to be read; will probably keep if it's any good since it's a bibliomystery

bibliomystery; keeping

Lordy Lordy Lordy! I couldn't put this book down! It was really like being on a roller-coaster ride with its ups and downs and incredible twists that had me saying "I knew it!" or "Oh my! I didn't see that one coming!"

Let's get to it: who would like this book? I'm a sucker for bibliomysteries, and others who like them would enjoy this. If you like codes & cyphers, you'd like this one as well. If you enjoy a good mystery, you'll like this one, too.


The story is told from different narrators: first, there is the main character, Jake Mishkin, who is an attorney specializing in intellectual property. Second is Albert Crosetti, who wants to go to film school, and sees life and civilization as we know it as having been shaped by the movies we watch. There are also letters from one Richard Bracegirdle, a man who is dying from wounds in the wars between the Catholics & Protestants back in the time of Shakespeare, and is sending a letter home to his wife, knowing he will never see her again. In fact, the story focuses on a search for a previously-unknown work (play) by William Shakespeare. As the book opens, a bookstore that sells rare volumes next to a greasy spoon in New York starts going up in flames as some grease dumped in a hole at the restaurant catches fire. Albert, along with a co-worker, Carolyn Rolly, takes out the most valuable works at the bookstore, but they can't get everything. The next day, Rolly & Albert go to the store and try to retrieve anything salvagable, and it is while they are cleaning up a volume of a rare set of works, that Albert discovers some papers tucked into the binding. He has trouble with understanding what he's reading, but eventually he comes to realize that what he has is a letter by the above-mentioned Bracegirdle.

Meanwhile, Jake is sitting in a lake cabin up in the Adirondacks, at the home of his best friend. It is night, and any moment he expects to be attacked by a gang of ruthless killers. In fact, Jake's contribution to the book is the story of how he got into this whole mess to begin with. His part of the story began when a visiting professor of English, one Nicholas Bulstrode, came into his office and asked about the legal ownership of an undiscovered work that could be potentially valuable not only in terms of its discovery, but in terms of cash money. Eventually Jake puts Bulstrode's property into the company's safe deposit box, but that's when things start going haywire. Bulstrode is found dead and there's evidence he's been tortured; now Jake finds himself in a mess, since the bad guys know what he has.

I have to say that at times this book was so silly with its plot devices & its far-fetched plot, but really, I had to keep on reading just to find out what happens. Gruber throws in a twist or two or three and it's one of those stories that deserve the warning of "sit down and buckle up -- it's going to be a bumpy ride."

An awesome book, and this writer can pull it off. If you haven't read his previous works, do yourself a favor and go get them.