The Amber Room

故事主要也是圍繞在寶藏的追尋與謀殺案的檢索，一對已離婚三年的夫妻在老婆Rachel的父親疑似被謀殺的情形跨海到歐洲尋求事情的真相。故事的情節還是作者一貫的手法:主角人物的設定是具有律師資格的男女主角，再加上二次大戰納粹搜刮歷史寶物，卻因戰敗寶物倉皇之下多方爭奪頓時下落不明至今。女主角是個法官本因無聊且丈夫無趣而感覺人生普普，但因父親一輩子對俄皇彼得大帝的琥珀房(Amber Room)深感興趣，但不幸遭兩方人馬的逼問甚至被謀害，激起女主角Rachel的事實的查證之歐洲之旅，男主角是個以理性為主的前夫，因實在放心不下Rachel的莽撞之旅，只好也跳上飛機跟著追查事情的真相。故事瀰漫著濃濃歷史的學究味，相信喜歡讀歷史旋懸疑小說的人應該是投其所好才對。

Amazon’s review: From Publishers Weekly

First-time novelist Berry weighs in with a hefty thriller that's long on interesting research but short on thrills. Atlanta judge Rachel Cutler and ex-husband Paul are divorced but still care for each other. Rachel's father, Karol Borya, knows secrets about the famed Amber Room, a massive set of intricately carved panels crafted from the precious substance and looted by Nazis during WWII from Russia's Catherine Palace. The disappearance of the panels, which together formed a room, remains one of the world's greatest unsolved art mysteries. Borya's secret gets him killed as two European industrialists/art collectors go head to head in a deadly race to find the fabled room. Searching for Borya's killer, Rachel and Paul bumble their way to Europe, where their naivet‚ triggers more deaths. Berry has obviously done his homework, and he seems determined to find a place for every fact he's unearthed. The plot slows for descriptions of various art pieces, lectures and long internal monologues in which characters examine their innermost feelings and motives in minute detail, while also packing in plenty of sex and an abundance of brutal killings. A final confrontation between all the principals ends in a looming Bavarian castle where Rachel is raped. All the right elements are in place, but the book is far too long and not as exciting as the ingredients suggest. Readers may end up wishing Berry had written a nonfiction account of the fascinating story of the Amber Room and skipped the fictional mayhem.