Jay Amberg

Jay Amberg's Bone Box is an extremely well researched and well-thought-out book. The story gives you incredibly detailed and visual pictures of Turkey. Jay Amberg is a master of description and intrigue, and does not paint you into a corner when explaining things; the plot and characters are believable and interesting. When reading the book you have to keep going to find out what will happen next. It is a real page turner, one that keeps you guessing through each and every chapter. A cross between The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) and The Sign of the Cross (Chris Kuzneski) this is an "un-put-downable" book of the highest quality.… (mehr)

The book opens with a terrorist bombing at a tourist site in Bergama, Turkey, killing 23 people. Bergama is built on the site of ancient Pergamon, the home of the Aesklepion, the world’s greatest healing center, and the birthplace of Galen, the Roman Empire’s most famous doctor. Turkey is one of my favorite countries, and I found myself searching the internet to see images of the ancient city of Pergamon. I devoured the historical and cultural aspects of the story.

Three strong, independent women are core to the story. First, there is Tuğçe Iskan, a Turkish Ministry investigator. She finds evidence that links the terrorist act to the Hamit family, a powerful criminal family that is known to deal illegally in antiquities, a family that pulls strings within the Ministry, thus hindering Iskan’s investigation. Iskan turns to Özlem Boroğlu, a local archeologist, and Boroğlu’s daughter Elif to assist her in her investigation. Elif is a sculptor known for her goddess figurines and has spent her entire life exploring local tombs.

To complicate things further, Elif’s brother Serkan is trying to make a name in dealing antiquities but he is playing with fire and ends up jeopardizing his entire family’s safety.

Terrorism, antiquities, power, goddesses, brutality, corruption, revenge…survival is uncertain. I found myself holding my breath, awaiting the outcome.

Amberg created characters that, good or bad, evoke an emotion from the reader. Complicated family relationships. Anger, heartbreak…both emotions hit me time and time again. Superb writing. A believable story.… (mehr)

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

I honestly have no idea why I accepted this book for review. Granted, at this point, I accepted it for review almost 6 years ago, and I've become a lot pickier about reading since then.

I finally picked it up today, got about 19 pages in (10 percent) and promptly gave it up. It's told in 1st person, and the first in the set of stories is about trees.

I do understand the seriousness and complexity the author is going for, but this just isn't a book that I'm able to get into well enough to finish it.… (mehr)