Fast forward to the present when their daughter Dr. Nina Wilde is making a presentation to an academic foundation for a grant to fund an expedition to find Atlantis. Nina fails and, dispirited, eagerly accepts billionaire Kristian Frost’s offer to fund the same search. She is accompanied by Kari, his beautiful, mysterious multi-talented daughter (think Lora Croft), and hotshot ex security expert Eddie Chase, who will serve as her bodyguard (think Indiana Jones with a middle school education).

Together they follow the clues from Norway to Iran, France, Gibraltar, the Gulf of Cadiz and Tibet. Their journey proceeds at breakneck speed, involving them in one preposterous situation after another. The strength of the book is the use of these foreign scenes and descriptions together with the historical myths and legends of Atlantis to craft a plot so unbelievable it almost becomes credible.

The same mysterious brotherhood is still opposed to anyone finding Atlantis, and they pop up frequently. The passion of the Frost Foundation to succeed in the venture counterbalances this with Eddie and Nina in the middle. All of this plays out in high speed chases and many life threatening situations conquered with James Bond type scientific gadgets. There is a little time left for their burgeoning romance which redefines the old adage of opposites attracting, but yet, that happens as well.

Even a veteran adventure reader will have a difficult time in separating the good guys from the bad ones and the charm of the book is that hardly anyone will figure out the whole basis of the plot. In sync with the bouncing from venue to venue is the sinewy twisting of this story to reach its quite unexpected ending.

As with any good adventure movie, the entertainment value in this story is high, but it will certainly be more memorable as a movie than a book, should it reach that stage. When one balances an incredibly complex, unrelenting, fast moving action adventure with poorly developed characters, cliché ridden dialog all presented in a variety of mixed writing styles, you have an average read.

--Thea Davis