Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood
Spartan Gold is the first in a new series by New York Times bestseller Clive Cussler in cooperation with action novel writer Grant Blackwood.
Referred to as \”Fargo Adventures,\” the new series is, as the name suggests, based on the adventures of the Fargos, a married couple by the names of Sam and Remi.
Independently wealthy, the Fargos have devoted their lives to their obsessive passion for archeological treasure hunting, and they do not shy away from any obstacles to find what they are looking for.
While the Fargo Adventures feature a new cast of characters and a slightly different action venue – treasure hunting – the telltale hallmarks of a true Cussler-novel that we have all come to love and expect still remain: Exotic cars, foods and drinks, as well as lots of excitement on, in and around water.
In Spartan Gold, Sam and Remi Fargo pursue a trail of clues left on the labels of twelve wine bottles from the lost wine cellar of Napoleon Bonaparte, written in a code they must first decipher.
Naturally, their quest to unravel this mystery does not go unimpeded. Relentlessly on their heels are the hired ruffians of Bondaruk, a former Soviet freedom fighter from an ethnic minority group, who has since turned into a ruthless mafia billionaire.
Bondaruk believes the end of the trail will lead to an ancient Greek gold-treasure once conquered by his ancestor, the Persian ruler Xerxes the Great. A treasure which Bondaruk has convinced himself is his rightful heritage, and no one will be allowed to stand in his way of getting it.
The riddles on the wine-bottles lead the Fargos and their adversaries from a WWII German submarine in the Great Pocomoke Swamp of Maryland to the Bahamas and through much of Europe including Monaco, Croatia, Italy, Germany, and Ukraine: not necessarily in that sequence.
Spartan Gold is a solid, action-filled treasure hunting novel in the spirit of The Da Vinci Code. It is also distinctly a Clive Cussler novel with all of what that entails. Another guaranteed New York Times bestseller, in other words.
Britt Hellman lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and three sons, operating her own copywriting business from home. Clive Cussler has been long time favorite author. Visit her dedicated Cussler site to order the Spartan Gold novel or read her review of the most recent Dirk Pitt novel, Arctic Drift by Clive Cussler.