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Award-winning author Boston Teran electrifies readers with nonstop action and adventure as the main character, Harlan Gamble, travels throughout Europe, including Paris and Berlin, en route to Mongolia, possessed by his quest to find the Almsgiver Castle, an ironic moniker for the grave of brutal ruler, Genghis Khan. Being mindful of pace and utilizing a free-flowing writing style, Teran easily captures the readers’ attention. However, the audience’s focus is undoubtedly held by the depth of each character. There is not a single cookie-cutter, stereotypical character in this novel. From the conniving Elias Gartner’s unethical friendship with Harlan Gamble during their post-war recovery to Gamble’s own desire to find meaning in his life as his vision slowly deteriorates to complete blindness, the characters can be seen philosophizing and emphasizing the desire of having truly lived.
The narrative opens with a sickly Harlan Gamble in a Mongolian monastery, being tended to by his friend and guide, Lord Gabriel Hanover. There are essentially two stories that are being narrated: the story of Harlan Gamble’s first journey to Mongolia (1922), including his encounter with the mystique-laden Missus Jackobee, and his second journey to Mongolia (1923) that begins with his freedom from New York’s Ward’s Island Asylum by attorney, and female protagonist, Violette Sier. The fusion of these two narratives introduce readers to devious U.S. agents Holliswood and Luft, and Father Death, a name fittingly handed to a former U.S. priest turned Soviet officer in Mongolia. All three are major roadblocks in Gamble’s quest for Genghis Khan’s grave. The Indiana Jones-like adventure that begins in New York zooms through Europe like a rollercoaster, forging alliances for some, sealing death sentences for others, and ultimately providing edge-of-your-seat entertainment.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review