Review: Exciting, Fast-Paced Suspense Novel
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 2, 2013
"The Gift of the Dragon" is a fast-paced thriller that starts shockingly, and then keeps the suspense and tension running high throughout the remainder of the story. The first chapter opens with a thirteen-year-old girl killing a man with a wholly unique weapon, while her father and brother approvingly observe--they have a "responsibility," and none of them shirk from it.Then we flash to Sara, who is meeting her old friend Alice out of desperation--Sara is murdered and Alice is shot and falls into the river. When she recovers, she has no memory other than that she loved her friend. She also has the dragon necklace Sara handed her before Sara died--Alice decides she owes it to Sara, her one hazy memory, to find justice and answers.What follows is a page-turning game of chase and cat and mouse, as a wide cast of characters form alliances and pit themselves against each other, depending on which side of the line they fall on. The dragon necklace is more than it seems, and in fact is the mysterious key to the tablet the bad guys are desperately seeking.There are a lot of characters in the book, and the point of view jumps back and forth, which both allows the author to flesh the characters out into realistic people and maintain suspense and excitement. The prose is tight and packs in a lot of action, and the ending generates curiosity about the second installment in the series. I'd recommend "The Gift of the Dragon" to readers who enjoy thriller and suspense novels; they won't be disappointed.