Simon Bonner is a retired tomb raider—or so he hopes.  But his past has a habit of coming back to haunt him in rather tangible ways, and when Jackson, his old partner in crime, collapses on his doorstep with a bullet wound he knows his retirement is over.  Instead he is saddled with a mysterious crystal lens, said to be the key to an impossibly ancient treasure called the Archives of Man.  Before he can access this he needs to locate another key, this time a museum curator called Jillian Talbot.  As well as staying ahead of various other parties that are eager to get their hands on the loot...

Fans of Tomb Raider (US || UK), Indiana Jones (US || UK) and Romancing the Stone (US || UK) will devour this morsel, and be eager for more.  The author does a good job of balancing the separate elements of adventure, fantasy and romance without letting anything swamp out the others.   There is a healthy dose of humor and some mystery in here too, as well as plenty of material for several more books if we are to find out more about Jillian’s interesting-sounding family. This is a fast-paced tale too, scattering surprises (although most of it can easily be guessed, perhaps something to remedy for future books) and some good descriptions of places visited as it rushes along.  I am not a caper fan, but this is something rather better than that so I do hope that it is going to be the first of many.