adams has again crafted a page-turning thrill ride, this time with more focus on the characters and less on the scenery and geek-out archaeology. (I guess it's hard to come up with a believable "rewrite history" story every year.) But never fear, there's plenty of side story for those who like material culture. In fact, I found the idea that a Thera/Cretan culture was the origin for the Atlantis myths less difficult to believe than the inciting incident for the whole chain of events (a Greek policeman who was recently jilted takes out his aggression on Daniel Knox's friend Augustin). The idea of an actual golden fleece seemed less interesting and more contrived than the treasures of the first two books.

Once again, the reader needs to pay close attention, as scene changes and POV changes within chapters happen quickly. There's a lot going on, and it feels a bit like an episode of 24 or some parts of the Bourne Identity movies.

I see other reviewers were displeased with the ending, which essentially cuts the protagonist off from the milieu of the first three books, and launches him into a new identity for the fourth. I did wonder if Mr. Adams got bored with "same old same old" and thus killed off a major character in order to maneuver Knox into a new story line. If you like happy endings, you won't be pleased. Still, I enjoyed this book a lot, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers and ancient history.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

usually my kind of book, but i have to say, i was disapointed. it took very long for the story to get going, i actually had to start twice, 'cause i stopped reading it for about a month and really wanted to finish it ('cause i hate not finishing books), but i had to start all over, i had forgotten all the subtle things that kept popping back up. although the second time around i got through it a lot faster.
i can't even really say what i didn't like, other than that i just didn't feel like anything was happening 'till 'bout 3/4 of the way through. the story was ok, the theory wasn't bad (although i just started another book on that subject and realized the theory itself isn't actually that convincing as i thought it sounded in this book) and i have to say, the first chapter really intrigued me. Adams portrayed the (really!) evil bad guy very well, especially from the first person perspective. i WAS scared of him.
like i said, i can't point out anthing specific, just didn't grab me, i guess. try it and decide for yourself.

[GreekReaders · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ως λάτρης της περιπέτειας σε συνδυασμό με ιστορικά στοιχεία, δε θα μπορούσα να αφήσω αυτό το βιβλίο να μου ξεφύγει. Μου κίνησαν την περιέργεια τα λεγόμενα στο οπισθόφυλλο, ήταν και σε προσφορά.. Διάνα!

Όχι όχι, διάνα. Μέγα λάθος. Αν και ξεκινάει εξαιρετικά, με μια αναδρομή στο παρελθόν (αλλά μιλάμε για πολύ παρελθόν!) και ένα φόνο (yes yes!) σύντομα χάνει το ενδιαφέρον του. Το περίεργο με αυτό το βιβλίο είναι πως δε μπορώ επακριβώς να προσδιορίσω το γιατί. Να ήταν η δράση που δεν ξεκινά να σε κρατάει παρά αρκετά μετά τη μέση του βιβλίου; Να ήταν ο ΑΠΙΣΤΕΥΤΑ κακός και αχώνευτος χαρακτήρας του Γεωργιανού βαθύπλουτου; Να ήταν το τέλος μου με άφησε ξεκρέμαστη; (Μόλις πρόσφατα έμαθα ότι αυτό είναι το τρίτο βιβλίο της σειράς).

Ίσως αν διαβάσετε τη σειρά από την αρχή να σας αρέσει και ο Χαμένος Λαβύρινθος. Εμένα το μόνο που μου άρεσε ήταν η Κρήτη!

Μ.

Υ.Γ Το διάβασα στα ελληνικά, κυκλοφορεί από τις Εκδόσεις Ψυχογιός, αλλά δεν υπάρχει η ελληνική έκδοση εδώ.

[Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish the story in its entirety. Read a decent chunk then skipped to the end chapters. Bleh.

Too dark and violent compared to the first two books in the series. Whilst I like Adams' writing style, there wasn't anything that grabbed me like the previous escapades in Egypt.

Really didn't dig the chapters featuring the "baddies". I like to read for fun and excitement, not to feel bummed out. Just not my cup of tea.

