The Key - Simon Toyne

The Key - Simon Toyne (2012)

I really liked the first book in this series Sanctus about  a secluded monastery in Turkey that holds a big secret.  Sanctus was a real page turner right til the last page.  The Key though suffered like many second books of having to hold the story, til the dramatic conclusion in the final third part. 

It didn't help that I was only reading this one on my Kindle at work, and had a busy couple of weeks.  The amount of characters too was a bit distracting, and by the end I was wondering if I should have waited and read all three books together.

I'm also not a huge fan of the run around Dan Brown type of intelectual thriller full of car chases and guns, whereas I would rather have more substance and story.  There did seem to be a lot of shadowy figures with guns, so I am now hanging out to see who will actually hold the story together in book three.  3/5

Sanctus - Simon Toyne

Sanctus - Simon Toyne (2011)

So, I read the blurb at the library, but was too tight to pay the $4 for a week fee, and booked it out for the $2 for a month fee, which was good as I have the library mountain perched next to my bed.  Once I started the book though, I was initially a bit turned off by the authors note which mentions this is the first of a triliogy which is always risky.  Often the first book then can't stand alone and always ends up with an unfinished story and a quick unresolved ending.

The story itself is in the Dan Brown Genre, you know the characters rush around trying to solve the mystery, while the reader is educated in history or in this case, religious history with a biblical twist. Liv Adamsen rushes to Ruin in Turkey, where a priest with unusual scars is found at the bottom of the citadel after a public dive from a huge height.  She is not the only one trying to find out the truth, both about the death and the mystical order which are protecting one of the worlds great secrets.

I enjoyed the writing and the pace of the story which thankfully didn't have too many car chases and shoot outs, and it was a credit to the author that the main character was a well written female who wasn't a cliched cup cake baker.  So I'll be waiting for the second book - 4/5.