Review: Good Page Turner of Suspense and Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2014
'Clonmac's Bridge is a suspense-filled story that interweaves archeological procedure with conventions from Romance and Historical novels.  Serious archeologist Dr. Griffin Clonmac is successful as a television presenter and fund magnet but success breeds envy and malice.  Mari Quispe is skilled in archeological field work but has to fight gender prejudice, both from within her wealthy and traditional Latin American family and from her colleagues.  The author's prose is formulaic as he establishes this background but the story quickly gathers momentum after that.Dr. Clonmac seeks a 1200 year old bridge, lost to memory beneath Ireland's River Shannon.  In an extended series of historical flashbacks, we meet the medieval monk who dreamed of building the bridge, even in the face of mindless opposition from his Church superior.  The monk's challenges in creating the bridge parallel those of Dr. Clonmac as he tries to locate the bridge and then to raise its structure from beneath the waters.Readers are treated to the cut and thrust world of academic partisanship and boardroom politics as the archeological project is being put together.  The connections between scientific/academic discovery and commerce are luminously explored as events race from library to fieldwork to boardroom and to non-profit foundation.  The spiritual power of the Catholic Church is misappropriated to hide a dark secret in a race to block the rediscovery of the bridge.Jeffrey Perren has created some fine, odious villains for his protagonists to contend with even as they explore and deepen their feelings for each other.  In addition, Mari has a prominent and persistent ex-fiancé. Dr. Clonmac has attracted the interest of an accomplished woman who hopes to use the archeological project to get closer to him.  The Romance theme is always present but never in the way of the archeology or the suspenseful events surrounding the project.  The result is a tale of suspense and romance that will appeal to a range of readers as a good page turner.