Book Review: A Dangerous Discovery by Zachary Brock

*I received a complimentary copy of this book, and I’m leaving a voluntary review*

Plot in short: Multimillionaire Ace goes to Peru to oversee the business side of a mining facility he’s just bought. Simultaneously, a conspiracy tracing back to the Vatican and the 16th century is about to be revealed.

The longer version: Marion (Ace) Acevedo is only a millionaire because he was taken under the wing of Ezekiel (Zeke) Cabbitt when they met in prison, and Zeke trained Ace to be the public figure of his incredibly successful company. Zeke pulls the strings from the shadows and prefers to be anonymous, whilst he sends Ace out into the world to eat fancy dinners, talk to important people, and sleep with beautiful women.

On their latest adventure to Peru, where Zeke’s and Ace’s company has bought a mining company, everything is not as it seems, and whilst a parallel plot set in 16th century South America, following the Spanish colonization of the continent, we learn that the Vatican have reasons to follow Ace through his travels in Peru.

I really liked this book. The modern day versus the 16th century plotlines played of each other nicely, there was a good back and forth and I never felt like I missed out on either or wanted more of the other. Obviously, as you might have guessed from my little plot review above, there’s some stuff that goes down in the 16th century, amongst priests of the church as they settle and try to convert the new land of South America. There was a great mysterious tension as I was trying to figure out what was going on, it wasn’t too secretive so that I didn’t get what was happening, but at the same time I was always reaching for more.

There’s obviously also some stuff going on with Ace and the Vatican in Peru. He’s being follow, but it seems it’s not just by the Vatican? (Cue dramatic Oooooooh). Also Zeke’s in trouble, someone’s after him. I was very intrigued by all the mystery, sitting on the edge of my seat to figure out what went down in old time Peru, and how that affected Ace in the present.

There’s also a darkness to this book, one which I think maybe stems from some of the authors personal experiences. Ace was very much brought up by Zeke, taught the ways of the world after they meet in prison, and Ace had a pretty rough time before that. There’s also a lot of crazy dark stuff going in 16th century Peru, and some of the scenes surprised me.

Suddenly (or at least kind of suddenly), there’s a very raunchy sex scene in this book. It kind of threw me off, because I hadn’t gotten a feel that this was that kind of book. Not that I minded, but it was just a bit… out of place in my eyes. I also felt like there was a bit too much showing and little telling at certain times. For example, two ‘main’ characters are murdered at different points in the book, but one of the scenes… well it wasn’t really a scene at all, it was more like “then they killed him and walked away”. I felt like there might have been a climax in the plot there that wasn’t reached.

Also – I was kiiiiiind of disappointed in the ending. (But only kind of!) The big mysterious conspiracy is kind of revealed in the 16th century-before-time, and then we pan to Ace in the present as he uncovers the same thing, 500 years later. And it’s just the same as what was said before. I was kind of hoping there was something more, something that hadn’t been explained or revealed yet, but there just wasn’t. Maybe it’s just me.

But who the hell was the guy on the roof?!

But if you’re looking for a great historical mystery novel, look no further. A Dangerous Discovery is waiting for you right here!

And check out Zachary Brock here!