Wayward Son

Gleaning expectations from the front cover art and back cover blurb, I expected this book to hover somewhere round the nexus of Dan Brown’s thrillers or the National Treasure film series. Initial impressions fitted that impression, with a couple of fantastically talented potential heroes, an obscenely rich patron-manqué, who gives veiled hints of menace, and brushes with death starting even in the first few chapters. Throw in hints of archaeological riches and the feeling of impossibly tight deadlines and it seems a perfect fit for the genre.

However, Wayward Son has a twist and the main protagonist, viewed through flashbacks that fill most of the book, turns out to be a character who starts out a long way back in history, even before the creation of the long-hidden chamber that Amanda James sets out to unlock.

If you enjoy thrillers with a strong pseudo-historical component and are happy without the anti-Christian undertones of something like The Da Vinci Code, then you might enjoy this. Although not the height of literary style, it is more than adequate for the genre and, for the pleasure of having my expectations dashed and rebuilt, I’ll give this 4 / 5.