Saturday, October 15, 2011

Who IS Abby?

Let's call this Suspense Saturday for now because the book I am bringing to you today is full of suspense. It may seem odd but even though we know who the bad guys are, there is so much more to this little book.

Who IS Abigail Mitchell Available
   Eye of the God
   By Ariel Allison
   Publisher: Abingdon Press Fiction; Original edition
   ISBN: 1426700687


   From GoodReads:
    When jewel thieves attempt to steal the Hope Diamond, Dr Abigail Mitchell stands in their way. Abby's  faith is put to the test as she confronts the father who abandoned her, the betrayal of the only man she has  ever loved, and the possibility that she may lose her live because of the legendary gem.


  About this book:
     The book prolog tells of the purchase of a blue diamond in the 1653. Here we learn the tale of the diamond's beginnings. The book opens in the present day during Carnival in Brazil. Here we meet the girl from the Smithsonian, Abby Mitchell, as she tries to warn an art museum director of an impending theft - a theft that happens in the next few minutes!
   Thieves, Alex and Isaac Weld, steal from the museum and take Abby's beautiful ring at gun point before slipping off into the crowd of Carnival. The brothers work for a person they only know as the Broker and he takes orders from the Collectors, people who pay high prices for masters' artwork, even if that work must be stolen. In fact, it is the work that cannot be bought they seem to want most.  And now they have set their eyes on the Hope Diamond, the very thing Abby is creating a fund raiser around at the Smithsonian.
  Between the story of Abby, Alex, and Isaac, the author weaves the myths concerning the Hope Diamond itself. Those tales cover, in detail, three of the owners of the diamond and how the curse of the Hope Diamond was true for them
   When Abby returns to Washington D. C., Alex Weld poses as a freelance article writer who wishes to interview Abby. With charm and grace, he manages to worm his way into not only her heart but into the event where the Hope Diamond will be the center piece.
   Add to this the shadowy characters, Abby's father and Abby's two best friends and you have some real intrigue.


My take:
    This is a suspense story with a dash of romance, just a perfect amount to feel real without overdoing it. I did enjoy the 'back story' of the Hope Diamond but I warn the reader even this is a tale, not history. 
   The characters felt fully fleshed out to me, at least the main two characters of Abby and Alex. The reader is allowed to follow the process of the bad guys and the good guys throughout the story. The real question is not who is the bad guy; the real question is who is Abby and what is she doing? For me this was more intriguing than if the author had hidden the thieves from our view. 
    There are several questionable actions taken by Abby and others, and the reader starts to wonder what is going on here. The truth is, until you get to the end, you don't really know why some things are done. What is Abby hiding? What is her father hiding? And who are DeDe and Dow and how do they figure into the story? These are the questions that make the book suspenseful.


   I recommend this book to all readers since the romance is basically chaste and the violence minimal. After seeing other reviews, I find that women tend to like the book better than men. I suspect it is because women are less likely to demand as much realism as men.  I, for one, found it disturbing, having done major events in my time, that Abby had so much free time the week of the event. There were other things that demanded a suspension of belief but this only slightly distracted me from enjoying the story.

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