A thriller that takes you on a whirlwind tour of Vietnam, France and New York City as two men search for the murderer of their respective brothers. Lots of violence and hidden identities. ( )

Some years ago I had a spell of reading Van Lustbader's book (Ninja,Sirens,Miko to name a few) and had always enjoyed them but this book somehow sat neglected in the bottom of a box unread so when eventually I rediscovered it I decided to give it a whirl.

The story revolves around a mystical three bladed sword revered in Buddhist teachings and taken from Cambodia during or shortly after the Vietnam War. This artifact is believed to have the power to merge all the opium growing domains in Cambodia under one person giving that person immense power and wealth so is therefore coveted by various battling parties culminating in numerous gruesome murders,double-crosses and general mayhem along the way. The story is told at an unrelenting pace but is not without a certain depth,the flashbacks to the horrors of the Vietnam War were particularly poignant IMHO. Each of the main characters are well drawn and shown to be multi-faceted rather than purely one dimensional and whilst the ending was a little predictable it was still satisfying in its own way. All the hallmarks I remember from Lustbader's previous books.

Now whilst I doubt if this book will last too long in the old memory bank I did actually enjoy reading finding it an interesting diversion and as such I rather enjoyed my trip down memory lane. ( )

NIL