Jeffrey Pears has written in The Adamantine Jewel a thriller which combines many elements to create something which is a unique read. It is set in Los Angeles, India and Tibet and presents a story to which we can all relate: a virus is taking hold of the world and it’s a killer, threatening a pandemic and as a result, extreme loss of life.
Our main protagonist is David Thoreau, a professor at UCLA who is faced with something that no parent would ever want to face: his daughter, April contracts the deadly virus and he is faced with the prospect of losing her forever or attempting to do something about it in the limited amount of time that they have. There is hope – a herb rumoured to be found in the Himalayas as well as talk of a mysterious jewel.
David will do anything to save his daughter and so, they head off with some trepidation. They are also in grave danger as Pears has them pursued, David’s knowledge of the jewel being a draw for people of nefarious motives. What happens then is a race against time – will they be successful in their mission and will April survive?
But this race is only part of the story as Pears’ book is layered with a deeply spiritual message too. Setting the book in Tibet helps this as does having the main players in his fiction as academics interested in the secrets that this area holds mythically and generally, Pears is able to keep a balance, allowing mystical elements to drive the action and keeping it just this side of believable. He treads a narrative tightrope but he is a good writer with a clear purpose to his writing, both in plot and the message he is trying to convey and this results in an enjoyable adventure book.
It read a little like an allegory, especially in the choice of names that he gives to his villains but I quite liked this. I think that this helps again balancing out the magical element of Tibet, enhancing his message by reminding you that this is a story. It’s set in the modern world with modern concerns but it is also a fiction which reaches across the ages, into history and myth and views of existence.
An enjoyable action adventure with a healthy dose of mysticism.
This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.
Scuffed Granny 