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Reviews
"Is it possible to make these verdant minerals remarkable? As Christopher Murphy proves in his convoluted yet utterly entertaining novel "Emerald Passage," the answer is yes. Emeralds can motivate a journey spanning from Belgium to Brazil, lead a gem smuggler to cross paths with three beautiful women and unite a sailing team in a search for peaceful understanding.
Emeralds are the book's plot device, but the narrative belongs to main character Rollo Runyan - a quick-witted romantic who could be easily portrayed by Errol Flynn. Cheated out of a diamond cache after his release from a South African prison, Runyan begins tracking emeralds purchased with those diamonds to collect his fair share.
Murpy puts Runyan through a dizzying amount of tests and trials en route to get the emeralds. He writes a financially successful short story and song, foils an airplane hijacking, infiltrates a Rio de Janeiro masquerade dressed as a stick of dynamite and joins a sailing team for a race around the world. These scenes are well-rendered: more interesting than where Runyan goes is what Runyan says, either musing on his current plight or coming up with a new story for one of the women he meets is transit. Comments range from the humorous - disappointment is "discovering you can't swim from a sinking ship with gold in your pockets, your so-called 'life-savings'"- to longer conversations on romance and worldly connections. Murphy may be voicing his personal beliefs, but does so in a manner engaging rather than preachy.
By the final scene of "Emerald Passage," a tense showdown with Arab sheiks and Israeli commandos, it's possible you'll have lost the reason why Rollo's there but even more likely you'll be too occupied to be upset. Like an actual emerald, the book has countless facets, cut from a solid crystal of an idea and illuminated by Murphy's wordplay." - ***** Five Star Amazon.com. Publisher: Iuniverse. Reviewed by Les Chappell
"An Aussie adventurer plots a spectacular heist in this quirky, New Age thriller. Rollo Runyan is an ex-commando and diamond smuggler, but he's got some moves James Bond never tried. Inspired by a guru he met in prison, he's planning to give away billions to an environmental charity. When he spots a beautiful woman, his pick-up technique is to write her an off-the-cuff fairy tale or a poem about sunflowers. And instead of brusquely bedding her, he's open to Tantric exercises that demonstrate that orgasms just get in the way of true intimacy. Naturally, women go gaga over this sensitive rogue. En route to Rio to pilfer some emeralds with which to finance his caper, he quickly acquires three hotties to juggle amid the occasional hijacking or shootout. Murphy ( Dance for a Diamond ) writes well-paced action scenes and makes Rollo's first person narration jaunty and engaging and full of nice observations. ("He had a toothy, panting kind of grin like a clever dog.") A decent actioner."- Kirkus Discoveries. January 2008.
""Emerald Passage" is a rare mix of international intrigue, a refreshing boost, a straight-out thriller intermingled with concern for the global environment...it gives a distinctly contemporary feel"-Lester Brown, former president of Worldwatch Institute.
"Fantastic. Literate. Sophisticated. Charming. Fluid. Wonderful writer. I love the style, the voice, the international flavor"- Susan Schulman, New York literary agent.
What the critics have said about Christopher Murphy's previous novels :
SCREAM AT THE SEA
"AT LAST , A THUNDERING GOOD THRILLER !" London Evening Gazette
" A cracking good novel embellished by one of the most enchanting heroines I've ever met. The flying is all the right stuff and the story zings along at maximum take-off power."- Ernest K. Gann, author of THE AVIATOR and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY and many other novels.
" It is a real thriller, written by an airman's airman....one is right there in the cockpit. It's a real winner !"- Harry B. Combs, author of KILL DEVIL HILL, former president of GATES LEARJET
"Good action and some really superlative flying scenes....all-in-all a spankingly good debut." - Times iterary Supplement ( London)
" Real excitement and suspense - and real believeable people you must get to know and care about. Christopher Murphy has a rare gift....."- I.B.Melchior, author of THE MARCUS DEVICE
" Contains some of the most exciting and vivid descriptions of high speed flying yet written." - Bookshelf
THE JERICHO RUMBLE
"You finish The Jericho Rumble and then turn back to the first page...Is this for real ? The book is an expert espionage/ adventure caper, one of those " Mission Impossible" set-ups, but well written and full of hectic action. Mr. Murphy writes so smoothly..." - New York Times Book Review
" I think this is fiction, but one never knows. Fantastic it may be, but meticulously researched and cunningly contrived. it is the sign of a successful thriller writer if you finish one book eagerly waiting for the next. I am !" - Pilot Magazine
" When your first novel gets well-deserved high praise, producing a second story that will score the same high marks must prove quite a challenge. Christopher Murphy maintains the output of Five-star fiction with THE JERICHO RUMBLE."- London evening News
" ....He sets about it literally as a one-man earthquake. There is action, scientific and military expertise, and a simmering, book-long romance." - Manchester Evening News
" A white knuckle exercise in roaring melodrama and intense suspense. Characters are richly vivid..."- Buffalo News
DANCE FOR A DIAMOND
"(This) thriller is fast paced and elegantly written...a compact swiftly moving tale about gems, espionage, airplanes and a hot sexy marriage, the kind of which we all dream. Throughout his touch is light and gripping. So we are swept along, diverted on every page, entertained by Murphy's elgant skill and intelligence." - The Plain Dealer ( Cleveland)
"Christopher Murphy has produced another winner, an all-action story with authentic background to help bind together an ingenious plot." - Financial Times ( London)
"DANCE FOR A DIAMOND fizzes with inventive exuberance and demonstrates beyond question that author Christopher Murphy's heart and well-furnished mind are definitely in the right place."- British Book News
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