David Angsten

I wanted to devour this novel as soon as it was published because I'd LOVED Angsten's debut thriller, Dark Gold. But I'm mildly obsessed with saving just the right novel for my Thanksgiving flights, so delayed gratification it was. The book was definitely worth the wait, and made for excellent airplane reading.

Dark Gold was set to great effect in Mexico. Here, Angsten takes us most evocatively to Greece. Note to self: Never travel with David Angsten. In Angsten's hands, even the most appealing destinations are filled with menace and terror. As the novel opens, we are reintroduced to brothers Jack and Dan Duran. Readers of Dark Gold will remember them from the first novel, but I'd have to say quite emphatically that knowledge of their earlier exploits is unnecessary. Prior events are touched on only in passing. This makes sense, of course, so as not to alienate new readers, but I was mildly disappointed that there wasn't more... continuity. More on that in a moment.

Jack and Dan, joined by Dan's girlfriend Phoebe, are on a covert mission. They're quite illegally visiting the historic site of the Oracle of Delphi in the middle of the night. Dan is indulging in one of his strange investigations, and with proper homage to history, and a canister of ethylene (which supposedly caused the original visions) they've got the perfect set up for Phoebe to provide a prophesy. Which she does--along with the warning, "The Furies are coming!"

The warning, however, is dismissed, and soon Phoebe has to return to her archeological dig. Jack, too, is planning to move on, when Dan gets a call from an old roommate, Basri. With a trust-fund, a yacht, and some wildly libidinous ways, Basri makes an ideal stand-in for Dionysus. He tempts Dan and Jack into a wild pleasure cruise on his yacht full of Hellenic beauties. Before embarking, the brothers are given yet another warning, and here I grew frustrated. ANOTHER yacht full of dangerous beauties? Seriously, Jack, will you EVER learn? Surely after the events in Mexico he should have been somewhat more circumspect?

See? That's how you can tell I'm a woman, because basically these guys were being offered an enormous Greek orgy, and pretty much nothing was going to keep them off that boat. I can't tell much more, except to say that there's a whole lot of sex and then things go downhill with staggering speed. I have to imagine that male readers are going to love the more... graphic aspects of the novel. Yeah, Angsten really goes there. For the women, well, I suppose it depends on the woman. There is a lot of eroticism in this novel, but it's meant to be somewhat disturbing, and it is.

Jack and Dan have gotten themselves into trouble unlike, quite frankly, anything I've seen in fiction. The front end of the novel is loaded with a significant amount of exposition. It's slightly unfortunate, but Angsten does a good job of giving readers an education on Greece and its art, history, mythology, and religion. It's quite interesting, and the lessons are put to good use within the plot. Once events get going, the pace moves along at a break-neck speed. Angsten really excels at writing chapters that end on hooks so that you literally find yourself unable to put the book down. It's precisely what I'm looking for on a transcontinental flight.

I waffled over whether to give this novel four or five stars. The plot, while riveting, isn't all that convoluted or complex. However, there were some pretty delightful revelations late in the game. There were ridiculous male fantasy-fulfilling sex scenes, but I can't honestly call them gratuitous. There was a deplorable lack of sea monsters, but, uh, that's my own personal bias. And I guess I can't blame the author if his characters sometimes act like idiots. In the end, a slightly generous five stars for tremendous action, pacing, and sheer outlandish fun!… (mais)

You know, superficially the plot of Dark God rather had the same feel and flavor of a book I read last year...The Ruins...the main difference being that Dark Gold takes place mainly on a boat/in the ocean and not on land. It's got buddies out just out of college (Jack, Duff, and Rock), initially looking for a good time, but when Jack Duran's wayward brother appears to be missing while traveling through South America, these buddies pleasure trip turns into a search and rescue mission. Along the way, they hook up with Bellocheque, a Bahamian business man (and owner of the Obi-Man, a wonderfully luxurious yacht) and his two hottie sidekicks, Eva and Candy. What initially starts out as an adventure to find the missing brother (decided on the toss of a coin) turns into a hunt for missing gold, complete with sea monster and Lovecraftian creepy, xenophobic, isolated village. Dark Gold offers up a lot of plot twists, backstabbing, treachery, deception, and even some traditional Mexican bad guys out to steal the treasure...lets face it this is a summer beach read wanna-be that mixes equal parts historical mystery, horror novel and travelogue, then throws in a dash of romance and just a tiny smidge of thriller and mixes well with the murky water of the deep and ALMOST makes it to a memorable page turner.

