Minos (The Minos Series Book 1)

Adam St. James is back! This time Adam, his brother Rod and his father Edward embark on an adventure of a lifetime in the first prequel, Minos, to the Cryptid Trilogy saga. Minos is the seventh book in the series and promises all the action, intrigue and adventure delivered in the Trilogy.Adam is thirteen years old, and already a budding genius, when his father receives an urgent request from the Greek government and his old friend, fellow archeologist Spiro Antiacos, to assist with a confounding mystery. Antiacos, curator of a major national museum of antiquities in Athens, tells Edward that eleven anthropologists at a new dig on the island of Crete have discovered evidence of a massive find related to the Cult of the Minotaur. That’s the good news; the bad news is they have all disappeared, one by one, while at the same time two Greek detectives from the national police have been found murdered.After months of investigation, little has been revealed about the missing anthropologists, and the locals seem unable or unwilling to help. The locals onsite claim to be the direct inheritors of Minoan Civilization, which flourished three thousand five hundred years ago but was eventually snuffed out by the Mycenean Greek invasion. They claim that the disappearance of the men and women has been the result of the desecration of their homeland, the Minos Valley, and because of the Curse of the Minotaur. No object from the many temples and sites in the Minos Valley may be disturbed without earning the strongest rebuke: death.Dr. Edward St. James arrives at the dig site with his sons, his on again off again girlfriend, field archeologist Desiree “Dez” D’rq, his forensic colleague Dr. Kirsten Branch, and his two security experts, ex-SAS Brits, Peter and Archie Benson. Joining them are fellow forensic specialist Max VanCamp and his wife, adventurer and thrill seeker, Enya Svensson.As they arrive in Athens on the way to Crete, they are tracked by two shadowy figures, both shady antiquities dealers well-known for walking up to, and occasionally crossing, the legal line of the criminal underworld of stolen and looted relics.As the group make their way to the dig site in the remote White Mountains of Chania prefecture and settle in, they begin to assess the state of affairs and determine how to proceed, using new technology and forensic techniques. Not knowing who to trust, they rely only on themselves and begin to solve the mysteries of what is and is not possible.Edward discounts the Curse in favor of a criminal conspiracy reaching into the highest levels of government, law enforcement, and academia. The value of the find is priceless, but where is it if it even exists? The group is stymied; the criminals and their kidnap victims have seemingly disappeared without a trace.Two locals, Athena and Stefano, appear out of nowhere, claiming to be sent to help with the search, but are they friends or spies? Someone is supply and hiding the thieves. Is it the locals, as claimed by the Greek government, or are they merely pawns in a plot to steal the heritage of Greece? The plot twists and turns as friend is foe, and foe is friend. New characters enter as the novel draws to a conclusion and the plot, its perpetrators and the stunning conclusion reaches its surprising climax.The novel is divided into two parts, The Curse of the Minotaur and the Crown of Minos. Each part is connected, but tell two separate tales on two separate timelines. This novel tells the adventure described in the Cryptid Trilogy, brought to life during Adam’s thirteenth year.The action is exciting, the characters compelling and the plot intricate as murder, betrayal, and intrigue dominate the pages of Minos, the first prequel to the Cryptid Trilogy saga. Buckle up reader; you’re in for the thrill of a lifetime!