The Amber Room

I finally got around to reading one of Steve Berry's early books, The Amber Room (#913). My battered paperback copy has literally been around the world with me, but somehow I never found the time to read it on a plane or in my hotel room during my jaunts.  If it had its own passport, the visa stamps in it would be quite impressive!

It still contained an intriguing historical mystery about the room literally lined with inlays in amber stolen during World War II by the Nazis when they invaded Russia.  It arrived in Konigsberg, Germany, but then it vanished in 1945.  What ever did happen to that room?  In Berry's book, old connections to the Nazis set off a hunt for the prized remains, with no expense, or lives, spared in the process. 

I admit I was a little surprised when I read it.  There was no Cotton Malone or Magellan Billet here.  The protagonists were a female judge and her ex-husband corporate lawyer.  It's their family connections which draw them deep into the search for the Amber Room themselves.  The other thing which surprised me was that this was obviously written prior to Steve Berry having enough author clout to avoid editor's suggestions to "sex things up" because the sex here was quite graphic; enough so to be noticeably different from his best-selling Cotton Malone series where it is considerably toned down. 

It was still a good read, and it's interesting to see how things have changed in Berry's writing style since then; and that the historical mysteries that make his novels so enjoyable is still the reason I look forward to his next book!