You know, I’m not much for mysteries, unless they involve spies and a fair amount of gun play. This book is something I would never have noticed had I not had an encounter with a very rude young couple in the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Springfield, Virginia a couple of months ago.
True story… there were these two really dopey people who wanted to use the B&N Wi-Fi for their computers, but didn’t want to sit near other people, so they took an end-cap table and two chairs and set them up in the aisle! The aisle! So, my attitude, being somewhat confrontational at times, decided I needed to browse the aforementioned aisle… right where they were set up. Turns out it was the mystery aisle. The first book that I found was this one: The Lost Constitution. I saw the premise and I knew I had to read it (I downloaded it on my Kindle that same afternoon). It goes something like this:
Rare book dealer Peter Fallon and his girlfriend, Evangeline Carrington, are on the trail of an original first draft of the United States Constitution… which is a rare enough find… only this one is even more rare, because it had been marked-up and annotated by the men of the New England delegation to the Constitutional convention!
This first draft, which was stolen shortly after it was written, had a far-reaching effect over families and fortunes, starting in the eighteenth century, and potentially having a huge impact on the future of the United States in the 21st century… that is, if it can be found.
Through the centuries, people have been hunting for this historical document, believing that it will be the bringer of good fortune, or because it may prove that the Founding Fathers had different intentions regarding slavery or even the right to bear arms. The document has been important enough to kill over from the days of Shay’s Rebellion to the present day.
The story is exciting and well-written, and the author does a great job of pacing the story, which bounces back and forth from the past to the present throughout the book. What is more, the author knows more than just a little about suspense, as we don’t find out the answers to many questions until the very last pages of the book.
If you liked the DaVinci Code and other books like that, you would really like this story.
It is worth noting that the author, William Martin, has written several novels starring Peter Fallon, so if you like this novel. You might want to check out the other books that he has written.
I hope that you have enjoyed Book Review Week here at A Modern Warrior’s Life. Perhaps I’ll do it again soon.
Cheers,
GF