Forbidden Gold has everything in it that an adventure story should have. It’s main character, Kurt Reid, is a likeable and capable protagonist facing an interesting problem. His grandfather, whom Kurt did not have a positive relationship, has passed on but left a four million dollar carrot dangling in front of his grandson’s nose. In order to inherit a fortune Kurt must locate a gold nugget the same size as the one his grandfather had found in the Yucatan jungle. Kurt, accepts the challenge but soon discovers a group of unscrupulous men are aware of his quest and intend on taking advantage of Kurt. To top it off, Kurt hires a co-pilot who happens to be the feisty female Joy Sutherland. Joy is equally as capable as Kurt and the two form an alliance, but the plot thickens when the Yucatan natives, who hated his grandfather, mistake him for the old man and set out to kill him. Suddenly, Kurt Reid finds himself in a jungle of trouble, low on ammunition, but determined to succeed. Still, it won’t be easy. Fast-paced and exciting, Forbidden Gold is the quintessential type of story that helped make L. Ron Hubbard so popular with readers of adventure tales. Tightly plotted, crisp with action, and written with an eye for detail, Forbidden Gold is like an Indiana Jones adventure, except written long before Indy was a gleam in George Lucas’s eye. I enjoyed Forbidden Gold immensely and recommend it to fans and connoisseurs of adventure fiction. ( )