The Vault
Boyd Morrison
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Buy *The Vault* by Boyd Morrison online

The Vault
Boyd Morrison
Touchstone
Hardcover
448 pages
July 2011
rated 4 1/2 of 5 possible stars

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Boyd Morrison is on that very short list of intelligent historical-thriller writers - including Steve Berry and James Rollins - who are must reads for fans of this genre. Dan Brown may have opened the door, but writers like Morrison have kicked it in.

The Vault literally features three different ‘vault’ moments that are sprinkled throughout the storyline. In the prologue, the large storage vault at an auction house is robbed by an evil criminal with a dark agenda. The items stolen include a solid gold hand and a document that may have been written by Archimedes centuries ago. The villain of the novel, Jordan Orr, needs some help deciphering the document that is written in the ancient Greek of two hundred years before the birth of Christ. He also needs a person with the right skill set to follow what is revealed on this document to the ultimate goal: the whereabouts of King Midas’s famous treasure.

Tyler Locke, the hero of Morrison’s novel The Ark, is the right person for Orr’s mission. He is the CEO of a major technology company called Gordian and an expert at uncovering the greatest archeological finds in history. Stacy Benedict is needed by Orr as she is a classical language expert. To give Tyler and Stacy incentive to comply with his mission, Orr and his henchman kidnap Tyler’s father and Stacy’s sister. Orr gives them a small window of time in which to interpret the alleged documents of Archimedes and then find the map that will lead them to the vault of King Midas. The only problem is that Tyler Locke, like many others, believes the legend of the “Midas Touch” to be pure fiction - isn’t it?

By now, it is apparent that the second vault in question is that which does indeed house the treasures of King Midas and the ancient secret to his touch of gold. This treasure could make Orr a billionaire many times over - if he can harness its power safely. Simply finding the hidden treasure isn’t the most difficult part of the quest. Added to the mix is a rival for the Midas treasure. Gia Cavano, the ruthless head of one of Naples Camorra crime families, will stop at nothing to beat Orr to the treasure. She kidnaps Tyler’s friend Grant and uses him as bait while following her own path to King Midas’s vault.

Tyler and Stacy succeed in keeping their heads about them to outthink both Orr and Cavano, but they are in no way ready for the ultimate plan that Orr has in mind. This brings us to the final vault in the tale: a bank vault in lower Manhattan where Orr plans to release a deadly explosion that will bring NYC’s financial center to its knees as an act of vendetta for the way his father was treated by the U.S. government years earlier. Tyler Locke will need all of his resources and skills to thwart Orr and his deadly game before thousands of people lose their lives.

The Vault is a high-octane thrill-ride of a novel that succeeds equally as an intelligent work of historical fiction. Boyd Morrison continues to spread his wings as an author who consistently outdoes his previous effort while creating memorable characters and highly inventive situations that make for an outstanding read.



Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Ray Palen, 2011

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