Review: An Unusual Adventure
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 21, 2014
Xanadu is by D.Z.C. (Zichao Deng).  It is an adventure/ crime novel.Nicholas Keszthelyi sells antique and unusual objects in Russia.  He is not totally legal in all of his actions.  He gets a call from Estradt, a criminal, telling him that he has been in a prison in Iran along with a Chinese businessman, Chen Qingqing.  Chen shows him some photos which Estradt has sent to Nicholas.  Nicholas identifies these at Kushan Indian Ivory carvings. They are priceless.Chen tells them they are in a cave at a copper mine near Kabul.  His father and Zhao Jianguo are partners in the operation of the mine; but Zhao is in command as he is on the ground and Chen’s father is not there.  Even if he was, Chen’s father would not be interested in the art.  He and Zhao are interested in the money to be made from the copper.The three hatch a plan to get Zhao’s control away from him by involving him in a series mahjong games until they lure him into a final game where they hope to will at least 2 million dollars from him. Zhao has borrowed the money and he must pay it back quickly. They add a guard from the French Embassy and a drug selling prostitute to their small group.Will their plan work?  Will they be able to get the ivory carvings out of the cave and out of Afghanistan?D.Z.C. goes into great detail in describing Afghanistan and Kabul.  Not knowing the city and country, I would be interested in knowing how accurate it is when the Taliban is not around.  The writing seems to be choppy to me, although the sentences are lengthy and not short.  The conversations seem stilted.  At first I didn’t think I would like the book; but in the end it was pretty good.  I hope he plans to write a sequel to see what happens to Nicholas next.