Customer Reviews

The Golden Altar

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THE GOLDEN ALTAR

The Golden Altar is plain and simply an old fashion adventure story. There are no terrorists, no nuclear weapons, no space-craft and no super-heroes. The characters are people who you might see in a restaurant or riding on a bus. They look no different to any other person you might see during the day in a Latin American city.

A couple of them though, beneath their guise of respectability, are planning to execute a daring robbery, the robbery of one of the greatest treasures of the Catholic church. The Golden Altar of Panama. In 1671 the altar resided in a small church in the old city of Panama. It was a magnificent item constructed from the coins and nugget offerings of Spanish sailors who carrier the Inca gold from Peru to Portobello and across the Atlantic to the royal coffers of Spain. When completed it was encrusted with precious stones and was said to be priceless.

To steal, and then melt down and transport that amount of gold would be a formidable task. Gold is usually rendered liquid in a crucible furnace under controlled conditions and at a temperature of over 1,300 degrees. The book describes how Henry Morgan, the pirate and future Lt. Governor of Jamaica, sacked Panama City but failed to recognize the altar, which had been painted over to resemble mahogany by Augustine monks to disguise it. It goes on to tell how an ancestor of Morgan, who passes through Panama in 1985, becomes obsessed with the idea of bettering old Henry and making off with the treasure. The intricate details of planning the heist and how it is actually carried out, as well as the novel manner in which the gold is melted down and disguised, makes the book exciting reading.

Mr. Merry's description of the details are captivating. I highly recommend this book to any Latin American history buff. It was an easy read.

Very easy going, with captivating intrigue and a nicely decorated language, worth reading and enjoying. I am waiting for Mr. Merry's next artwork.

This is a book to take for a flight, or for a weekend stuck in a hotel away from home. It is easy to read, and the intrigue prevents you from leaving the reading, so you'd better have some food close enough, and some drink too!

The more popular version of my quote is "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" ;kept coming to mind to me as I read this excellent novel by Michael Merry.
Knowing this book was about Piracy ,I thought I would prepare myself by reading up on the Golden Age of Piracy;so I would be familiar with what those times were like. I dug out "Pirates-An Illustrated History" by Nigel Cawthorne ,and wrote a review on June 10,2008. I found this book gave a detailed account of the ships,weapons,treasures sought and captured,the involvement of governments, the locations where it took place both in the Americas ans around the world,the lifestyle of the pirates abord ship and ashore,and about some of the famous pirates themselves. Henry Morgan is well covered, and on page 64 we learn about the Golden Altar in Panama City and how Henry Morgan missed it during his 4 week sacking of Panama City in 1671.
In this well constructed novel, we find a descendant of Henry Morgan,who carries the same name, attempting to make up for the famous pirate's oversight and capture the great treasure for himself.
It is a great read,filled with details of plans,operations,exciting characters ,incidents and action that starts building up slowly in the beginning;but with every page gets more engrossing. The reader is held in suspense and is never sure how things are going to end until he finally puts the book down.
For anyone who likes a blend of real history and present day adventure ,this is certainly a saga that will fill the bill.
Come to think of it,this novel would make a humdinger of a movie.
Alough this book was first published in 2002,it reads very well today,and will still be a great read for many years to come.

Wow! A real adventure story at last.
It took me back in time to the days of pirates and
then bought me forward to modern day shennagins!
I took it to bed with me and couln't sleep until it
was finished!
RZ

The Golden Altar is a fast paced adventure story that admirers of
Fredrick Forsyth and his attention to details will appreciate.

At last an old fashioned adventure story that does not include mind bending
plots that are difficult to follow. This is a book you sit down with and
don't get up until you're finished.

One of the best readings I have had in years. The combination of superbly documented historical facts and modern fiction is beautifully merged to form a very atractive intrigue. For non English language natives like me, Mr. Merry has laid out a distinctive language that shows his dominium of the word and his extensive culture. A real pleasure, as well, for those like myself that know Panama and can recreate our rememberings. I want to see more coming out of Mr. Merry's keyboard soon.

Hacía tiempo que no me entretenía tanto con un libro de aventura e intriga. Además, puedo certificar que la acción descrita es escrupulosamente correcta, porque refleja muy precisamente un plan conocido por mí para apropiarse de un tesoro similar (aunque en otro país latinoamericano).

Creo que Michael Merry ha tenido acceso a fuentes de información que están fuera de los circuitos habituales. Y no he sido yo quién le ha facilitado los datos.

Por otro lado, el dominio del idioma que el Sr. Merry posee hace de la lectura de este libro un ejercicio muy conveniente para extranjeros como yo. Lo recomiendo a todos.