Book Review: The Altar of Bones by Philip Carter

Altar of Bones. Philip Carter by Philip Carter
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Lately I've been tearing through books like they're going out of fashion. This book was promised to be an adventure thriller, full of Russian spies, conspiracies and family history.
There are several prologues setting up the story, which I won't dwell on too much. They're interesting and insightful and they tie nicely into the story later on down the line. The two stories we should focus on are those of Ry O'Malley and Zoe Dmitroff who are brought together unwittingly in search of the altar of bones.
Zoe is a strong, likeable heroine, unless it comes to confined spaces and Ry is charismatic and handsome exactly what you'd expect from an action thriller like this one. Although it annoyed me that he was called Ry and not referred to by his full name.
Another reviewer said that this reads like a film script and I have to agree. There is cliché after cliché, and so many gun fights I found myself skimming the action to get onto the next part of the actual plot.
I enjoyed the historical references and the section that involved Ry's step-dad and Marilyn Monroe. In fact, that could have been a story all of it's own. This book was hefty and I think that was an issue, cut out some car chases and make this book two, or even book three. There was so much scope and it had been crammed all into one novel.
I gave this book two stars, because although I enjoyed it and found myself addicted to turning it's pages, I also was glad when it was over. I found it quite predictive and like many thriller books I've read before.
The only thing that wound me up, was that while Zoe was on the run, the first (and possibly last) chance she got to eat and she ordered a salad. That's an insane woman, right there.

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