Mixed feelings. Read some rave reviews about the author and picked this book. This book is hard to classify - it is a part historical fiction, psychological thriller, and romance. I am having a hard time figuring out what I like about this book. For that matter it is equally is hard to say what I don't like about it. ( )

Started off well then just petered out. I managed to get to the end but it was a struggle. ( )

Quite an exciting story, with very likeable characters. The comparison with Dan Brown made on the cover is inaccurate. Dan Brown's use of very short chapters and alternating storylines makes for a very different read. ( )

Through archaeology the setting of this novel takes the reader back twenty four centuries to a dreadful massacre. Seemingly triggered by an investigation being carried out by Fabrizio Castellani a long dead monster comes to life and begins ravaging the countryside, attacking people out late at night. But which of his investigations has triggered this? The bronze statue of the young boy, the Phersu tomb he has excavated, or the tablet inscriptions his boss is translating in secret?

Fabrizio is a loose cannon who likes to do his own thing, so while he cooperates with the local police chief, he also keeps secret some of what he is doing.

There are Gothic overtones to this novel and a reliance on the supernatural. The story got me so enthralled that I had to get up in the middle of the night to finish off the last thirty pages because my mind would not give it a rest. Looking back on the novel I think the author changed his mind several times about where the story was going and I detected a number of threads that looked interesting at the time, but actually went nowhere.

Nevertheless it was quite a good read and I could see it making a good basis for a scary thriller movie. ( )