Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Art thefts, a missing train, Russian gangsters, secret identities and plenty of blood and gore. There's something for thriller fans of all types in James Twining's second novel, The Black Sun.
In an author's note, Twining says he was inspired by the true story of what has come to be known as the Nazis' Hungarian Gold Train. U.S. military forces discovered it hidden in an Austrian tunnel near the end of the war. It was packed with billions of dollars' worth of stolen art, gold and other treasures.
Twining weaves history, legend and lore with his keen imagination to tell his story.
Schwarze Sonne -- Black Sun -- was the name of a secret order of the SS, a powerful military and security organization active in Nazi Germany. The secret plottings of the elite order are at the heart of this book, but the story takes place in modern times.
In London, an Auschwitz survivor is murdered in a hospital. The killers cut off his arm and take it with them. In Prague, a seemingly unremarkable painting is stolen from a synagogue. In Fort Meade, Md., a World War II-era Enigma machine used for encrypting messages is stolen from the National Cryptologic Museum.
The three incidents kick off a thrill-a-page story that has the CIA, treasure hunters and neo-Nazis hunting for a missing train said to be filled with priceless art treasures stolen from Nazi-overrun countries during World War II.
From London to St. Petersburg and on to Munich, Zurich and Westphalia in Germany, The Black Sun never loses speed -- all the way to the story's culmination in an abandoned mine in Austria.
The chapters are short and to the point, and always end with some satisfying drama. If the book has a weakness, it's that characters are stereotypical and flimsily drawn. But that doesn't really matter in a novel largely driven by its plot.
The Black Sun is pure, unadulterated fun.
The Black Sun
By James Twining
HarperCollins, 416 pp., $24.95
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