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Summary: Adventure on the Way to the World's Greatest Diamond Mine
Review: Before it crashed, the Medusa satellite detected an immense cache of diamonds far beneath the desert of northern Eritrea in Africa. The Americans tried to keep it secret, but word got out, and groups of unscrupulous people vowed to find the diamonds. One group sought to insure success by kidnapping the best friend of famous geologist, Philip Mercer, and bargaining the friend's life for Mercer's discovery of the diamond lode. In his quest, Mercer faces threats that come ever-faster, until he finds that the diamond mine holds a great and deadly secret. This is an enjoyable adventure that should keep you turning the pages.
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Summary: Hard Rock Adventure and Suspense!
Review: Dr. Philip Mercer is back with a vengeance! The resourceful mining engineer featured in Vulcan's Forge and Charon's Landing returns for another adventure and it's one wild ride!Mercer's best friend and drinking buddy, Harry White, is kidnapped by mercenaries and if Philip ever wants to see him alive again, he must investigate the remote possibility a diamond mine in east Africa. Mercer begins a needle in the haystack search that takes him to a remote desert on the Sudan \ Eritrea border. Using stolen photographs from a top secret spy satellite code-named MEDUSA, Mercer is able to locate an old deserted mine and to his astonishment he learns there may be something more valuable than diamonds buried within. His problems are compounded when an Italian industrialist and his Sudanese army try to take over the mine in an attempt to blackmail the South African Diamond Exchange. Mercer is going to need all of his wits and mining experience to prevent a global catastrophe! Jack Du Bruhl is an excellent adventure fiction novelist. His books just keep getting better and better!
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Summary: Constant Action
Review: From the moment I started listening to the audio cassette of Jack DuBrul's new story "The Medusa Stone," I knew that I would have several hours of constant and rapt reading adventure. His novel reads like the best action adventures of such authors as Clive Cussler et al. Mercer is a hero in the same vein as Indiana Jones, and even when accomplishing the almost impossible makes the reader think that his actions are normal. In this novel, Mercer is called upon to prevent both Israeli terrorists and a meglomanical Italian industrialist from gaining access to one of the world's richest diamond mine deposits. The love scenes in the novel are quite steamy and yet the reader does not feel the voyeur. I would recommend this book and all the other novels by Dubrul for the reader looking for a new hero and an outstanding author.
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Summary: Among the Best
Review: I orginally became familiar with Jack B. Du Brul's writing through his first novel, "Vulcan's Forge". It was a fast moving, globe-trotting epic that kept me in suspense right on up to the end. His second book, "Charon's Landing", simply didn't deliver the same punch for me as did his first. While it was well written, I almost decided not to bother with another "Phillip Mercer" installment. But I did... and boy, I'm glad I did. "The Medusa Stone" is as well written as "Vulcan's Forge", has a very good plot, and moves like a good novel should. While this adventure does not take you to every corner of the globe the way "Vulcan's Forge" does, it is full of intricate little plot twists that kept me turning the pages. The characters that have survived from Du Brul's earlier novels have grown to the point that I can almost see their features and hear the inflections in their voices. Not many novelist have been able to bring me to that point. For what it's worth, I would recommend this book. I would also recomend reading the first two books from this author (yes, even "Charon's Landing") before reading this one just to get the total historical perspective. (As an afterthought - I hope Du Brul will see fit to write a "pre-squel" to give us a better picture of Mercer's involvement in the Iranian situation.)
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Summary: What the hell is all the fuss about....
Review: If you like reading two thirds of a book with no idea why people are dying left and right then this is the book for you.
While it starts stong and grabs your interest it lags through the middle as you slog through pages of near death experiences with no clue as to why these things are happening. You just end up confused.
If you stick with it (which i did because I am genetically incapable of not finishing a book), it will pick up in the last couple chapters. The ultimate ending however was pitiful, predictable and left you wishing for at least a glimpse of the prize.
If you must read this book check out from your local library and save your $$ for something better.
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Summary: Adventure packed all the way
Review: Jack DuBrul is back with another of his wonder tales. While other reviewers will give you details of the plot, I think it is time to look at the area of the world he chose a desolate spot of no mans land in the former area of the world called Ethiopia.
The details of this desolate wasteland combined with the urgency of completing his hunt were fascinating. I do not care that he took liberties with geography, and that his plots are a little different than the norm. He writes interesting books. His writing is good, his understanding of geology very good, and the descriptions of obsession and greed are riveting.
Most of the big buck authors of the last 20 years have forgotten how to develop plots and people, here is where the mastery of DuBrul comes rising to the top.
I have read all his books and recommend them for pure entertainment. They are not rocket science or meant to be, they are enjoyment.
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Summary: Dirk Pitt--move over, Mercer HAS arrived!
