The Lost Throne by Chris Kuzneski

I literally had both my parents hanging over my shoulder, salivating to read this book when I was finished! They both love James Rollins, and are excited to have a chance to read this now that I'm done.

Again starring Jon Payne and David Jones, this novel begins with the murder of 7 monks at a monastery in Greece. Nick Dial of Interpol flies in to investigate and teams up with Marcus Andropolous, a local Greek policeman who also works with Interpol.

In Russia, Allison Tyler witnesses her boss Richard Byrd killed by a contract killer. Payne and Jones get the call this time, and make plans to sneak into the country using fake passports. They find Allison, only to have to avoid the hit man and figure out what Allison's boss was looking for.

The Lost Throne is a wild ride across Russia, Greece, and parts in between. There is murder, treasure, history, and mystery, all elements of a great thriller. I had a hard time putting it down because I wanted to know what the mystery was all about! There was an intense dose of history involved as well. I love history's mysteries, and Kuzneski did not fail to dig up a mystery I knew nothing about.

I read another of Kuzneski's books last fall. You can read the review here. I'll admit that I had some criticism of the author's writing at that point. It has definitely improved since he published his last book in 2006. My only criticism of the writing this time was Kuzneski's overuse of the work smirk!

I did feel as if some of his characters were unrealistic this time around. Payne and Jones had a serious bromance going on. While bromance is fun on TV, it doesn't carry over well in novels. I've never known any guys in real life who had a bromance, so it is kind of unbelievable to me. I also had issue with Kuzneski's description of a Russian police officer as someone who would accost a woman. I'm sure it's possible, but that wouldn't fare well for Russia's tourism.

These are really small nitpicks about the book, though. I really, really enjoyed it and I would highly recommend it, especially if you like James Rollins and Dan Brown!