Book Review : The Black Madonna

The Black Madonna by Davis Bunn
I am reviewing this book for Glass Road PR

Book Description:
Antiques expert Storm Syrrell heads to Europe to investigate the clandestine trade in religious artifacts. She dismisses superstitious tales of miraculous healings and divine omens. Yet when an obsessive Russian oligarch calls—just as her friend Harry Bennett vanishes—all assumptions must be cast aside. Storm seeks answers in a medieval monastery. There, the scarred visage of an icon provokes ever more startling questions. Is she prepared to confront both earthly and spiritual powers? Storm remains haunted by lessons in love and betrayal that lie just outside her grasp. But hesitation now holds mortal consequences.




My Review:
The Black Madonna by Davis Bunn is the second book in the Storm Syrrell series. Storm is still trying to rebuild her antique dealership after the death of her grandfather and imprisonment of her father for his embezzling when she gets a too-good-to-be-true job offer to buy a Russian painting at an art auction. When the buyer pays more than twice what the item is worth, Storm becomes suspicious, and her worries only grow when she is ordered to buy more items at a price a good deal more than their value and pitting her against another dealer who is intent to run her out of business. Raphael Danton, her buyer, is an agent for a mystery man, and has a tragic history that has made him angry at the world until Storm's fiery spirit cracks the shell around his heart. When Storm's life is threatened because of her buys, best friend Emma Webb, a agent for Homeland Security, steps in to help, but Emma's heart is torn by the news that her lover Harry Bennett has been killed by a bomb in the Middle East. Bunn brings back all of the interestinDesigng characters from the first book, Gold of Kings, and adds some more fascinating ones. The story is so filled with twists and turns, back-stabbing, assassination attempts, kidnapping, and political machinations that the pages just fly by. Bunn parcels out information to the reader carefully, building suspense and tension to an almost intolerable tautness. Emma is an outstanding character who often beats up the bad guy before the men around her even have time to react, definitely a rarity in adventure novels. The climax is almost anti-climactic after the rest of the thrilling novel, but there is obviously another sequel in the works because the reader is left hanging and worrying about what will happen next to heroine Storm.


The Author:
Born and raised in North Carolina, Davis left for Europe at age twenty. There he first completed graduate studies in economics and finance, then began a business career that took him to over forty countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Davis came to faith at age 28, while living in Germany and running an international business advisory group. He started writing two weeks later. Since that moment, writing has remained both a passion and a calling.
Davis wrote for nine years and completed seven books before his first was accepted for publication. During that time, he continued to work full-time in his business career, travelling to two and sometimes three countries every week. His first published book,The Presence, was released in 1990 and became a national bestseller.
Honored with three Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, his bestsellers include The Great Divide, Winner Take All, The Meeting Place, The Warning, The Book of Hours, and The Quilt.A sought-after speaker in the art of writing, Davis serves as Writer In Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.