Overall there was a LOT of build up for not a lot of pay off in this largely predictable novel. I give it three stars, it's entertaining, but not as "page-turning," on the edge of your seat thrilling as I think the author was striving for...it never got up to sizzle for me, it was just too slow moving with the attempts to build suspense and terror and it never quite got there. Additionally the characters were never really developed to their full potential, Rock and Duff were pretty much interchangeable, as were Candy and Eva, there wasn't a whole lot to distinguish and with the female characters, next to NO detail was given about them and other than being competent help (serving food, cleaning up, and doing Bellocheque's bidding) and eye candy, they weren't compelling or sympathetic. There wasn't a character I identified with or felt really deserved to make it through at the end of the book. Jack, Dan (the missing brother) and Bellocheque where the only characters given any decent amount of background...but the attempts to draw out suspense and mystery for Bellocheque ultimately made him a stereotype, cookie cutter character like the rest. In the end, it was an ok read, but I'm glad I got this from the library as I'd be upset if I'd paid hardback prices for a novel that was mildly entertaining at best, there was a lot of potential with all of the elements Angsten laid out, unfortunately when it was all said and done, none of it was terribly compelling or fleshed out enough to merit higher praise for this book. Great bones, mediocre story.… (mais)

I love a good thriller, especially if it has an exotic location, a sunken treasure, sexy characters, and all kinds of menace. Dark Gold delivers all the above and more.

The story opens with three college grads, Jack, Rock, and Duff, about to embark on a world tour, a last hurrah before they have to get serious about real life. However, Jack's wandering older brother Dan has gone missing somewhere in Mexico. The last anyone has heard from him was an enigmatic postcard from Puerto Vallarta four months ago. So the three friends decide to start their trip in Mexico to hunt down Dan. As readers of The Ruins will attest, these quests never end well.

Early on, Jack has a scary encounter with a drug-dealing biker gang. No one will admit to knowing anything about Dan, but Jack does learn the name of a town that doesn't mean anything to him---Punta Perdida. None of the locals are willing to ferry Jack, Duff, and Rock there to investigate, for any price. But fate (and a beautiful woman) leads them to Leo Bellocheque, a wealthy Caribbean Islander with a million dollar yacht and a drop-dead gorgeous crew of two. Leo's intrigued by their story and offers them a lift.

Punta Perdida is a dangerous place. The local priest has been deafened and muted. Things aren't looking at all good for Dan. But Jack and his friends soon discover what enticed Dan to this desolate location; the lure of a fortune in sunken gold. Of course, in a place like Punta Perdida, you never know what else might be in the water...

I don't want to tell any more, because the joy of a novel like this is the plotting. The story is fast-paced and offered me big, gasp-out-loud surprises right up to the very end. There are definitely elements of the story that are familiar from many other books and films, but Angsten has done a great job making familiar thriller conventions seem fresh and new.

A big part of it is the writing, which is way above average. It's a pleasure to read a thriller with a nice turn of phrase and characters with real depth to them. I often felt a desire to learn more about these people and their back stories that wasn't always satisfied. You can't complain too loudly, though, about characters being overly interesting.

In the heading of this review I used the words menacing and atmospheric, which sound a lot better than creepy. But the truth of the matter is that Angsten creeped me out. Never has Mexico seemed more foreign or scarier. Seriously, I began to feel a little worried about my own friends down there! And just reading an underwater scene about something that's never seen during an early dive in the novel had the hair on the back of my neck standing up.

I read this book in two days. This is good and bad. I want more! I can't wait to see what Angsten comes up with next. What a great new discovery!… (mais)