The Book of Stolen Tales: Book Two In The Mesopotamian Trilogy (The Mesopotamian Trilogy, #2)

by D J Mcintosh

In 2011, D.J. McIntosh took the book world by storm with her bestselling debut novel, The Witch of Babylon. Praised by The Globe and Mail for its “stellar research” and “superb writing,” it introduced readers to John Madison, a rakish New York art dealer with a past.

He uncovered a fabulous treasure trove of antiquities in the hills outside Baghdad and discovered the truth behind a famous story long believed to be a myth. In this sequel, John Madison travels to London to purchase at auction a rare seventeenth-century Italian book of fairy tales for an anonymous client. Madison is warned of the book’s malevolent history, but before he can deliver it to the buyer, he is robbed by a mysterious man claiming to be the book’s author. When his client disappears and the book’s provenance is questioned, Madison must immerse himself in the strange world of eccentric European aristocracy and rare-book collectors. As the dark origins of familiar fairy tales appear to come to life around him, Madison discovers that a well-loved children’s story contains a necromancer’s spell and points to the source of a deadly Mesopotamian plague.

• ISBN10: 0143175750
• ISBN13: 9780143175759
• Publish Date: 10 June 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Penguin Canada
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780143175759

Reviews

[Lianne]

I received a galley of this novel courtesy of the publishers via NetGalley.

D.J. McIntosh crafts an interesting tale in this second novel of the Mesopotamian trilogy, tying in fairy tales, mafia activities, a deadly disease, supernatural elements concerning death, history and the afterlife and, of course, Mesopotamian culture. While a little slow at the beginning, the book is chock-full of interesting historical information and the story really takes off once John Madison travels to the European continent.

I wish I had time to re-read the first novel before jumping into this novel but I don't feel like there was a whole lot of new character development on John Madison's part. The ending of the novel could have also been condensed into one chapter instead of two/three chapters (I can't remember).

Nonetheless, The Book of Stolen Tales is an adventure-and-mystery-packed novel and definitely works as a standalone. I highly recommend this novel for fans of Dan Brown, Steve Berry, James Rollins and all related novelists who write these kinds of history-mystery-adventure novels.

My complete review of the novel was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2013/06/06/review-the-book-of-stolen-tales/