I think that the tentative to have an adventure novel Indiana Jones style was quite clear, but more than the adventure part, it was the feeling of light comedy that has me make the connection; the novelty of Indiana Jones was to have a main character who wasn’t “exactly” 100% hero material. In Riddle Me Wicked Vivien Dean splits the Indiana Jones character in two men: Ian, the English professor, is the logic and Lucas, the American photographer, is the adventure. Both of them are essential pieces for the riddle, but they didn’t work alone.

I feel a great need in both men to prove themselves, Lucas to the world (his main target is, more or less, to have a Wikipedia entry with his name) and Ian I think to his own father, that in this moment has a academic CV that is bigger than his son, and Ian has to prove that he is as good as his father. But Ian is more a bookworm than an adventurer and it’s only thank to Lucas’s “negligence” that he will have his chance. That is, I had the feeling that both characters were quite lucky since, sincerely, it’s not that they are really good in uderstanding danger: like in the first scene, when Ian explains to Lucas that all his team was murdered just minute before, Lucas was like, “ops, I’m sorry, but we have more important things at hand to do”…

The story evolves then in a run for two in the US and UK, searching for pieces that will help Ian solving the Riddle to find the Blood of Sheol, an ancient artifact. Strange is that, more than their life or finding the artifact, both men are apparently more interested in knowing each other in a romantic way, and so the run for life becomes more a strange way of courtship. Even if in danger, even if with evil men behind them, Lucas is always ready to do nice things for Ian, exactly like a man who is courting his beau. And Ian, with all the discretion that is typical of his Englishman character, is kindly accepting the wooing and is reciprocating the feeling.

There is not really burst of passion between these two, but more a warm feeling: I think that is due to the fact that they are inline with their character; Ian is the typical coy Englishman, that is reticent to openly show his feelings, but when he is alone with the object of his affection he can be romantic and caring; Lucas instead I think he has a bit of “adoration” for Ian, first of all I think he has respect for Ian’s cleverness, and in a way, he thinks himself on a lower level than the other man, and so it’s like he doesn’t want to “impose” himself.

I think the author has other adventures in mind for these two since, even if this is a full length novel, their relationship is basically still in a blossoming phase.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1602728011/?tag=elimyrevandra-20