I recently got a book that’s been on my to-buy list for a while, Arena of Souls by David Wood. This is the first of what looks to be an ongoing series of books with Brock Stone, set in the early 1930s.
David Wood is a fairly prolific author with several other series, including a long one with Dane Maddock, a former Navy SEAL turned treasure hunter, that has several tie-in works. But I got this work due to the clear pulp elements of it.
Arena of Souls came out in 2014. We meet Brock and his friends early on in the book. Brock has been traveling around the world after college and a time in the military. His parents passed away recently, thus he is well off financially. This adventure starts after his grandfather has passed and given him a strange inheritance: his house in Virginia and a challenge. But someone seems to be after it also and is trying to kill him.
He is joined by a trio of childhood friends: Trinity Page, his sometimes girlfriend who is an investigative reporter; Alex English, a mechanical genius; and Moses Gibbs, the son of his grandfather’s groundskeeper. He seems opposed by a mysterious John Kane, a rich eccentric, who doesn’t appear himself but sends his underlings.
Brock learns that his grandfather had discovered a lost island in the Bermuda Triangle. Its location is what John Kane wants. So despite the dangers, Brock and his friends head there. They overcome the obstacles, human, physical, and otherwise, to get there. But what do they find there? Nothing more than a lost world of dinosaurs, cavemen, and natives, of course. But much more than that. There is the secret Brock’s grandfather discovered that will lead him to further mysteries. And he must face the “arena of souls” before he and his friends can return. Will they be able to do so unscathed?
I hope to get the following two books soon. They are Track of the Beast (2022) and Curse of the Pharaoh (2023). They have further adventures with Brock and his friends, and some continue the storyline with John Kane. I’m not sure if I’ll get his other series, but others should certainly take a look at them as well.
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