The Medusa Amulet by Robert Masello (Review #14)

The Medusa Amulet by Robert Masello

Blurb

David Franco, a talented young scholar, is introduced to Kathryn Van Owen, a beautiful and wealthy widow with a mysterious past. Van Owen owns a sketch of an amulet; a silver medallion with a carving of the Medusa’s face on one side, and on the other a mirror reputed to confer the power of immortality upon any who look into it on a moonlit night – and she is prepared to pay David a million dollars to find it for her. If the rumours of the amulet’s powers are true David could not only pay off his dying sister’s medical bills – he could offer her a chance of survival. But David will need help if he is to find the clues scattered through art and history to the mirror’s current location. And there are others who have heard of the mirror’s powers, and they will stop at nothing to find it…In his stunning new thriller, Robert Masello blends past and present and fact and fiction to create a gripping race through history.

Review

I still have some bookshelves at my parents’ house and these shelves are full of books. I had a hunt around on these shelves and found this book and I will be honest I can’t remember buying it or owning it so it was a nice surprise. Robert Masello is also a new author for me.

I love the story of Medusa and I have always felt rather sorry for Medusa as she was very wrongly treated so it was really good to read a story linked to Medusa but she didn’t really feature in the story.

The story centres around several characters and read quite like a Dan Brown novel but in my opinion it is better than a Dan Brown novel. David Franco is a scholar from Chicago who is an expert in Renaissance art and literature. Due to his expertise he gets asked to help in what seems an impossible quest, to find the lost Amulet of Medusa. David is given the quest by the mysterious Kathryn Van Owen. Kathryn has materials from the Renaissance period that people thought no longer existed. She also seems to have a mysterious past which gives her knowledge that others do not have.

This book is full of twists and turns and features some interesting times from history. You have renaissance artists in Rome and Florence, Marie Antoinette in France and World War Two. It really showed that Masello had done his research for this book.

I really enjoyed this book and found it a thrilling read where I never knew what was going to happen next. I did find one section rather cheesy and to be honest I could have done without the dark arts element but overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, TV writer, and the bestselling author of many novels and nonfiction books. A native of Evanston, Illinois, he studied writing at Princeton University under the noted authors Robert Stone and Geoffrey Wolff, and served for six years as the Visiting Lecturer in Literature at Claremont McKenna College.

He now lives and works in Santa Monica, CA.