Lauren Goffigan

The Cleopatra Cipher is book number 1 in the Adrian West Thriller series by L. D. Goffigan. It is an archeological thriller/treasure hunt mystery set in Rome and Egypt. The next book in the series, The Excalibur Deception, will be published in July 2022.

I LOVED this book! From the first pages I was captivated by this story. Cleopatra's burial place and her treasures are sought by two opposing groups. One is from academia and the other is from a crime syndicate called the Daughters of Cleopatra. Both groups are present at a Languages and Antiquity Conference in Rome. Sebastian Rossi has given a lecture on the various languages of Ptolemac Egypt. While always a popular lecture, the recent finding of Cleopatra's treasures one week prior to the conference made his lecture a must to hear. Sebastian's friend Adrian West is also in attendance at the conference and soon after Sebastian's lecture has ended, she receives a call from her former FBI partner Nick Harper. Nick tells her that Sebastian has been abducted. The hunt is on to not only locate him but to find out why he was abducted.

The writing was tight and suspenseful and the characters were fully developed. The protagonist of the series is Adrian West. She is a great character but I believe that without Sebastian as a counterpart, I am not sure how well she can carry the series. I definitely liked Sebastian better. I was not able to tell if he will be an ongoing character in the series. Nonetheless, we will find out in 2 months when the second book in the series is published.

I preferred the Rome setting. Fortunately the setting didn't move to Egypt until the midway point in the story. We read more about the Italian landscape and food than the same in Egypt. The Egyptian part of the plot centered on action more than setting description.

This is a hugely entertaining novel! 5 out of 5 stars.… (més)

I really enjoyed this audiobook! After enjoying the first book in the series, I was eager to see what would happen next to Mina Murray. This story picks up right after the events of the first book and I do recommend that you read the series in order. I thought that this book was at least as good as the prior book and maybe even slightly better. I am so glad that I happened upon this series.

As I said this book picks up right after the events of the first book so there may be some spoilers for the first book in this review. Mina, Abe, and the rest of the group are working to get Mina's fiance, Jonathan, back from the vampires. This is not going to be an easy task and it is going to be very risky.

I really enjoyed learning more about Mina. I was rather surprised to learn how she was connected to the vampires and how connected everything really is. I loved the fact that Mina is fiercely loyal. She literally is risking everything for the sake of her fiance and does so without any hesitation. She cares deeply about others and tries to keep everyone as safe as possible.

I thought that this was a very exciting story. I was never quite sure how things would turn out and there were more than a few surprises during the story. I liked that the action was balanced with some more thoughtful and emotional scenes that focused more on the characters. It was a really nicely paced story that I found hard to set aside.

I thought that Danielle Cohen did a fantastic job with the narration of this book. I loved the quality of her voice and I thought that the voices she used for the various characters were performed very well. I really liked some of the accents that she used and I thought that her delivery helped to set the scene for the story. I thought that she added a lot of excitement and emotion to her reading. I found this book easy to listen to for hours at a time.

I would recommend this series to others. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this story. I felt like this book really helped to complete the story that began in the first book and opened up the series to future adventures. I can't wait to see what Mina does next!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.… (més)

I thought that this was a very well done audiobook. This is a Dracula retelling but I really cannot make any comparisons since I have yet to read the original. I was drawn to this story because I tend to enjoy a good vampire story and the time period of this tale was really interesting. This turned out to be a very quick read for me and a highly enjoyable one as well.

Mina Murray was a really interesting character. She was not like most of the ladies you would find in London during the 1890s. She cares less about society and propriety than her peers. She is engaged to a man that seems to be her perfect fit who loves her just as she is. When Jonathan is taken, she must do everything in her power to find him before it is too late.

I loved the way that vampires were represented in this story. I thought that the evidence that they have been around for quite some time was very well done. I liked that their presence was shown in various ways including the after-effects of an attack in a young woman. There was a lot of emotion tied to some of these events and I found them quite exciting.

I thought that Danielle Cohen did a fantastic time with the narration. This was the first time that I have had the chance of listening to her work but I think she added a lot to the story. I felt like she was able to add a lot of emotion to her reading and she handled all of the character voices very well. I had no problem listening to this book for hours at a time.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a very well done vampire story with some great characters. I do hope to continue with this series!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.… (més)