After reading and enjoying The Python God and The Fortune Cave, the first two Thomas Adam Grey thrillers by Duane Laflin, I picked up the third one when it came out: The Treasure Whale.
Laflin is a retired professional magician who now writes novels. Wayne Reinagel has done the covers for all books so far, and we get another that is clearly inspired by James Bama‘s Doc Savage covers. And that’s not a bad thing.
Thomas Adam Grey is a Secret Service agent tired of protecting corrupt politicians. He has decided to quit and start his own personal protection business, based in Kansas City. Thomas is over 6-feet tall, with hair halfway between brown and blonde, and grey eyes. He is often compared to a lion in human form. While very capable, he is not invulnerable. So things don’t always go his way.
Assisting him is his secretary, and possible love interest, Tiffany Swensen, who will run his office. However, in this one, she actually comes along during some of the action. Is this a change we’ll see going forward? Also, unlike other thriller heroes, Thomas doesn’t have others he can call on. His former boss at the Secret Service, after not appearing in the second book, does make several “appearances” via phone.
Things start with a Portuguese ship in 1847 trying to find the Northwest Passage. While the captain does find gems, things don’t go as he would have wanted. How will that impact today? We later see a group of scientists today working on an abandoned Cold War base that the U.S. built in the pack ice near Greenland, which included a nuclear reactor. One of the scientists, going outside, stumbles upon those gems found by the captain. What will he do with them?
After Thomas deals with bodyguard duty for a spoiled pop star that goes a little hinky, he is approached by a woman wanting a security escort for out-of-town work. She works for a jewelry company in Wichita, Kan., and wants him to accompany her to Maine, where she will be purchasing some raw diamonds. It seems simple enough, and due to some issues, Thomas brings along Tiffany. Things seem off when they learn the buy will occur at a Civil War era fort located in the harbor, reachable only via boat. When the buy goes seriously off the rails, it is now clear that there is more going on.
Soon, the trio goes to Greenland, avoids getting killed several times, and finds they have run afoul of a deadly Russian smuggler operating out of Belgium. While Thomas needs to take the fight to him to put an end to it all? And what is the deal with the book’s title? How does that all fit in with the plot? Ah, read and find out.
As before, the author works in some very interesting elements to create a really fun read. As with several other thriller works, I do like the inclusion of real-world places, history, and facts, and also like when the author provides a breakdown of these at the end. You often wind up learning new and interesting things while reading an engaging work.
As before, my only complaint about the work is formatting. I felt that the author should have used a smaller font and less spacing, which would have produced a physically smaller book, and probably a little less expensive one as well. I understand the author prefers this, in the style of larger size fonts for some readers.
The next work, The Deadly Skulls, came out in September, which is great. I believe the author has a few more already in the works, so am hoping this will continue for awhile. If you liked this one, check out some of the author’s other works. The Carson Gold series seems similar, and is even recommended at the end of this volume, as are the Eli Brown ones, though I haven’t read them myself.
…I’m a bit put off by the cover, that looks way too much like AI art.
It’s not. If you had read my review you’d know it was done by Wayne Reinagel.
Nothing wrong with AI cover art. Not everyone can afford a real artist.