The Amber Room was a treasure looted by the Nazis and lost during the end of WW2. Worth an on-line search to understand the background, it's quite interesting.
And Steve Berry's debut novel is a thriller based around the story. While there are similarities to the many types of book dealing with lost treasures, it was refreshing and interesting to have the WW2 elements and for it not to be the usual search for Jesus' sandal, Hercules lunch box or the lost MacDonald's of Atlantis. Yep, we do have a couple involved (I think that must be in the unofficial rules) and ruthless killers, but this is actually well written and well researched. The "suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished" is a quote from Browning and is used during the book, it's an apt and appropriate quote.


US Judge follows the trail of the Amber Room once her father is killed and she discovers he was involved in the search for the room at the back end of the war. It appears he had a secret that he kept until his death. Judge's estranged husband joins her as they follow the trail through the types of adventures and close calls that we have now come to expect of these books.

Well written and quite good fun if you like these kind of things.

The Amber Room was really fun to listen by Scott Brick, I have been St. Petersburg and got to see the Amber when I was on tour there from a cruise. Steve Berry is a really good author

I didn't much like DaVinci Code, but since I met Steve Berry and liked what he had to say about writing, I thought I'd give this one a try. I may now be in love with the genre. It combines what I love about historical fiction--history lessons--with another area of learning--learning about art--and Berry's novel is a much better, more satisfying read than Dan Brown's.

While this story is fairly well written, its pace is too slow for my taste. The faint of heart will have no problem with this in contrast to myself. I can give it only 3 of 10 stars.

Oh Amber Room, how did I hate thee? Let me count the ways...

- Every German says "und" (instead of "and") even as they're speaking English.

- Women say "Damn you" to the man they're about to sleep with.

-"Damn" used in every other sentence: "The trail was easy to follow. Too damn easy."

-How much needless, random sex do you need in a book?

-Every cliche possible is used - my favorite: The greedy American treasure hunter is named McCoy and calls women "little lady". ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

-Crazy long paragraphs of description of the history behind the Amber Room - any competent writer would have been able to put that information in the action without resorting to pages of exposition. Or even in shorter exposition!

-The female protagonist is "feisty", and her Russian, widowed father lovingly says that "she's just like her mother". Oh wow, another cliche! For the record, the character wasn't feisty - she was just bitchy.

-I listened to the audio-version of this, and the reader made every German sound exactly the same, and exactly like the gay German alias on the movie The Saint.

Unbelievably bad. I got to the last disc of the 13 disc set and couldn't do anymore, even though I was so close to the end. Maybe it turned brilliant in that last disc?? I just didn't care. I wanted to like it because I thought the premise seemed so interesting, but it was horrible. Every character makes the stupidest decisions you can possibly imagine, and there is scarcely a character to even like, let alone care about. I suppose, to be fair, I should admit that I hate almost all thrillers, but there are intelligent thrillers of this type out there (The Eight, The Book of Q), so there's just no excuse for using such potentially good material and turning it into something so bad. It's officially in my list of the worst books I've ever read.

To add to my annoyance, I realized after looking at some reviews on Amazon that the reader of the audiobook was also pronouncing the German names incorrectly. Ugh!!!

Fiind primul său roman publicat se observă că acțiunea e ușor stângace. Oricum ideea în jurul căreia e construită intriga e interesantă, dar comparativ cu următoarele sale romane la acesta parcă nu a avut curaj să riște. Măcar e o lectură plăcută.

Wow! Berry's 1st outing is about as good as his others...,

Being that this was Steve Berry's first book and I read his books out of order, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was as well-written as his more recent outings. I read Berry's other three books before reading this and the only fault that I can find in this book is that he has outdone himself with each subsequent release. Basically, because he has gotten so good at the thriller genre, he makes his older books seem a little less impressive; thankfully, this book was still excellent. It kept me on edge from start to finish. This book was just another example of his unique writing style that keeps the reader entertained and enthralled from cover to cover.

I cannot wait for Berry's next book. I am now a life-long Steve Berry fan.

An excellent read with unexpected plot twists, vivid descriptions and excellent character development. Just shy of a 5/5 I would rate this as a 4.5/5...

A mediocre novel at best. If you're looking for a reasonably entertaining book for a long airplane ride then this might do the trick. Otherwise, I think there are much better books of this genre out there. While the concept of recovering lost art treasures that were looted by the Nazis in WWII is a fascinating one, and the historical info about the actual Amber Room is also quite interesting, the author just can't put it all together into a compelling story. One of the biggest problems is that the protagonists just aren't likable, and it doesn't help that by far the most interesting character in the book (Karol Borya) is killed off very early. In fact, it's Borya's murder that is the catalyst for the entire storyline of the novel so it's not a "spoiler" mentioning this here. Overall I give the author credit for the concept and for making a valiant attempt at an exciting novel. I definitely liked the European locales, but the villains, know as "Acquisitors," who scour the world for rare and stolen art treasures for their wealthy employers, who act more like trained assassins was a bit much. I found myself skimming a lot of pages in the final third to get through this one . Not horrible, but just not that good either.

This book caught my attention right from the get go and is definitely a trip through the past.

What is not to like… war history, mystery, conspiracy, a treasure hunt, priceless heirlooms and characters that are very well-developed.

This is a trip through time with a lot of mystery and charm.

The Amber Room was a treasure looted by the Nazis and lost during the end of WWII.

If interested here is some great background on The real Amber Room:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Room.

It's quite interesting.

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes a treasure hunt with a ton of conspiracy!

As a side note, I was surprised to read so many bad reviews of this book.

But, I really enjoyed it. I will be interested to hear what you think.

A lot edgier than some of his other books. A great read and keeps you on the edge of your seat. This book has it all, lost treasure, Nazis and plenty of action.

4,5 sterren- Nederlandse paperback

Het leven is goed voor rechter Rachel Cutler. Ze houdt van haar baan en haar kinderen en ze heeft een redelijke band met haar ex-man, Paul. Maar alles wordt anders wanneer haar vader, een man die de verschrikkingen van de Tweede Wereldoorlog heeft overleefd, onder verdachte omstandigheden sterft - en cryptische aanwijzingen achterlaat over een geheim dat hij zijn hele leven heeft bewaard, over iets wat de Amberzaal heet.

De barnstenenkamer (ook wel amberzaal genoemd) was een kamer in het Chaterinapaleis nabij st. Petersburg. In dit paleis waren de muren van één zaal bekleed met kunstig uitgesneden barn-stenen  panelen.

Deze "Barnsteenkamer van de Tsaar" was in heel Oost-Europa beroemd om zijn schoonheid. De verdwijning ervan gedurende de de tweede wereldoorlog heeft in het recente verleden aanleiding gegeven tot uitgebreide legendevorming. Beweerd wordt dat de Barnsteenkamer zich bevindt in een trein in een grot in het Uilengebergte in Polen.
Steve Berry heeft het in een verhaal geweven.

Gebrand op de waarheid over haar vaders verleden en dood, vertrekt Rachel naar Duitsland, met Paul op haar hielen. Vlak na aankomst worden Rachel en Paul gevangen in een verraderlijke spel met meedogenloze huurmoordenaars. Ze raken verwikkeld in een grootscheepse jacht op de schat, die eindigt in een onontkoombare krachtmeting tussen de macht. Het kwade en het goede.

Het is een weergaloos goed in elkaar stekend en goed geolied verhaal. Een echte Steve Berry.

I read this in 2011, I guess just after I joined Goodreads.
My file records show that I thought it was pretty pi** poor.