Quest

By: Richard Ben Sapir

Narrated by: Hallie Ricardo

Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The daughter of a murdered businessman joins forces with a New York City cop in a perilous hunt for history's most coveted treasure.

Claire Andrews loved her father dearly, but now he's dead, brutally slain after attempting to sell an irreplaceable, possibly priceless saltcellar encrusted with rare gems. Leaving the Midwest for New York City, she seeks the help of Detective Artie Modelstein of the NYPD's Frauds/Jewels Squad, hoping to recover the lost treasure and clear her father's sullied name. But there are others on the trail of the missing saltcellar, and their interests lie not in the precious stones but in a secret hidden within.

Suddenly Claire and Artie have unwittingly become marked targets in a deadly game that has wound through the centuries like a poisonous snake - following a trail of death and terror from the ancient world to Elizabethan England, through the flames of world war to the present day - as a hunt for stolen jewels becomes a mythic quest that could change their world forever.

Rich in action, color, and invention, an epic thriller that spans centuries, Richard Ben Sapir's Quest is a stunning tale of adventure, love, mystery, and revelation.

©1987 Patricia Chute-Sapir, the executrix of the estate of Richard Ben Sapir; This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Gritty Crime Drama With A Mythic Prize

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

For fans of crime dramas - yes. Others - it may be a bit too gritty in spots. It is also somewhat dated.

What did you like best about this story?

The character development - our protagonist starts out as a naïve country girl and through her own efforts becomes a canny researcher that matches wits with the best of them. Also it kept me guessing...it's him, no it's not, maybe it is, no it's not...

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance was ok. However I would argue that a Midwest accent from Ohio does not sound like a Texas accent. That was kind of distracting.

Could you see Quest being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not sure. The pictures in my mind don't look like any actors I know.

Any additional comments?

Although not stated anywhere, this book takes place somewhere in the 70's or early 80's at latest. Characters are veterans of World War II and still pretty spry. Also references to flying on the Concorde to Europe push back it's date a bit. Not terribly distracting, but I had gone into this expecting a current time line.

Strangely written and poorly cast

I'm not sure which bothers me more: the inappropriately high voice of the narrator or the strangely written prose. Kirkus claims it is highly readable but there's something awkward in the stilted language that takes me out of the story almost every paragraph. I never cared about the characters and the protagonist, Claire, is too mechanically precise to be human. The narrator makes everyone sound like a child which does nothing to improve the less than stellar writing. I think I'm going to avoid both author and narrator in the future.

Where is the Grail?

Superlative yarn replete with murder, previous stones seedy underbelly, a suave Englishman, conscientious NYPD Detective, glimpses into ancient history, and above all, the remarkable Claire, who methodically pieces together Christiandom's most prized and sought after relic.

Beautifully performed

I really enjoyed this mystery. It grabbed me from the beginning and rarely lost me. There's a great mixture of history and fiction in this book. My only criticism is that it relies too heavily on well-worn stereotypes for the main characters. The reader's voice is wonderful. She deftly created various accents for the many characters and I never tired of listening to her. In fact, I will purchase other books she has narrated, just to listen to her voice!

Dull and anticlimactic

I am about seven hours in and cannot bring myself to finish. It's slow paced, and the characters lack everything that makes them interesting. I honestly couldn't care less how the plot progresses at this point. Very disappointed, and this is coming from someone who loves Dan Brown.