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Bantam Australia, May 2006
Reviewed by Kerrie Smith
There are really two beginning points for this thriller/mystery. In the
dying days of World War Two, a German tank convoy escorting a truck is
intercepted by an American platoon. In the skirmish that follows most of
the Germans are killed and the rest flee leaving the truck behind. Inside
the truck is a single crate stencilled with the German eagle and swastika.
The contents of this crate are pivotal to the rest of the story.
THE MASK OF ATREUS then leaps to the present day. At 3 a.m. Deborah
Miller, curator of a small private museum in Atlanta, Georgia, is awakened
by the third strange phone call for the night. This one sends her hurrying
back to the museum which she left just after midnight following a
successful promotional evening. At the museum, in a room she did not even
know existed, she finds the body of Richard Dixon, her mentor and the
museum's founder and director. On the shelves around the room is a
treasure trove of what seem to be genuine Mycenaean antiquities.
In THE MASK OF ATREUS the reader unravels the mystery through Deborah's
eyes, travelling to Greece and Russia, patching together an incredible
story. Deborah uses her curatorial skills to research, deduce and
hypothesise, but she doesn't always get it right. Often in a quandary
about who to trust, Deborah frequently feels that she is putting the
pieces together the wrong way, perhaps even trying to solve the wrong
puzzle. In true thriller style, her life is often in danger.
THE MASK OF ATREUS references three time planes: ancient Greece, the end
of World War Two and today; and the author draws parallels between the
Trojan Wars and more recent events. The mask of Atreus emerges with a
symbolic meaning that has lived on beyond Mycenaean times. Archaeology,
antiquities, and legends are threads that bind the action together.
THE MASK OF ATREUS is an intriguing debut novel by A. J. Hartley, an
author who clearly knows his subject. The action moves apace, and the plot
twists and turns, keeping the reader guessing. The characters are well
drawn and Deborah Miller is particularly vivid. For readers who find the
setting of this novel interesting the author has provided a postscript
about the source material he used.
For me THE MASK OF ATREUS was a satisfying read, one where the threads of
the story snap together in the final pages. I would certainly read another
by this author.
Review first published on Murder and Mayhem in April 2006.
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