Wieść o wystawieniu na aukcję Bursztynowego Rycerza - najwspanialszej ozdoby zaginionej Bursztynowej Komnaty - elektryzuje marszandów całego świata. Dla muzeum w Gdańsku chce go kupić Adam Salen, znany amerykański sponsor polskiego pochodzenia. Salen wyrusza do Kaliningradu, gdzie mieszka rzekomy posiadacz skarbu, słynny bursztynnik Krefta. Rycerzem interesuje się jednak rosyjska mafia. Giną ludzie, a Salen zaczyna być śledzony... Szybka akcja, wiele ciekawych szczegółów historycznych.
Katherine John is a pen name of the author Catrin Collier. She was born and brought up in Pontypridd and worked for a while in Europe and America before returning to her native Wales. She now lives on the Gower Peninsula near Swansea, with her family.
The mystery/thriller aspect of this book was decent, although a few more hints here and there might have made me feel better about the identity of the ultimate villains and the relationship to the rest of the plot. The personal life of the main character was almost enough to make me put the book down a dozen times -- he slept with every female he encountered except the one living with his friend who was trying to seduce him and he seemed to be constantly on the edge of dropping over from intoxication. The conclusion was decent and the characters somewhat redeemed themselves.
I found myself wondering if this was part of a series, and not the first one at that, maybe involving others in the Salen family, because a lot of the back story was hinted at and glossed over, but sounded like an interesting story to pursue.
Also, I now find myself really interested in visiting Gdansk, which I had never even thought of in passing before. I would read more by this author if I came across them, but probably not go out of my to procure them.
Mostly, a really enjoyable, engaging mystery, and clearly well-researched. The author does seem to struggle with keeping track of what she's told the audience, because quite a few times throughout the story I found myself brought up short by the feeling of pages missing, or a scene or conversation cut out entirely. This isn't a deal-breaker, though, and I could successfully ignore that and the author's extremely clumsy treatment of analogies enough to enjoy the story. I'd read her work again.