The Emerald Cave

In “The Emerald Cave”, main character Vince Ramsey – who apparently appears as protagonist in several of the author’s books, although these books can each be read as a standalone – is hunting down a notorious arms dealer. He’s aided in this task by one of his colleagues, Daniel, and his love interest, April. In an adventure that is reminiscent of Indiana Jones and maybe even Dan Brown’s works, Vince Ramsey chases this arms dealer across the globe, from Geneva to Antarctica to Switzerland.

The story reads like watching a movie, fast-paced, never slowing down. It relies perhaps a bit too heavily on established stereotypes of heroes and villains, and the characters could do with some more fleshing out, in particular Vince. The book is told from an ominous, all-knowing point of view that tells the reader what every character is feeling and makes it difficult to connect with the story and really get into the heads of the characters who matter. The author’s hopping from the mind of one character to another detracts. Apart from that, the book is certainly enjoyable, but the writing needs some work to be more focused and would benefit from a more focused point of view.

Majanka Verstraete