Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
Page Two of ThreeDante's Equation by Jane Jensen
Del Ray, July, 2003Trade paperback, 484 pages
ISBN: 0345430379
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Dr. Jill Talcott is obsessed with her energy wave
equations, to the point that she promises her
sleazy superior half the credit if he'll just give
her time on the department's coveted supercomputer
which she needs to crunch all the numbers in the
complicated equations. Jill's research seems to
be correlated with the findings of a dead
scientist and Kabbalist, Yosef Kobinski, who claimed to have
found the physics equations for good and evil -- the
very underpinnings of the universe. Halfway around
the world Rabbi Aharon Handalman is a scholar
specializing in Torah code. Rabbi Handalman
has found many references to Yosef Kobinski
and his research leads him to Dr. Talcott, just
as her lab explodes and she is forced to run for
her life from government agents who wish to use
her research for destructive purposes. Dr. Talcott,
her assistant, Rabbi Handalman and a journalist
who is also on the trail of the same story eventually
all meet and set out on the trail of Kobinski -- who
mysteriously disappeared from the Auschwitz
concentration camp near the end of World War II.
What they find could change the world forever -- or destroy it.
Author Jane Jensen delivers the goods in this thriller that fans of The da Vinci Code will enjoy. Jensen takes the principles of the Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism and uses it as the base for her story. The author shows the different personality types found in humans, according to the teachings of Kabbalah, and how each of them can be transformed. The idea that the very fabric of the universe sets the stage for good and evil is not a new one, but Jensen executes it extremely well in this tautly written thriller.
Dine and Die on the Danube Express by Peter King
St. Martin's Minotaur, June, 2003Hardcover, 262 pages
ISBN: 0312283660
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
The Gourmet Detective is back and this time
he's ensconced on the famous Danube Express,
a luxury train which winds through the Alps,
Austria, Hungary all the way to Romania.
Our detective (who has no name that we've
ever been told) is on board to observe the
level of service for a client who is thinking of
opening a similar service. Because it's the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the famous
train, many celebrities are on board to sample
the finest cuisine and wines that the train's
expert chefs can offer. But when a famous
Hungarian actress disappears from the train,
the gourmet detective is drafted to serve as
a real detective to solve
the mystery.
The pseudonymous Peter King (who prefers to remain as mysterious as the name of the protagonist of this delightful series) revisits the classic mystery setting made famous by Agatha Christie in Murder on the Orient Express, with very entertaining results. There is intrigue, deception and chatty investigations, all nicely rounded out with some of the best food writing found in fiction. This is a perfect read for classic mystery lovers.
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