Franco’s Lost Gold is a fast paced action adventure novel that, from its atmospheric opening in Civil War-era Spain to the modern day shoot outs and chases, takes the reader on a rollercoaster wide of action, drama and excitement. From gold theft to drug smuggling (and a couple of diving scenes), the story of Franco’s Lost Gold is sturdy enough to carry the novel to its breathless conclusion. Add in some family drama and you have a potent mix with plenty of conflict.
The central characters are relatable and believable, although secondary figures are either a tad two dimensional or merely exist to drive the plot forward. In that respect, this novel hits the mark in aping an action movie. Dialogue is a bit stilted at the beginning but once the present day action moves to Spain, it settles into a nice flow. Several interactions could be straight from a Hollywood script and there are enough action movie pop-culture references to keep the target audience happy.
A degree of suspension is required in your belief, such is the pacing, but it can’t be argued that this book is slow. It never stops and I found it quite difficult to put down, it has that “one more page” feel. This isn’t a deep, philosophical work, but if all you want is a dose of (relatively) light-hearted adventure, you can’t really go wrong here. Except… It’s not perfect however, and the author states that he wrote the novel in Swedish and then translated it to English. It shows and this may have an effect on your enjoyment of the book. I quickly got used to the at times patchy translation and enjoyed the story for what it was. Others may not. In any case, a further editorial pass would do wonders and make this
very good novel even better. For those who can handle the translation work, this is a solid 4 stars.
By Andrew Oyston