Altar Of Bones by Philip Carter
Nov. 11th, 2024 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Siberia, 1939. Pregnant Lena Orlova plans a daring escape from a brutal Soviet prison camp to the one place she knows is safe: a cave containing the legendary Altar of Bones, hidden behind a frozen waterfall deep in the icy wilderness.
San Francisco, Present Day. Zoe Dmitroff discovers that she is the last in a line of women who have been entrusted with a secret so great many have died preserving it. Now Zoe is being hunted by a vicious killer determined to uncover the truth, and she’s about to learn the hard way that no-one can outrun their destiny.
From the frozen wastelands of Siberia to the bustling backstreets of Paris, Altar of Bones is a gripping international adventure that spans the generations and unearths the dark secret behind one of the biggest conspiracies of all time.
Zoe Dmitroff is a lawyer who lives and works in San Francisco. She specialises in representing women in domestic abuse cases, both in helping them to escape violent partners and representing them in court if they take matters into their own hands. Zoe is also the daughter of Anna Larina, one of the most ruthless and feared Pakhan’s in California’s Russian mafia, although she tries to have as little to do with her mother as she can, in part because she blames her mother for her father’s suicide when she was a teenager.
When an elderly homeless woman is stabbed to death in Golden Gate Park, Zoe’s friend, Inspector Sean Mackey reveals that the woman had swallowed a piece of paper containing Zoe’s home address and had in her possession a photograph of her with a young Anna Larina. Shocked, Zoe realises that the victim must be her grandmother, Katya Orlova, even though that’s impossible because Katya died almost 50 years earlier. Unfortunately Zoe’s investigation into her grandmother’s murder, draws the attention of the killer who wants Zoe to tell him the location of the Altar of Bones and will do whatever it takes to get it from her. Although Zoe has no idea what he’s talking about, she discovers that Katya has left clues to help her uncover the secrets she was keeping …
Ryan O’Malley hasn’t seen his father or his brother Dom in months and is shocked when he gets home to find an answerphone message from Dom telling him that their dad has died from a heart attack and he needs to get down to Galveston, Texas as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Dom is murdered before Ryan arrives but he has left clues so that Ryan can find out about a secret that their father was keeping about a murder that he committed as a young man and the film he had made of that crime as insurance, which Ryan now has to find even though someone out there is willing to kill anyone and everyone who knows about it. All that Ryan knows is that the film was taken by someone called Katya Orlova, and he has to track her down at all costs …
Thrown into each other’s company, Ryan and Zoe have to dig deep into Zoe’s family history to get the answers that they need in an investigation that will take them to France, Hungary, Russia and eventually Siberia, where over 70 years earlier, Zoe’s great grandmother made a decision that has reverberated through the decades …
Philip Carter’s conspiracy thriller is a pacy read that keeps the action coming with plenty of chases, fights and double crosses plus some screaming orgasms for good measure. However while Carter does well at balancing the different plot strands, the fates of the antagonists was underwhelming and I found the central conspiracies a little tasteless and disrespectful. It’s a decent beach read if you’re looking for something to hold your attention.
One of the best things about this book is how Carter has absolutely nailed the pacing. There’s plenty of action from the off (where we start with Lena Orlova’s escape from a Siberian gulag with her lover) and Carter keeps that coming while maintaining a good sense of tension. Many of the chapters end with some kind of cliffhanger to keep you taking the pages and although I do find that to be a bit of a cheap trick, I can’t deny that it also works well. This is also a novel that packs in a lot of plot as Carter sets up two mysteries, one involving Zoe trying to find out what the Altar of Bones is while Ryan wants to know exactly what it was that his dad did so many years ago. Again, the way Carter balances and then merges these two plot strands is well done and the decision to include some chapters from the point of view of the antagonists (notably billionaire Miles Taylor) helps to bring some background in to flesh events out while also lending depth.
I can’t say that the characterisation in the book is the best I’ve read but it does the job. Ryan is strong, silent and incredibly good at his job with a convenient contact in almost every place the pair end up. Zoe has chosen to split from her criminal family to try and do good and so combines innocence with a gritty determination while also (conveniently) being able to shoot guns, drive evasively and thankfully behave as something other than a damsel in distress. It goes without saying that of course there is a romance between them. With the exception of Taylor, the antagonists are more disappointing and little more than sketches. I did have hopes for the sociopathic Yasmine Poole but despite a lot of early page time, she disappears about a third of the way through the book and when she gets her desserts, it is done in an unsatisfying way. This is a theme, unfortunately, for all of the antagonists as there’s something a little ho hum in how they get despatched or overcome.
My main issue with the book lay with the main conspiracy element. I’m not going to spoil it here other than to say that Carter draws in two events from the 20th century and incorporates a real historical person as a character. I was particularly disappointed in that because it read as caricature and given what the book does with that person, I found it quite disrespectful and gimmicky. I do understand why Carter does it, it does tie in with the plot of the book, the execution just didn’t work for me.
That said, if you are looking for a decent beach novel that will keep you interested without making you have to think too hard, then I think that this is well worth checking out. Notwithstanding my criticisms, I would definitely check out Carter’s other work on the strength of this.
The Verdict:
Philip Carter’s conspiracy thriller is a pacy read that keeps the action coming with plenty of chases, fights and double crosses plus some screaming orgasms for good measure. However while Carter does well at balancing the different plot strands, the fates of the antagonists was underwhelming and I found the central conspiracies a little tasteless and disrespectful. It’s a decent beach read if you’re looking for something to hold your attention.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy of this book.
