The Tombs

July 2, 2012
Sam and Remi Fargo, multimillionaire treasure hunters, prove they can wield automatic weapons as well as they can metal detectors in the fun fourth Fargo novel (after 2011’s The Kingdom) from bestseller Cussler and new collaborator Perry. A German archeologist friend, Albrecht Fischer, calls on the couple for help in excavating an ancient battlefield he’s discovered in Hungary. A lucky find on one of the dead soldiers buried in the battlefield leads to a succession of five treasure troves hidden by Attila the Hun, culminating in his legendary tomb. Also searching for the tomb and treasure is greedy Arpad Bako, a wealthy businessman who runs a medical factory and considers himself a direct descendent of Attila the Hun. The many treasures shift back and forth between Bako and the Fargos while other villains seek to stop Sam and Remi. This adventure series stands as one of the crown jewels in the Cussler empire.

August 15, 2012
Cussler and company (The Kingdom, 2011, etc.) send treasure hunters extraordinaire, Sam and Remi Fargo, onto the windy steppes of the ancient Hun empire searching for the tomb of the Scourge of God. The Fargos are volunteering temporarily as excavators at a Paleo-Indian village site under shallow water off Grand Isle, La. The dive's interrupted by a hasty call from famed German archaeologist, Albrecht Fischer. Fischer believes he's unearthed a major find near Szeged, Hungary. The Fargos head off to Europe to help. Then, Fischer is kidnapped and taken to Szeged, only to be rescued by a Fargo-led amateur commando raid on a pharmaceutical complex owned by Arpad Bakor, a Hungarian who claims Attila as an ancestor. Bakor believes Fischer's find may be the location of Attila's legendary lost tomb. And so it goes, Sam and Remi, assisted by character-actor players who always appear at the right time, follow a series of Attila-supplied scavenger-hunt clues to the location of his triple-coffin burial site. The dialogue is sophisticated rom-com snappy, and there's much mention of the right vintages and exotic gourmet dining and five-star hotels. Best of all are dozens of Wow! historical factoids about Attila and concurrent history. The settings are exotic: a vineyard south of Budapest; the confluence of the Po and Mincio rivers in Italy, the point where Attila turned away from Rome; then Chalons-en-Champagne, the furthermost western point of the Hun's dominion; Transylvania; Kazakhstan, and finally, Rome's Catacombs of Domitillia. There the story should end, but coming free with all the interesting Hun history is a multi-chapter shootout involving Hungarian, French and Russian bad guys, each of whom wanted a share of the tomb but will settle for revenge. Even with a plot hole or two, a tacked-on narrative thread about a corporate treasure-hunting enterprise and a believability buy in--the Fargo's bottomless money bucket--Cussler fans can expect more than a few hours of page-turning action.

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September 15, 2012
It could be the switch in coauthors (veteran mystery writer Perry takes over for Grant Blackwood), or the rather nifty story (an excavation of a historical site leads to a modern-day quest to find the lost treasure of Attila the Hun), but either way the fourth Fargo adventure is the best of the series so far. Danger abounds, of course, but it's the characters who sell the story. Sam and Remi Fargo, the husband-and-wife treasure hunters and globe-trotting adventurers, are likable and gutsy, not merely Indiana Jonesstyle stereotypes. The story moves at a brisk clip, leaping from location to location, with an assortment of colorful villains (including one extremely unpleasant fella who thinks he's descended from Attila) and plenty of verbal interplay between the two leads. Cussler seems to have entered the period in his lengthy career where he relies heavily on his collaboratorsand Perry is an A-listerbut some very good books have been appearing with his name on them, and this is one his fans won't want to miss.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)