Review: My first 5 star review for Mr. Du Brul, and well deserved. I picked this up at the Orlando airport, disappointed that I couldn't find another book I had been looking for, but desperate to be able to spend my time on the plane reading SOMETHING, I grabbed 'The Medusa Stone' and began an incredible adventure that began thousands of years ago. I'd tell you WHAT they are looking for, but finding out is actually a very tantalizing adventure worthy of anything Clive Cussler has come up with or even Tom Clancy, for that matter. Mercer's drinking pal is abducted--but not by who you might think--and actually when you DO find out it sorta takes you by surprise--but that's by NO MEANS the ONLY surprise you run into inside the pages of this adventure masterpiece. Mercer is asked to help out a tiny little country in Africa in finding a diamond mine that could rival anything in South Africa, and in so doing help to bring Eretria out of the dark ages--literally. Phil is then linked up with a mysterious woman who may or may not be on his side, trust me it takes a while to figure that one out. All the while a mafia Don believes that the diamonds--should there actually BE any are HIS. Sound complex? It IS--but all in a GOOD way. Don't worry, Du Brul ties it all together in the end perfectly. I'm really anxious for the next Mercer novel--as much so as I normally look forward to the next Dirk Pitt novel. As much as I LOVE Cussler, Du Brul is fast becoming the NEW head of adventure in modern fiction. Give Du Brul a few pages of your time, and you'll be singing his praises, too--no matter if you can hold a tune or not.
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Summary: The Medusa Stone
Review: Summer is coming, and perhaps what you need is a summer thriller that delivers. If so, Du Brul has a fine candidate here, with The Medusa Stone. His hero, Philip Mercer, is coerced into looking for a "kimberlite pipe" in Eritrea, once some shady, shadowy terrorist-types snatch his friend and threaten to start cutting pieces off the poor soul. The "pipe" is an underground tunnel of sorts--it's existence hinted at in some top-secret pictures taken from a satellite that hit a wrench floating in space and plummeted to Earth in 1989. I don't want to give out too many more plot details, because this is a thriller where much of what the hero is told, or deduces, in the first hundred pages turns out to be not quite the truth. It's not a kimberlite pipe Mercer is supposed to find; the villains of the piece aren't who Mercer thinks; the strange ally Mercer finds in beautiful Eritrean Selome has affiliations Mercer can't quite fathom; there are more groups interested in Mercer's ultimate prize than he knows, and they are all working at cross-purposes without being aware of each others' interference; and, to top it off, what Mercer is after in the so-called kimberlite pipe, which isn't just a kimberlite pipe, is an ultimate prize located not far from the REAL ultimate prize of which Mercer is completely unaware. Either your appetite is whetted, or you're too confused to care. But as Mercer hunts for clues to what's really going on, and who is manipulating him, the action starts to erupt. In truth, though, this thriller doesn't have the most exciting first hundred pages known to the genre, and I started out a bit worried. The early mayhem mainly consists of multiple airport shoot-outs, and it is only when the story shifts to Eritrea, after all the false info has been established and all the airports can be allowed to calm down, that this book pans gold out in the desert. Or rather, not gold, but...never mind. By the time Mercer is trapped, alone, in a tunnel seeping toxic mercury and only wide enough for a child to squeeze through, much action has livened things up, and much more is to come. Besides the action and the revelations about what's really in Eritrea waiting to be dug up, the book features political intrigue threatening to become incendiary, romance (albeit of the standard thriller variety, with quick sex and instant passion), wonderful supporting characters for Mercer to: meet and greet, like Habke and the troubled monks of Debre Amrak; or slash and bash, like sly Mahdi, or despicable Hofmyer, who answer to...well, never mind. In short--enough pyrotechnics, technobabble, history and geography, and all-out action, to keep you busy.
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Summary: Something more precious than diamonds
Review: The U.S. has launched the Medusa, a super sophisticated surveillance satellite as part of the Star Wars defense initiative. It is capable of uncovering subterrean features such as bunkers and missile silos much like xrays reveal bones. An accidental collision with some space junk causes the Medusa to plummet back to the Earth's surface. Spinning wildly out of control the satellite manages to take photographs of a remote desert area of Eritrea in northeast Africa. The top secret photos disclose what appears to be a massive underground diamond bearing kimberlite structure that rivals that of the famous South African kimbelite. Years pass and the clandestine photos come into the possession of the unscrupulous Prescott Hyde, an Undersecretary of State. Hyde attempts to recruit geologist, mining engineer and hero Philip Mercer to cover the cache of diamonds. In concert with Hyde, Selome Nagast, a gorgeous Eritrean national with diplomatic connections implores Mercer to lend his expertise to uncover the treasure. When Mercer refuses to comply, his best friend the hard drinking octagenarian Harry White is kidnapped by an armed group of Middle Easterers. Mercer is forced to cooperate and make plans to unveil and mine the diamonds in the brutal, unforgiving and land mined Eritrean desert. As the plot unfolds, we learn that two rival groups are racing to discover the whereabouts of the diamond mine. A cartel lead by wealthy Italian industrialist Giancarlo Gianelli has designs on flooding the market with this new source of diamonds. The other group a syndicate of rogue Mossad agents lead by Israeli Defense Minister Chaim Levine believe the mine to be the resting place of an object more dear than a hoard of diamonds. Both groups will use any means to procure their prize. Mercer using his vast geologic knowledge and guile and with the aid of the Medusa photographs leads us on a rollicking tale of adventure. Du Brul really steps up his writing skills and produces a superb and fast paced yarn that makes me beg for more of the same. Being a rockhound further ameliorates my interest in the scientifically based subject matter.
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Summary: found me a new one!!!
Review: What a writer. Was given the book from a friend and told it was pretty good. Well, it was more than pretty. Clancy,Sanford,and my favorite Clive Cussler would have to agree, he stands shoulder to shoulder with them. Only mistake I could see was on page 415 he refers to Marines as Soldiers, that of course is a no no. Ask any Marine. That is only kidding criticism on my part. I will certainly read all his books and recommend them if they are all equal to this one.
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