Bound 4 Escape

Title: The Last Ancient
Author: Eliot Baker
Publisher: Burst Books, imprint of Champagne Books
Pages: 316
Genre: Supernatural Thriller, Historical Mystery
Format: Paperback/Kindle

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Description:

Around Nantucket Island, brutal crime scenes are peppered with ancient coins, found by the one man who can unlock their meaning. But what do the coins have to do with the crimes? Or the sudden disease epidemic? Even the creature? And who–or what–left them?

The answer leads reporter Simon Stephenson on a journey through ancient mythology, numismatics, and the occult. Not to mention his own past, which turns out to be even darker than he’d realized; his murdered father was a feared arms dealer, after all. Along the way, Simon battles panic attacks and a host of nasty characters — some natural, others less so — while his heiress fiancee goes bridezilla, and a gorgeous rival TV reporter conceals her own intentions.

Review:

I received a free ecopy of this book for an honest review.

The Last Ancient starts out as a mystery beginning with mutilations of deer followed closely by a murder. It quickly turns into something more paranormal with the appearance of a mythical creature and ancient coins showing up everywhere.

The main character, Simon Stephenson, is a reporter whose father was a gun runner and was murdered in the past. Simon, however, is a good guy who tries to do the right thing. I didn’t care for his fiancee, Judy. Her priorities are different than Simon’s and it was hard for me to see how their marriage would last.

Eliot Baker’s writing style is very descriptive and is easy to follow for the most part. There were times I got a little confused about what was actually happening, such as at the very end, but that could be just me.

If you think you’d like a mythology laced thriller based in modern times, then I recommend this book.

About the Author

Eliot Baker lives in Finland. He teaches communications at a local college and runs an editing and translating business, but would be content singing for his heavy metal band and writing novels full-time. He grew up near Seattle, got his B.A. in World Literature at Pitzer College, and got his M.S. in Science Journalism from Boston University. He was an award-winning journalist at the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror, and before that he wrote for the Harvard Health Letters. He spent four years pursuing a career in the sciences while at the Harvard Extension School, during which time he spun old people in NASA-designed rocket chairs and kept younger people awake for 86 hours at a time in a sleep deprivation study. He likes good books, all music, and bad movies, and believes music and literature snobs just need a hug.