The Second Book of 2026: Blood and Treasure, by Ryan Pote
Finished reading 1/12/26
This was a hard mini-review to write, because I'm reluctant to say how much I disliked this book...while also giving it the same attention I've devoted to any Tom Clancy or Mick Herron novel. Maybe I wanted to like it.
I usually have one requirement for thrillers: that it keeps me turning the pages. Ryan Pote's Blood And Treasure certainly did that, despite my better judgement. There so many flaws, though: unrealistic action (it takes more than one person to don an astronaut's EVA suit), characters who are not just wooden but as impenetrable as lead, one miraculous nick-of-time save after another. And really, we don't need the full product name and description of every piece of tech; I kept looking for Amazon affiliate links.
It's one thing to be asked to suspend one's disbelief, and quite another to be required to drown and resuscitate it multiple times (if you read the book, you'll get the reference there). There are torture scenes that make no sense, a national leader who's portrayed like a Bond villain in an equally Bond-villainish lair, and I never did learn how the hero got out of the final calamity alive.
It really bothered me to see that this story was published by Penguin, because I've read better (much better) fan fiction. It must be true that publishers no longer offer editing to their authors, because this could have used it. The number of five star Amazon reviews and blurbs of praise was, frankly, embarrassing, and comparisons to Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy were insulting.
They say that if you think you can write a better book that you just read, then write it. Well, I think I have.
