Introduction
Crooked Gold by author Carl Knauf is a fast-paced adventure novel with heavy Hispanic influences and history. As a traditional treasure hunt story with a modern criminalistic twist, I was intrigued by the summary when Mr. Knauf asked for an honest review in exchange for a free .mobi file. Although I ultimately enjoyed the novel, there were too many issues that distracted me from the plot and ended up affecting my overall rating.
My Rating: ★★★
Synopsis: "Veteran NYPD detective Jim Beckett has started his second career at Interpol. He lost his wife, he left his job, and is now stuck between tedious paperwork and a new generation of police personnel. He is dissatisfied, and his escape each night is a corner bar stool shared only by a few fingers of whiskey.
Beckett misses the degenerates, the action, the chase. Fortunately, his passion is revitalized when he is contacted by his white whale, career criminal Jack Swift.
Swift baits the detective, trapping him in a familiar game of cat and mouse, providing hints to his next whereabouts through the lyrics of classic rock tracks.
Swift reveals both clues and his intention: to uncover the mystery of the San Miguel, and steal a Spanish treasure that has been sought for centuries.
Beckett soon realizes that it's not just Swift he must apprehend. Others, including a drug kingpin and corrupt police colleagues, are involved in the chase.
From New York to Mexico and Spain, Swift collects the gold coins needed to locate the historic haul, challenging Beckett to catch him. The stakes are high and the hunt is on. Swift knows all too well that there will be no prizes for coming second." (via Goodreads)
Thoughts and Comments
Pros
- The plot was extremely likable and the story was consistently engaging. I never felt like reading the novel was a chore, which is something that I value highly when reading and reviewing books. I sincerely appreciated that aspect of the novel.
- The writing, aside from some minor grammatical issues, was strong and fluid. The author's storytelling abilities are very exquisite indeed--Knauf certainly knows how to keep a reader hooked throughout his work.
- The humor is refreshing and plentiful, which, in my opinion, always makes a crime novel more enjoyable--sometimes a book in the genre can get a little dry without a joke or playful jab every now and again.
- History is a major factor in the novel, as well as elements of art, culture, geography, and music, and all of these aspects were well-researched and executed effectively.
- The use of song lyrics as hints was a clever and unique tactic for the author to implement as clues to main character Jack Swift's whereabouts.
Cons
- I found the characters to be stereotypical and flat, and I barely related to any of them--only enough to be able to get through the story and understand each of their motives.
- There were a few factual inaccuracies that were a bit too ridiculous to excuse.
- The biggest issue that I had with Crooked Gold is that there seems to be no obstacles whatsoever in Jack Swift's way. Everything he attempts he gets done right on the first try without any sort of trouble. There was also an abundance of unrealistic conveniences that would simply not happen in the real world, which was annoying.
- Every single woman in the book (and there are many) is inexplicably smitten with Jack Swift. It seems as though the majority of them only exist in the book to show what a "charming, seductive man he is". There isn't a woman in the entire book that isn't painted as either a dumb, lust-stricken bimbo or a mere tool to increase the book's sex appeal.
- There were way too many characters to keep up with without getting confused or simply bored. At least three or four of them could be cut from the novel without affecting the story or the relationships of the other characters in any way.
- There are quite a few plot holes that had simple fixes, yet were, for some reason, never resolved.
- It is clear that the author doesn't trust his readers--he explains almost everything via narrative instead of leaving even the most obvious things up to interpretation.
- In relation to the previous bullet point, the author actually writes out characters' traits and backstories explicitly in blocks of text rather than allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.
Conclusion
Overall, I found Crooked Gold to be an easy, exciting read with plenty of culture, action, and mystery. Despite the few problems that I had with the novel, I was captivated until the very end, and I would certainly pick up the sequel upon its release. Mr. Knauf, thank you for the opportunity to review your work, and I look forward to seeing more from you in the future!
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