The Amber Enigma

By: David M O'Reilly

Narrated by: Edison McDaniels

A panel from the lost Amber Room looted by the Nazis in 1941 comes on the London art market. Two mutilated bodies are discovered on wasteland outside Moscow’s Yaroslavl Railway station. Initially the two events seem unrelated.

Senior Investigtor Nikishin, troubled by the recent loss of his wife and haunted by the presence of his dead daughter, is assigned the case. Then the murder of a specialist art thief in London and a Bond street dealer on his luxury yacht on the French Riviera set in motion a chain of events that find Nikishin, and his SPBR team, his loyal sergeant Dmitri Roskov, and his forensics specialist the beautiful Tamara Lomakina pitted against the ruthless assassin known only as the Caretaker, who will stop at nothing to achieve the ambitions of his employer - the fanatical billionaire art collector Abel Steele.

But as Nikishin pieces together the 70-year-old puzzle, they realize the forces pitted against them are more powerful and sinister than they anticipated, but when the Caretaker becomes fixated on Tamara, Nikishin realizes he has more than just a crime to solve. The trail takes Nikishin and Tamara on a desperate chase across Russia and northern Europe as they attempt to unravel a complex and sinister conspiracy that reaches to the very top of the Russian political establishment causing economic and political ripples that spread across Europe. When an Israeli Mossad operation codenamed Jericho threatens the possible collapse of the Swiss banking system the stakes become even higher. The clock is ticking for Nikishin and Tamara to outwit the forces pitted against them and solve the mystery and discover the location of the vast treasure hidden in the closing days of the Second World War.

©2018 David M O'Reilly (P)2018 David M O'Reilly

Narrator the problem for me

The storyline is pretty good, but a little slow developing. Overall I enjoyed the book. However, there is just something about this narrator that seems a bit off. When speaking in the first person, the narration is fine. Otherwise, I thought his inflection on the last word of each sentence was distracting.

A Chilling Assassin in a Complex Mystery

I received this book for free. I voluntarily left this review and all opinions contained herein are mine.

The book blurb provides a really good synopsis of the plot so I won't repeat it. This is a complex mystery -- with several balls in the air at all times. Every time you think you may have it figured out, another twist is introduced causing you to rethink everything. The Caretaker, the assassin, is so creepy and scary. He is calm, collected and even empathizes with the person he is speaking with before very coldly and callously killing them. The Caretaker reminded me, at times, of Norman Bates and Dr. Christian Szell, a Nazi-dentist, in "The Marathon Man" who was played by the unforgettable Laurence Olivier [I still shiver at "Is it safe?"].

The narrator, Edison McDaniels, did a really good job. He did not really do character voices [although some did have accents]. His narration was very low key, which was suitable for this book. And, whenever the Caretaker appeared in the book, Edison McDaniels did a great job adding a "creep factor" to the narration.

Enjoyable but slow burn of a novel

It kind of took a while for the action to ratchet up but once it finally did it was a great ride til the end.

Just loved this

The Amber Enigma: I just loved this book. Very descriptive and graphic, lots of action. It captured my imagination from page 1 and held it right to the end. I do hope there is more of these two.

I found the style of writing and subject matter to be very like Martin Cruz Smiths - Wolves eat Dogs. Which I also loved.
Narration is first rate - Clear concise and full of tension.
I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my own request, and voluntarily leave this review.