The Patmos Deception by Davis Bunn

Before Reading

About the Book from Amazon
The Patmos Deception
Nick Hennessy, a young Texas journalist yearning for his big break, finds himself in Europe--his assignment, to investigate the alarming disappearance of invaluable Grecian antiquities. Nick has the credentials--and cover ID--to unearth the truth. And he knows just the researcher to help him...

Carey Mathers, fresh from her studies in forensic archeology, has accepted a job with the prestigious Athens Institute for Antiquities--a dream come true, really, particularly when the Greek isle of Patmos, where the Apostle John received his vision of the Apocalypse, was a particular focus of her research.

Dimitri Rubinos, for whom the Greek islands represent his life, holds on by his fingernails to the family charter boat business. But his country's economic chaos isn't the only thing that has turned his world on its head...

My expectations

I was expecting a solid mystery with what is the norm in almost all Christian literature a little romance. If I remember right I have never read any of this authors books so I was not sure what I was getting into with him (I read a lot of different authors so I don't always remember which ones I have read).  The cover was part of the reasoning I requested this book from Harvest house as it really appalled to me. 

Critique

Were my expectations met?
No the story did not develop enough or go fast enough for me.  I would start getting into it and then the tone would change just slightly but enough to slow me down.


Prose & Dialogue 
The author did write an excellent story that flowed well.  One point that bothered me was that for first third of the book I kept getting reminded over and over again that the story was in Greece and about Greek artifacts.  I started thinking I am I watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding listening to the dad talk non stop about Greece. Other than that portion it was well written but just not my style.


Characters 
The character of Carey Mathers was kinda of dull except when discussing her obsession/crush as a little girl to her childhood friend's big brother Nick Hennessy.  While Nick was a little more interesting even when he was discussing when he went from seeing Carey as his little brother's friend to a beautiful adult women.  Dimitri was the wild card character as he is a local man who has an interest in Carey.  One set of characters that was at the beginning of the book I would love to have read more about was Carey's grandparents.  Her grandmother was the over bearing type while he grandpa had a good clear head on his shoulders, the interaction of those two characters were fun.

Pace & Romantic Tension
The pace of this story for me was very slow, I just had a hard time getting into. The main plot moved too slow for my taste not enough action, I am a fan of mysteries with a lot of action.  Truthfully there really wasn't much if any romantic tension which is what I would expect in any book that was supposed to have some romance in it.  Thankfully there was nothing inappropriate in the romance which is actually starting to be common in even Christian novels.

Audience and entertainment
This book would be good for Christians and non-Christians alike it is a good clean slightly romance story just not my cup of tea.  I will admit if the story had a little tweaks to the story added I could see it as a great movie.

Conclusion
I had a real hard time getting into this book it was well written but the story fell flat for me.  The three main characters at first where interesting especially their back stories but then when I got into more of their current issues together now the story just fell apart for me.  At first I thought the mystery/suspense would take over the story like other stories have done when the characters are dull and lifeless. But nope not in this case.  The romance portion of the story just wasn't there and it needed to be there (this is unusually for me to write as I am not a romance type reader).  However to each their own it is an ok clean read just not my type.  So I will recommend it as one for people to try out for themselves.  3 Stars (great cover, ok story and had potential)

I was given this book by Harvest House Publishers for my honest reviews and was not required to give it a positive review.