The Tenth Chamber

This was a puzzle of a book for me. There are three stories in this book, in reality, and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed two of the three. The connection between the three stories is the tenth chamber in a series of caves, and the reason those caves exist.

I'd like to divulge as little as possible for anyone who might read the book, but it isn't a spoiler to say that one story takes place about 30 000 years ago or so, another in about the 12th - 13th century, and then the modern-day era.

The whole idea around the story is really very neat, actually, and in my opinion the idea itself is believable (well, mostly) and Mr. Cooper presents is very well. In fact, the ancient history part was really well written and very engaging, as was the Middle Ages show more tale. For my own tastes, I didn't care much about the modern-day characters, and frankly disliked the Luc/love interest thing (I forget her name already), and the plot around the modern story felt a bit forced. The girl is useless and a completely unnecessary character. The modern relationships felt awkward, whereas the historical ones were very interesting, I couldn't wait to read more about them, and the settings were well written, it was fascinating to be in those places.

The ancient history story was by far the most interesting and captivating for me.

I will certainly read another Glenn Cooper book eventually, his strengths are worth it. show less

I thought all three of the intertwined timelines were well handled, and all intrinsically interesting. Research was a bit bolt-on in places, giving a disappointing sense of padding. Also, featuring each and every one of Eloise, Abelard, Bernard of Cluny and the Knights Templar did test this reader's credulousness; when the C20th century strand introduced the magic potion one couldn't help but be reminded of Asterix the Gaul, which was unfortunate.

The back-cover talked about an intellectual thriller - similar sounding to The Di Vinci Code - so I figured it would be entertaining at the very least. However, the book was more than just entertaining - it was entrancing. I got so completely sucked in to the plot-line, I didn't even notice the three hour layover!

The plot tied together stories from the times of the Neanderthals, the 1300's, the late 1890's, and modern times. It did this in a way though that kept the plot moving quickly and efficiently, without getting bogged down in the changing perspectives. There was some fascinating facts about archaeology and science, and I was left wondering how the story would end up till the final pages. A few twists were predictable, however show more there was also a few twists that surprised me.

I don't want to give away any of the plot, and the big details are as revealing as the little ones. I will only say that this was a great book if you want a thriller to entertain you for a few hours. It will make you think and you will learn a few things too! Pick up a copy, I'm going to add his other two books to my TBR pile! show less

Le sue avventure seguono sempre lo stesso schema, buoni presupposti, discreta ricerca storica, scrittura scorrevole, eventi concatenati anche se lontani nel tempo, suspance con un minimo di violenza da parte dei cattivi... e l'immancabile semi-lieto fine che lascia idealmente spazio ad un vero lieto fine o ad ripescaggio per un seguito. Lettura d'intrattenimento

Old books, old cave paintings and odd people. They all come together in this book about secrets and those trying to uncover them and those trying to keep them, while others are doing both. An enjoyable read but lacking that element to make it a great read.

Worth picking up.

Quite a mixed bag of a book this. Whilst the novel goes back and forth between the time periods the story needs to cover, the chronological order is: Pre-History. Medieval Middle Ages. Second World War. Modern day. Quite a spread and unusually (from my point of view anyway) all set in France. Though all the better for that, I say.

It is however, a bit of a mixed success. The story hangs around a series of interlocking cave chambers that are discovered in modern times, with cave paintings that are the rival to or better than, those found at other comparable sites like Lascaux. The new cave system's paintings near the French village of Ruac (which seems to be a fictional place) are, apart from being much better, also much, much older. But show more why have the caves remained hidden until now? Our 'guide' through the story, Luc Simard is an archaeologist called to a Monastery where a rare book is found that needs de-coding and preserving. By accident, he and his friend, an expert in book preservation, stumble across the caves nearby the Abbey and make the link between the paintings and the book - and a secret many people have and still are fighting and killing to protect.

It is all handled quite effectively. The pace is excellent, with a measured build up to around the middle of the novel, where the hero is beginning to put deus and deus together and realise he's neither alone in his quest, nor safe. From there, it goes up several gears and becomes quite a tense race to the final conclusion.

Whilst technically it is all handled very well, it doesn't really reach the peaks it could have done. It stays in the lowlands. It doesn't really develop the series of interesting incidents with possibilities, into anything more substantial. I think this might be to do with trying to touch too many novel-type bases. It's part Clan of the Cave Bear, part medieval mystery whodunnit - drags in the Templars of course - part WWII drama and part modern day suspense novel. I was left a little not let down, but just feeling 'oh well', when I finished. I am going to recommend it to you, but more as a diverting and reasonably interesting read for a couple of days, rather than a novel that will change your life or live on in your memory longer than it took to read this... show less

well this was a first . there aren't many authors who can set one of the plot lines in 30,000 BCE and do it in such a way that it would make perfect sense. but in this book glenn cooper has done that brilliantly .

it's well paced and i simply couldn't put it down, or in my case couldn't look away from the monitor , i kept scroling down and down and down.............................................................