“The Solomon Curse” by Clive Cussler with Russell Blake
Series: Fargo Adventures
Published: September 1, 2015 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genres: Adventure, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Sam and Remi Fargo accompany a colleague on an underwater archaeological project where they find a sunken city off the coast Guadalcanal the largest of the Solomon Islands. This is a history altering discovery as no known advanced civilization existed here. They discover that anything of possible value has already been scavenged from the underwater ruins. The few bits of evidence left behind in the ruins leads them to believe that the Japanese who occupied the island during World War II were responsible for removing the artifacts and hiding them somewhere on the island. While hunting for the hidden treasure Sam and Remi stumble upon a terrifying secret.
This is probably my favorite of the Sam and Remi Fargo Adventures series so far. There are so many awesome twists and turns. In most of the stories you know who the bad guy is pretty early on. You may not know who is working with them, but you know who is ultimately calling the shots. In this book I was totally surprised.
In Chapter 31 (might have been 32, but I’m pretty sure it was 31) there was a moment that was out of character for Remi. One of the things I love about her is how strong and confident she is to handle any situation. In this part of the book their hotel room is ransacked, which happens to them all the time, but this time she acted like it was the first time and that somehow this time it was more invasive than ever before and it really got to her. I believe that getting your hotel room ransacked and having someone go through your personal belongings is scary, but she’s been through this before and let it roll off her back pretty easily. This time it wore on her and she commented about how she was happy to have a strong man to protect her that night. This is weird to me, because while she and Sam have a flirty thing going on and they obviously love and depend on each other very much, she has never been the damsel in distress in need of Sam’s protection.
If you are looking for a page turner this is it. I give this book a 5/5. I really enjoyed it and thought that the plot twist was gold. The story leading up to it was great too. It was so much more about the history and the “curse” of the island than the treasure. Instead of their enemy trying to beat them to the treasure this time they were trying to keep their horrifying secret a secret with no knowledge of the treasure.
