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A review by cyntax
The Antiquities Hunter by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
2.0
The Antiquities Hunter is the first in what I assume is going to be a series. It’s classified as a mystery, but it felt more like a thriller to me.
Gina Myoko is a San Francisco P.I. whose best friend, Rose, is a National Park Agent (in case you’re confused about the difference because an NPS agent and an NPS Ranger, don’t worry, you’ll find out in the info dump at the beginning). Rose thinks she is being followed and is being threatened, possibly to scare her off one of her cases, and so Rose's boss decides to go ahead and hire Gina as a body guard for Rose (this seemed really ridiculous to me).
Then, when Rose is shot in the middle of an investigation involving stolen Mexican artifacts, Gina goes undercover in her place. This also seemed really ridiculous to me. The National Park Service really had no other agent that could go in Rose's place? Really? I also don't see the Federal government being like "yeah, no problem we'll pay for a body guard" and "money and lawsuits and contracts are no concern, we'll hire a P.I. to go undercover, why not". So the premise is interesting, but not really believable.
This is a fast paced book that jumps right into the action (...after the info dump that is). I think Gina (aka Tink) is supposed to be intriguing and quirky, but the most interesting thing about this book is the NPS angle, and since Gina isn’t herself involved with NPS I’m not sure what tack the series is going to take.
The "mystery" itself isn't really much of a mystery - I won't spoil it, but there aren't really any clues to follow to solve it, and given the limited cast of characters, as long as you assume the author is playing fair and it's one of them rather than someone we haven't met, it's really easy to figure out.
If you like light thrillers and are interested in pyramids/ruins and the black market for stolen antiquities you may like this book.
Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC.
Gina Myoko is a San Francisco P.I. whose best friend, Rose, is a National Park Agent (in case you’re confused about the difference because an NPS agent and an NPS Ranger, don’t worry, you’ll find out in the info dump at the beginning). Rose thinks she is being followed and is being threatened, possibly to scare her off one of her cases, and so Rose's boss decides to go ahead and hire Gina as a body guard for Rose (this seemed really ridiculous to me).
Then, when Rose is shot in the middle of an investigation involving stolen Mexican artifacts, Gina goes undercover in her place. This also seemed really ridiculous to me. The National Park Service really had no other agent that could go in Rose's place? Really? I also don't see the Federal government being like "yeah, no problem we'll pay for a body guard" and "money and lawsuits and contracts are no concern, we'll hire a P.I. to go undercover, why not". So the premise is interesting, but not really believable.
This is a fast paced book that jumps right into the action (...after the info dump that is). I think Gina (aka Tink) is supposed to be intriguing and quirky, but the most interesting thing about this book is the NPS angle, and since Gina isn’t herself involved with NPS I’m not sure what tack the series is going to take.
The "mystery" itself isn't really much of a mystery - I won't spoil it, but there aren't really any clues to follow to solve it, and given the limited cast of characters, as long as you assume the author is playing fair and it's one of them rather than someone we haven't met, it's really easy to figure out.
If you like light thrillers and are interested in pyramids/ruins and the black market for stolen antiquities you may like this book.
Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC.