Book Review: The Black Sun

The Black Sun, by James Twining, is a book with several flaws, yet a lot of intrigue and excitement too. And it’s the latter qualities that make me recommend the book as a fun read if you want lots of mystery and adventure in the world of art theft and politics.

The story, the second novel among four so far, features Tom Kirk, a world famous art-thief-turned-straight, and his quest to unravel a series of clues that may lead to the hiding place of one of the most heinous art heists committed by the Nazi regime at the end of World War II. Kirk is onlyreluctantly involved, preferring to concentrate on developing his legitimate antique business.

But some of the clues suggest that his former mentor and betrayer, Henry Renwick (known as Cassius, the most vicious and cruel art thief in the world) is somehow involved. And if for no other reason than that, Kirk and his two partners agree to cooperate with a British agent in tracking down the clues.

But as they go from London to a secret bank in Switzerland, to Germany, to Russia, with murder and danger nipping at their heels, Tom and his partners, Archie and Dominique, begin to discover that there are two separate hunts going on for the same lost treasure. And it’s hard to know who is on whose side, especially as the FBI and the Russian underworld get added to the mix. By the time the hunt draws to a close, they suspect that what everyone is after is far more important — and dangerous — than simply some lost art work. The Black Sun, a symbol of the most secret inner initiates in the SS, may have a more literal meaning than anyone thinks.

The plot, constantly leading the reader from one fascinating location and intrigue to another across Europe, is exciting enough to carry the book. There are a few flaws, though, that perhaps Mr. Twining addresses in the two novels he’s done since this one. One issue I had with the book was the writing style. There’s a little too much “telling” rather than showing. For example, Tom might do something “with a sad expression on his face.” We don’t actually see him being sad, but are told that he is.

Kirk also doesn’t seem, to me, to be the sort of dashing, confident ex-art thief he’s described as being. Much of the time he seems like a rather mild, bemused person who is kind of bewildered by where all the clues are leading. He doesn’t really carry the tinge of danger I would have expected from someone in his field. And again, as he and others contemplate some of the tragedies that apparently haunt him from the past, the reader has to be told that he’s haunted, because it doesn’t really come out in how he behaves.

As with other thrillers I’ve read, this could once again be part of the idea that in such books, the plot is more important than the characterization. And none of this is so blatant that it really spoils the storyline. The hunt through all the clues really does grab you, and it’s this which makes you keep turning the pages, eager to find out where the next clue will lead them.

So despite what I consider a few stylistic flaws, I still recommend The Black Sun for a good read, and a bit of interesting education about the Nazi obsessions with art.

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And of course, as is my wont, I came in in the middle of a series. The first book was The Double Eagle, and there are now two other books, The Gilded Seal and The Geneva Deception. Check out the links to order any of these through Powell’s.

The Geneva Deception