The Prophecy

May 24, 2010
In Kuzneski's anemic fifth thriller to feature ex–Special Forces soldiers and best pals David Jones and Jonathon Payne, now fabulously wealthy after their discovery of a Greek treasure in their last outing, The Lost Throne, an attractive stranger named Ashley Duvall asks their help in deciphering a coded message from the ancient past. Shortly after they agree to look into the matter, an assassin shoots Ashley dead. Jones and Payne banter their way across Europe searching for the meaning of both the message and a mysterious wooden box. Thief François Dubois (aka "Frankie Death") also wants the message and the box. Jones and Payne team with Ashley's neighbor, Megan Moore, who they learn is the last living relative of Nostradamus, the originator of the box and the message. Boring chitchat and too many historical, geographical, and culinary asides interrupt the infrequent action, while a rushed ending and a lastpage revelation indicate a continuation of the Nostradamus theme to come. Author tour.

June 15, 2010

Nostradamus revisited, with results too often predictable.

At a fundraiser at the University of Pittsburgh, Jonathon Payne spots a young woman on the outskirts of the crowd and knows instantly there's something off-key about her. He can react with such speed because he wasn't always CEO of Payne Industries, the multinational corporation launched by his grandfather. Once, he was a highly trained fighting man, leader of an elite special forces unit: the MANIACs, drawn from the Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, Intelligence and Coast Guard. (Only "the best of the best" need apply.) Close friend and kindred spirit David Jones shares Payne's unrest. A fellow ex-MANIAC, Jones is likewise maxi-intuitive and, it turns out, the attractive young interloper is in fact a thief. Turns out, also, that her latest hot item is a purloined letter, which she recognizes as valuable while not knowing quite how to convert it to cash. She hopes Payne and Jones can be conned out of useful ideas. The very old letter originated with that world-class prognosticator Nostradamus. Is it enriched by a signature prophecy? Hard to tell at first, since it's written in a variety of languages, some of them dead--a condition Payne and Jones only narrowly avoid in the ensuing struggle to keep acquisitive bad guys at bay.

Seduced by the glamour of his own research, Kuzneski (The Lost Throne, 2009, etc.) succumbs to an ailment unfailingly fatal to narrative drive—acute digressivitis.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2010
Former Special Forces agents Jonathon Payne and D. J. Jones return, but instead of looking for ancient artifacts as they did in The Lost Throne (2009), this time they find one. The first piece in the puzzle that leads to a mysterious document is brought to the agents by a lovely young woman, who promptly gets shot in the head. She wont be the last to meet a grisly end. Readers know from the preface that the documents author is Nostradamus, who left it with one family for safekeeping until it can be passed down through the generations to its proper owner. But, of course, other, more deadly characters want it, too. Kuzneski has the Da Vinci Code formula down pat: cool, collected heroes who know a lot about a lot; short, action-filled chapters; a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But after all the guesses and gunplay, readers will find the ending a cop-out. Still, those who enjoy the books of Dan Brown and Steve Berry, among others, should have fun as Kuzneski skips across continents, moving from clue to clue.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)