[Elena Traduzioni Oceano Mare · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lame, lame, lame. Greek archeology seems a lousy excuse to talk about child molesters and psycho perverts whose favorite activity is to torture people. I had enjoyed the Exodus story, so I thought this might be about the same level of entertainment but definitely not. And watch out... wow wow ... big things going on at the very end... actually, my suggestion is that you pick up a different book.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not particularly enjoyable to read. I'm not sure why the author needed to include pedofiles sleeping with little boys, rapists, nice dogs getting shot, and main charactors getting killed off. The author has such a gift of archeological knowledge the other items took away from that. I hope the next book is better.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel claims on the front cover "If you like Dab Brown, you'll love Will Adams". a promise I feel it did not meet. The da Vinci Code inspired a sub genre of thriller involving archaeologists or other academics as heroes, seriously disturbed men as villains, secrets of world shattering significance riddles long drawn out chases all told at an unrelenting pace, Both the title and the blurb tells the reader this is what to expect in spades. The reality will only disappoint. The Lost Labyrinth is still an engaging thriller but to suggest it surpasses The da Vinci Code is just promotional hype.
There are the obligatory archaeologists, Daniel Knox and Gaille Bannard, but Knox does not lecture Bannard at every opportunity. She knows as much about Greek history as he does and the conspiracy is much simpler so one lecture from Claude Franklin will suffice. Franklin is an Afro American so we can understand his argument that the origins of Greek culture lie in Africa. However, this is not some controversial theory or new idea. I am aware that most art historians agree that Greek art was heavily influenced by Egyptian and Minoan art. The claim that the Milesian philosophers were influenced by African thought and that Thales spent time studying in Egypt is not controversial because there is absolutely no evidence that such was the case. Very little is known about Thales. It is assumed that he was influenced by Asian thought, Miletus being a Greek city in what is now Turkey and so open to ideas from the Persian empire.Nor is the theory that the story of Atlantis is based on the old Minoan civilisation destroyed by the eruption of Thera something new. Santorini was excavated in the late 1960s.
Mikhail Nergadze is a very disturbed man who is a significant threat like Silas in The da Vinci Code. However, his predilection for abusing young girls and his grandfather's paedophile impulses do not make them more menacing just very obnoxious. While Silas commits his acts of savagery out of a misguided belief that he is saving the Catholic Church through Opus Dei, the Nergadzes are just large scale criminals pursuing their own interests. The feeling of menace they create threatens instead to be overwhelmed by the nausea they also engender.
The description of Gaille and Ian's journey to Petitier's excavations is worthy of a travel book and tells us as much about the geography as the history of Crete and taught me more about the landscape than several books on The Battle of Crete have done. It also laid the foundation for the pursuit at the climax of the novel.
The climax does pay the reader who persists to the end. There is more than one twist and surprise to catch the reader unawares. The conclusion in the labyrinth of the title and the Minotaur is gripping and has a certain poetic justice which almost makes up for the disappointment in the loss of the heroine and her dog.

[Kelly Stine · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW WHAT A WILD, YET TRAGIC RIDE! I could not put this book down. But the ending sucked - I am sorry Mr. Adams, but that's just how I feel about it - I was pissed! Also, as someone who has had German Shepherds all my life, and I honestly believe that they are the most beautiful, intelligent, and loyal of dogs - well, lets just say that the "abuse" suffered by "Argo" was disturbing. I cried for that poor dog. I'm going to have to read a couple of other books, before I will decide if I will read the next book in the Daniel Knox series.

BUT, other than those complaints, it was one hell of a roller coaster ride of a book! I had really been enjoying - until the ending. I love the archaeology theories, and the ancient history "issues" in your books, but I have to admit that I am not as familiar with the ancient Greek and Crete history, as I am with some other areas.

One issue that I would suggest would be to have a map of the areas in question posted in the front of the book. I just love maps and being able to follow the travels via a map. Thank goodness for the internet and Google Search and Google Maps, etc. to look up the areas in question, and some of the famous sites that you describe, I love looking them up and comparing what I see in the pictures with your descriptions.

[Shaunda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, The Lost Labyrinth.

What's so intriguing about being an archeologists? All the treasures that are still waiting to be found.

Dan and Gaille along with some friends are the best of the best.

And so, let the games began.

Because its not only them that's looking for this lost treasure.

But a host of people, from academics to billionaires, & not everyone is playing fair.

This treasure is the Golden Fleece. Which some thought was a myth, but archeologists Roland Petitier states otherwise.

He plans to speak at a conference in Greece 🇬🇷, and tell what he's been up to for the last decade.

Well this is where the storyline picks up, and we learn who all the player are, and why each individual wants the Golden Fleece in their possession.

From Athens, to Crete, to Tbilisi there is never a dull moment for Knox & Gaille.

My how I do love the jet setting pace of this story.

But don't just take it from me, get your hands on this novel.

Read for yourself, and leave your review.

Cause this is all your gurl, will be giving up.

Until next time, Happy Reading 📚!!!!

Ciao💋

Ps. I'm on to my next adventure The Eden Legacy......

[Tucker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I'm done with this series, and probably author. Each book gets increasingly worse and has less about archaeology or history and turns into a couple hundred page chase where there's the main good guys, the main bad guys, then 5-6 other characters who are hiding secrets and usually die either before sharing them or right after.

This book was more about a rich evil family full of criminals and psychopaths and brutal descriptions than anything, and it got tedious and boring. The actual archaeology/history and finding the lost labyrinth have almost no relevance to the story, it's just to give the bad guys a reason to try and grab and kill everyone.

