Customer Reviews

Riddle of Berlin

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First-time author Cym Lowell creates a page-turner with extraordinary characters appearing in unexpected places. This thriller will be enjoyed by those who love reading about: Paris, international action, family members sacrificing themselves for each other, the redemption of those who have given up on life, and contentment arriving unexpectedly. That's something for almost everyone. I look forward to his next effort.

GMY

Riddle of Berlin is one of those great vacation reads that is both a page-turning suspence novel and a good love story - all in one. A great escape for anyone who loves a thriller that has a heart. I have a feeling that some of the presumed dead are lurking in a sequel story.

I found this book very interesting, exciting, thrilling, engaging, a great escape. This book was a page turner that kept me up all night. I would highly recommend it. An awesome read!

I was quickly drawn by the action, the terror and the intrigue.

John C. Jaėgerman has disclosed a fraud scheme to the executives in his company but no one seems to care. The fight has gone out of John and he walks away. When his bloated body is pulled from the Seine by Carmen he thinks she is an angel. While Carmen is nursing the injured man, her deliverer or Del, back to health, a lot of terror is happening.

Mark Anton is a wealthy young man living in Berlin. He made his riches by developing a website that allows the trading of sports memorabilia. He got the idea for the business plan from his teacher mother, Dr. Lucy Anton. Unexpectedly authorities show up in Mark's home to arrest him for terrorism and treason. Just when they appear, a full blown attack occurs leaving Mark standing with an assault rifle amidst a lot of bodies and a lot of confusion. Mark goes on the run and has one narrow escape after another, leaving carnage behind him each time. His mother is also arrested as a co-conspirator.

Dr. Lucy was a teacher and good friend to the Vice President, Lucius Alcorn. He is already helping with the NATO investigations and is pulled further into the action because he doesn't think his former teacher could be guilty. He thinks the evidence pointing to the "Alton Gang" is too pat and unsupported.

Del/John begins to take back his strong life, rebuilding his previous military honed strength, dedication to the mission and honor. Slowly he remembers details of the past. Coincidence brings Mark to the boat where Del has been sheltered and Del realizes that things are not as they appear. John's name has been linked with the "Anton gang" and his daughter, who came searching for him, has disappeared. Del takes up the battle to find the true terrorists.

Del and Mark, with the help of Carmen, have to stay one step ahead of the terrorist who is out to destroy them. The Vice President is working from a different angle but they are all on a seven day count down before the next bombs are set to go off.

This is good intrigue, fast paced action with a soft romance blended in. Carmen almost has the quality of an angel at times and the only inaccuracy that troubled me was how she went in just a few weeks from not understanding English to being able to follow detailed planning between Mark and Del in what I am sure were English conversations. But if you let that issue slide the rest of the story keeps you turning pages through tense anticipation and sometimes anguished emotion. I also enjoyed the riddled taunts by the terrorist. I recommend this for a fast paced thriller.

Cym Lowell's Riddle of Berlin features a disturbing scenario in which economic terrorism is as globally destabilizing as are terrorists' guns and bombs. Compelling characters--some naive, some knowledgable--are swept along by rapidly moving events toward a suspenseful resolution. Don't start this international thriller at bedtime. You'll find yourself sleepless as you think of the implications.

In the tradition of Robert Ludlum, yet unique and filled with fascinating characters, here is an international thriller about redemption.
A fascinating plot, page-turning writing and a you-are-there sense of fascinating parts of the world, this is wonderful summer read that will linger long in the memory. Cym Lowell is a new thriller writer to watch!

Cym Lowell has given readers an exciting, fast-paced, yet surprisingly deep thriller with his first novel. I agree with the other reviewers that Riddle is reminiscent of Ludlum, and as a fan of the Bourne series, I greatly enjoyed it. Riddle is well-written and the characters are refreshingly well-drawn; so many novels these days fail to provide characters with any real depth. I recommend this to fans of international thrillers, and I am eagerly awaiting Mr. Lowell's next book!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this international thriller. I felt like I was entertained and educated at the same time. The reader is drawn in by the colorful characters and Mr. Lowell's detailed descriptions of the exotic settings. Can't wait for the sequel!

It's weird, but I really don't know how to review this book. I feel like there are so many critical things I could say about it, but I don't really want to, because when it comes down to it, I liked it. It was a good book. I'm not really your typical reader of thrillers, but when I hear the word thriller, I think fast-paced page turner. And so I went into this book trying to read it that way, and I found myself incredibly confused. I kept thinking I had missed something. I tried sitting down for long periods of time, thinking that I wasn't going to want to put it down, even though there was really so much information that I felt like I needed a break after every chapter.

After about a third of the book, when I realized I had no clue what was going on, I stopped and took a minute to put everything together. I summarized all of the facts in my head and put them together so that I finally was able to form a cohesive story out of everything.

After this, I read much more slowly, taking a short break every two chapters or so. And suddenly I found myself actually enjoying the book, enjoying the story, and curious about what was happening and what was going to happen. This is not a fast-paced, action-packed, page turner of a thriller. There is action, but this is more an intelligent, information-packed international thriller, and it needs to be read as such.

In Riddle of Berlin, Cym Lowell has written of the terrorist plot of the decade (or the century or the millenium), and it was almost funny sitting back watching (reading) as NATO made idiotic mistake after idiotic mistake and idiotic assumption after idiotic assumption trying to get to the bottom of the non-stop terrorist attacks. There were times when I was absolutely baffled by some of the conclusions that they came to, sometimes so much so that it was almost unbelievable.

Cym Lowell has peopled his book with intriguing characters, most of them in the wrong place at the wrong time, but luckily, as the book moves on, some of them start finding themselves in the right places. As I slowly got to know them over the course of the book, I found myself caring for them and hoping that things turned out well for them. There were certain character story lines that I enjoyed more than others, but they were all intriguing and some were even slightly funny (imagine a terrorist arms dealer dressed up as an old granny). My only real complaint about the characters is that their emotions were expressed almost stoically. I managed to get attached to the characters, but I thought that the emotions were presented as only facts should be presented.

Anyhow, so in the end, I would definitely say that I enjoyed this book. Even if there were some things I was still confused about when it was all over. And even if it wasn't the page-turner of a read I was expecting it to be. It was still exciting and suspenseful. I definitely recommend this to lovers of international thrillers; just be ready to think. :-)