Considered one of the world’s wonders, the Amber Room was a mesmerizing beauty built in the 18th century, a chamber paneled with 10,000 lbs of pure amber and decorated with mirrors and gold. Intended for the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, Prussia, the Amber Room remained in the Berlin City Palace until a group of Nazi soldiers looted the beauty during World War II. With Germany being closed in by the Allied Forces, the Germans hid the amber panels. To this day the amber has not been found, and a theory of the amber being bombed surrounding the mystery circulates.
The Amber Room is not only a mystery in the world that will never reveal its truth, but it was an inspiration for Steve Berry to write about the secrecy and lengths people will go to for fortune. Using his imagination and the power of fiction, Berry devotes the pages of his novel to creating a riveting yet familial thriller where the reader searches for the Amber Room from three perspectives: the perspective of family and the perspectives of two incredibly powerful men from Europe who let the allure of the amber get the best of them.
Christian Knoll and Suzanne Danzer—professional killers and antique claimants – work for two prodigious men, the leading men in a secret antique collecting circle for millionaires. With the Amber Room being the most desired possession, the leading men, Franz Fellner and Earnest Loring compete in desperation for the amber using their trusted antique claimants. Who will find the Amber Room first, Knoll or Danzer? Interestingly enough, that depends on the protagonists of the novel, the protagonists who just so happen to have a connection with the amber’s location.
The protagonist of the story, Rachel Cutler, pursues her passion and stubbornness in finding the truth behind her father’s—Karol Borya’s—death, knowing his death was connected to his knowledge of the Amber Room’s whereabouts. With her ex-husband, Paul, nevertheless fueling his feelings for his ex-wife and joining in on the thrill, the pair travel to Germany with the assistance of Chapaev, the last leading source to the Amber Room and Borya’s death.
While in Germany, Rachel and Paul are deceived and followed by Knoll and Danzer in hopes of finding the amber and killing the protagonists themselves when and if the amber is found. Traveling around Germany, the killers and protagonists unknowingly fuel the tension between Fellner and Loring, which tests their acquaintance in a way unexpected to the men themselves, revealing a truth menacing to even the millionaire circle.
With the mystery of Borya’s death, the millionaire collector’s circle, and the Amber Room being juggled by the characters, the relationships of the characters amongst each other are fiercely tested along with their approaches towards each other’s lack of ethics and morals. Even though the plot follows a competitive two vs. two environment, meaning, Rachel and Paul vs. Christian and Suzanne, there is a certain attraction between the characters, whether that be between the protagonists or between a protagonist and antagonist.
It is safe to say that the reader not only indulges in the fictional thrill of adventure and furtiveness but allows the reader to understand the mind of each type of character presented in the novel. Thus, we as readers can relate or become closer to each character as they share their intentions, doubts, and pain-filled exigences that stir the wanna-be adventurer hiding inside all of us.
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