The Tomb of Hercules

I liked this fast-pace easy read. Clearly, the Male author has much to learn about the female psyche. Comparing Nina to his ex-wife! Totally not cool! And to write a heroine who blamed herself for his verbal atrocities? No way! After chasing his ex-wife to China, keeping dozens of secrets from his girlfriend, then insulting her intimate escapades, I quickly began to dislike Eddie Chase and hoped Nina would come to her senses! But,alas, only a Male author would unrealistically write such an emotionally weak ‘oh my gosh, he insulted me so I’ll blame myself and take him back female heroine. Great story, jerk hero!

When I first found Andy while overseas, I needed a book to read for the flight home. I picked up Atlantis because it looked interesting and it was a huge book.( It was a LONG flight home to Miami from Dubai). I enjoyed how the book grabbed me and held my interest.I loved how he builds the characters and his descriptions defy imagination. Atlantis was the central figure of the book and was mentioned throughout. As soon as I got back and located a few more of his books on Amazon.I decided to buy Hercules, Excalibur, and Osiris all at once… Big mistake. Thinking they would all be the same. I was in for a huge disappointment. With Hercules being as long as it was, I wasn’t impressed that just about every sentence Eddie utters is peppered with coarse/offensive and most of the time unneeded profanity. It’s about as bad as every other word being F or a word that means the worst kind (If you British). His resentment/hatred for Nina is palpable and McDermott paint Nina in a shrewish/fridgid new light. Makes me wonder if he was going through a breakup himself.
It got to the point where I wanted to take a black crayon and cross out each vulgarity, but then, a majority of each page would have looked like a Freedom Of Information Act acquired Gov’t document.
I have NO idea how I even continued to pick the book up after each time that I needed to set it down. Pages, and pages of chase, run, capture, fight, run, fight..with NOTHING to do with the Tomb of Hercules.. I dreaded picking it back up. It collected dust for weeks, I always found a magazine or older book that needed my attention. Recently, I decided that I would finish it. After about 3/4’s of the book being read already it HAD to address the Tomb of Hercules eventually.. Well..I picked it back up and They finally got back on track to locate the Tomb of Hercules. It almost seemed to me that at a late point Andy said” Ooops, I got SOO carried away with the chase,curse, capture,curse,run,curse,capture, curse, fight, curse etc I forgot the WHOLE idea behind the title. I better get back to it”
There’s no doubt about it. Andy McDermotts books are LOADED with action and adventure. But his books tend to stick to too much action and not enough of the actual story.
Unfortunately.. I feel this writer REALLY hit a home run with His first book on Atlantis, But the rest are pale shadows by comparison. Save your money, borrow it from a friend or the library. If you likeaction adventure,mythological history and archeological finds. Clive Cussler and James Rollins are good authors and 2 of my favorites.

The Tomb of Hercules by Andy McDermott is the second installment in the Nina Wilde/Eddie Chase novel series. In this particular book, we come across Nina and Eddie in their newfound relationship which seems to be hitting a bit of a rocky point. Nina has been promoted to a high-class position as part of the IHA. An organization put together to aid in the protection of sensitive subjects such as Atlantis which Nina, and many others, found the location to in the first book.
Eddie is not very happy with this promotion of hers. He thinks she is becoming to posh with the job. She is becoming one of the socialites. To make matters worse, it seems that with the job comes many unpleasant colleagues. One of those unpleasant colleagues being a wealthy Shanghai businessman armed with his beautiful wife, Lady Sophia.
But…there is a twist. Lady Sophia…is Eddie’s EX-WIFE! WHAT?! Mind-blowing news!
Anyway, Eddie finds out from Sophia that all may not be as it seems with her new hubby. And she, herself, may be in danger.
Nina, however, is more focused on her newest possible find than she is about the safety of Eddie’s former flame. She believes that the tomb of Hercules, which is fabled as myth, is real. And she might just have the proof to find its exact location.
This book is full of thrills, kills, mysteries, and treasure galore. Nina and Eddie must rekindle their fading love while trying not to get themselves killed by the enemy.
The only thing I really did not like about this book, was that after everything it took them a couple of chapters to figure out the mystery behind the tomb’s location. Most of the story was the good guys (Nina and Eddie) trying to keep the bad guys (almost everyone else) from gaining a hand in finding the tomb. It was mostly action, and barely any puzzle solving.
However, I must admit that it was a very good installment in the series. It did not disappoint visually.
4 out of 5 stars

<Spoiler Alert> May contain references to plot elements. I found the first book in this series mildly interesting because the archeology/adventure/science mix put a different twist on the legend of Atlantis, although females performing derring-do is not high on my list of likes. What Hollywood doesn’t understand, and some writers apparently, is that just because a man and woman are coworkers, you don’t have to force a romantic interest upon them! This second book in the series is about 25% archeology/adventure, and 75% squabbling couple. The actual excavation/exploration of the tomb literally took place in one chapter. Toss in the co-hero’s ex-wife that wants to destroy the world and this is not an archeology adventure, but a lesson in relationship counseling. This is not at all at the level of some the Clive Cussler books where the protagonists are a professional married couple sharing world-threatening adventures. In the Cussler books, the couple is competent and capable, and likable. The Tomb of Hercules is an unpleasant voyeuristic glimpse at fights between ex-marrieds, and fights between current lovers. Leave the romantic conflicts out of books of this type, and focus on what’s important – namely the adventure.

Nina thought she’d landed her dream job, great money, funding, and time to focus on a new obsession, finding the Tomb of Hercules. After finding Atlantis she has a void to fill. Chase, however, finds himself stagnating. He was never designed to be tied to a desk, and Nina had changed, attempting to fit into her new lifestyle. Such change is not always for the better. A face from Chase’s past creates strife, especially when he travels halfway around the world after her. Little did he know he was setting into motion terrible events, and Nina’s latest obsession was just what they were looking for to set their plans into motion.

Betrayal, action, adventure, old alliances, and new enemies come together to create the second book in Andy McDermott’s series. When first we met Nina and Eddie they sought Atlantis, now they are in search of the lost Tomb of Hercules. Buckle down because there is no lack of action, adventure and peril within. As a big follower of Greek mythology I couldn’t wait to lose myself in this adventure. Whilst the first book was more Tomb Raider, in the sense of clues and pursuit of a lost civilisation, this was more James Bond, lots of action, guns, threat, disaster, but not all that much in the way of solving cryptic puzzles and following ancient clues. All in all a good read, but the first book in the series remains my favourite so far

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