Siberia, 1939. Pregnant Lena Orlova plans a daring escape from a brutal Soviet prison camp to the one place she knows is safe: a cave containing the legendary Altar of Bones, hidden behind a frozen waterfall deep in the icy wilderness.
San Francisco, Present Day. Zoe Dmitroff discovers that she is the last in a line of women who have been entrusted with a secret so great many have died preserving it. Now Zoe is being hunted by a vicious killer determined to uncover the truth, and she’s about to learn the hard way that no-one can outrun their destiny.
From the frozen wastelands of Siberia to the bustling backstreets of Paris, Altar of Bones is a gripping international adventure that spans the generations and unearths the dark secret behind one of the biggest conspiracies of all time.
Zoe Dmitroff is a lawyer who lives and works in San Francisco. She specialises in representing women in domestic abuse cases, both in helping them to escape violent partners and representing them in court if they take matters into their own hands. Zoe is also the daughter of Anna Larina, one of the most ruthless and feared Pakhan’s in California’s Russian mafia, although she tries to have as little to do with her mother as she can, in part because she blames her mother for her father’s suicide when she was a teenager.
When an elderly homeless woman is stabbed to death in Golden Gate Park, Zoe’s friend, Inspector Sean Mackey reveals that the woman had swallowed a piece of paper containing Zoe’s home address and had in her possession a photograph of her with a young Anna Larina. Shocked, Zoe realises that the victim must be her grandmother, Katya Orlova, even though that’s impossible because Katya died almost 50 years earlier. Unfortunately Zoe’s investigation into her grandmother’s murder, draws the attention of the killer who wants Zoe to tell him the location of the Altar of Bones and will do whatever it takes to get it from her. Although Zoe has no idea what he’s talking about, she discovers that Katya has left clues to help her uncover the secrets she was keeping …
Ryan O’Malley hasn’t seen his father or his brother Dom in months and is shocked when he gets home to find an answerphone message from Dom telling him that their dad has died from a heart attack and he needs to get down to Galveston, Texas as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Dom is murdered before Ryan arrives but he has left clues so that Ryan can find out about a secret that their father was keeping about a murder that he committed as a young man and the film he had made of that crime as insurance, which Ryan now has to find even though someone out there is willing to kill anyone and everyone who knows about it. All that Ryan knows is that the film was taken by someone called Katya Orlova, and he has to track her down at all costs …
Thrown into each other’s company, Ryan and Zoe have to dig deep into Zoe’s family history to get the answers that they need in an investigation that will take them to France, Hungary, Russia and eventually Siberia, where over 70 years earlier, Zoe’s great grandmother made a decision that has reverberated through the decades …
Philip Carter’s conspiracy thriller is a pacy read that keeps the action coming with plenty of chases, fights and double crosses plus some screaming orgasms for good measure. However while Carter does well at balancing the different plot strands, the fates of the antagonists was underwhelming and I found the central conspiracies a little tasteless and disrespectful. It’s a decent beach read if you’re looking for something to hold your attention.
One of the best things about this book is how Carter has absolutely nailed the pacing. There’s plenty of action from the off (where we start with Lena Orlova’s escape from a Siberian gulag with her lover) and Carter keeps that coming while maintaining a good sense of tension. Many of the chapters end with some kind of cliffhanger to keep you taking the pages and although I do find that to be a bit of a cheap trick, I can’t deny that it also works well. This is also a novel that packs in a lot of plot as Carter sets up two mysteries, one involving Zoe trying to find out what the Altar of Bones is while Ryan wants to know exactly what it was that his dad did so many years ago. Again, the way Carter balances and then merges these two plot strands is well done and the decision to include some chapters from the point of view of the antagonists (notably billionaire Miles Taylor) helps to bring some background in to flesh events out while also lending depth.
I can’t say that the characterisation in the book is the best I’ve read but it does the job. Ryan is strong, silent and incredibly good at his job with a convenient contact in almost every place the pair end up. Zoe has chosen to split from her criminal family to try and do good and so combines innocence with a gritty determination while also (conveniently) being able to shoot guns, drive evasively and thankfully behave as something other than a damsel in distress. It goes without saying that of course there is a romance between them. With the exception of Taylor, the antagonists are more disappointing and little more than sketches. I did have hopes for the sociopathic Yasmine Poole but despite a lot of early page time, she disappears about a third of the way through the book and when she gets her desserts, it is done in an unsatisfying way. This is a theme, unfortunately, for all of the antagonists as there’s something a little ho hum in how they get despatched or overcome.
My main issue with the book lay with the main conspiracy element. I’m not going to spoil it here other than to say that Carter draws in two events from the 20th century and incorporates a real historical person as a character. I was particularly disappointed in that because it read as caricature and given what the book does with that person, I found it quite disrespectful and gimmicky. I do understand why Carter does it, it does tie in with the plot of the book, the execution just didn’t work for me.
That said, if you are looking for a decent beach novel that will keep you interested without making you have to think too hard, then I think that this is well worth checking out. Notwithstanding my criticisms, I would definitely check out Carter’s other work on the strength of this.
The Verdict:
Philip Carter’s conspiracy thriller is a pacy read that keeps the action coming with plenty of chases, fights and double crosses plus some screaming orgasms for good measure. However while Carter does well at balancing the different plot strands, the fates of the antagonists was underwhelming and I found the central conspiracies a little tasteless and disrespectful. It’s a decent beach read if you’re looking for something to hold your attention.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy of this book.
