Diamonds on the Nile: Accidently Stolen Diamonds (3.5 Stars)

I recently finished reading Diamonds on the Nile by Jude Randazzo. I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway a few months ago. It wasn’t quite the book I’d expected, so I was disappointed.

The Basic Premise

In 1979, Tess Kincaid goes on vacation to Egypt with her parents and her boyfriend, Eddie. Through a series of coincidences, Tess and her mom unintentionally end up with diamonds that someone was trying to smuggle from Egypt to the United States. The man trying to smuggle the diamonds is determined to get them back.

My Opinion

I feel like this book had the potential to be a really interesting story. For me, the story fell short of its potential. It took a long time for it to take off. In the first chapter, we are thrown into the story, but then the plot went back about a month. From there, the plot really slowed down. I read this on my Kindle, and for the first about 45% of the book (other than the book’s first scene), the story felt like it was more about describing the setting than it was about progressing the story. I would probably give that portion 2.5 stars. The later part was more like 4 stars.

Can It Be Read on Its Own?

While this is part of a series, I have not read the other books in the series. This is definitely a book that can be read and understood on its own. If I hadn’t known that it was part of a series, I wouldn’t have guessed that there were previous books even.

Reader Warnings

This book does have some swearing in it. I’d say that on average, it’s less than once per chapter. The sexual content is minimal. An unmarried couple are not sharing a bed during their vacation in Egypt, but they talk about wanting to share a bed again. That’s as sexual as the content gets. While there are people hired to kill other people, the violence is behind the scenes. One character does encounter a severed head, but that is not described in detail. Another character is killed and eaten by a wild animal. That also is not described in detail.

Was It Worth It?

If you’re interested in learning about Egyptian historical sites, this might be for you. If you’re looking for more of an adventure story, you’ll likely be disappointed. Because I didn’t love this book, I probably won’t read the other books in the series.