There's a 4th book that's a continuance of this story line but I'm just going to read the wiki for it cause I'm not going to put myself through another disappointment like this. I like this genre of books, but I can't handle any more large amounts of exposition and descriptions while the good guys are fleeing and trying not to get murdered, it's just bad.

[Zachary Creasman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really fun and interesting. It doesn't boog you down with too much historical details but still gives just enough for history nerds like me. I also really like Daniel Knox's character because as apposed to many other main from books like this Knox is a very realistic character and that makes him all the more interesting to read about. There were several layers of mysteries in this book and I was intrigued by all of them. I have to say that the only thing I really don't understand is why everyone respected Petit so much since its proven over and over again that he wasn't a very likable person and that he's a drug addict. It just felt weird that everyone respected him so much when its quite clear he was a very friendly person and that he might be a little off from all of the drugs.

[Martín Prado · Rating 2 out of 5]

No me gustó en términos generales. Se trata de un libro de casi 530 páginas, 300 de ellas, a mí parecer, irrelevantes totalmente para el desarrollo de la trama. Leí la versión en inglés, lo que para mí supuso un desafío por la riqueza de léxico. Se trata del tercer libro de la tetralogía "Daniel Knox"(algo así como "el arqueólogo aventurero") y el único que leí, lo que me hace suponer que ahí puede residir la falta de coherencia que encontré al inicio del libro. Le pongo dos estrellas porque es injusto valorar un libro tan largo simplemente por un inicio retorcido. Le daré una oportunidad más a esta serie de libros, que para mí podría terminar el argumento con este, pero quién sabe, quizá sorprende el siguiente.

[Bruce Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Eleusinian Mysteries are one of the great enigmas of the ancient world. Celebrated for some two thousand years at the port of Eleusis, they were the high point of Greek religious life..."

Daniel Knox and Gaille Bonnard are in Athens to attend a conference on the Eleusinian Mysteries. A fellow archaeologist claims to have found Jason's Golden Fleece. Ilya Nergadze, a Georgian billionaire running for President of Georgia, wants the fleece to secure his election. His grandson, Mikhail, a twenty-something sadist, fancies Gaille.

The Minotaur's Labyrinth, the Golden Fleece, Eleusis, and Crete's Minoan age figure prominantly in this book.

A good read.

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the start this feels different. The series regulars are present but there is just something ominous in Adam’s writing. With Knox constantly on the back foot, trying to prove his comatosed pal, Augustin’s innocence a new threat rises in a Georgian crime family.

I found this book just as fluidly flowing as Will Adam’s previous entries in the Knox series. However he writes this book with a darker edge, and the threat to Knox seems palpably greater and then you reach the final sequence of chapters…

[Charlie Heather-cray · Rating 3 out of 5]

description claims that if you like Dan Brown then you'll love Will Adams, however as others have also mentioned, this is a bit of a bold claim to make. The book was incredibly slow to get going and half of the book was already read before anything actually started happening. Adams has clearly done his history research which helped to add interest but in places the history took over. The book seemed to take forever to start but then very abruptly ended which was really disappointing.

[Maniissh Aroraa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulse pounding adventure with two plots running in parallel. A French archaeologist vanished 20 years ago, makes a dramatic reappearance at a public conference claiming to have found the legendary Golden Fleece. Before he could bring it in the conference he is dead and fleece is stolen. Interesting read!

[Pinkie_pie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast paced treasure hunting action-packed novel set in modern Greece but exploring ancient Greece. It was all I was expecting it to be when I picked it from the local library. Many intriguing characters and a plot that kept my attention until the very last page.
Too many deaths! Adams isn't afraid to kill his well-developed characters!

[Anke · Rating 3 out of 5]

TIjdens het lezen kwam ik erachter dat dit het derde deel is in een serie over Daniel Knox, maar het boek was prima los te lezen.
Het was een boek met veel geschiedenis, heel mooi, maar soms was het lastig het ‘echte’ verhaal te volgen.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that special but good entertainment - lots of stories of the ancient Greek, of archeoligists, adventure, travel to Athens, Crete and Georgia. I guess I would not read it again but it's easy reading without having to concentrate.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have given 3* but the violence was a bit too graphic for me.

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

i would give this zero stars if i could

[Stephanie Lives to Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of action. Cruel in parts.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good adventure with a clever twist at the end.

[CR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ohh, I loved it, the threads of the different stories coming together at the end. Brilliant writing! Kept me turning each page!

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really more like 3 1/2 stars, but I didn't see the one of the major events coming, so it gets the extra 1/2 star. One more to go in the series.

[LAILA · Rating 2 out of 5]

It dragged on a bit, but got intense at the end. Mikhail's character was ver intense but very well portrayed.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thriller with some historical adventure mixed into it.