The Tombs: A Fargo Adventure
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 Jones–style 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 collaborators—and Perry is an A-lister—but some very good books have been appearing with his name on them, and this is one his fans won’t want to miss. --David Pitt