Ghosts of the Past

"Ghosts of the Past" is a historical fiction story that takes place in Kelheim Germany in 1945. The author, Mark Downer, immediately grabbed my attention in the way he wrote the prolog to his story with lots of sensory description that hit all of my senses. It was like I was right there in the cockpit with Max Hignite watching the altimeter spinning like a propeller as the plane headed toward the earth taking ground to air fire with fifty caliber bullets.

From Chapter one, Downer wrote a brilliant story filled with strong characters to fill the reader with tension throughout the book. As the story twists and turns, new characters, some killers, come into the story to keep you on the edge of your seat as you hold your breath to see what happens. The story flowed seamlessly from chapter to chapter with excellent workmanship that kept my interest until the end. I especially enjoyed Courtney and Matt, who became lead characters in the story. They provided another interesting twist to the story including some romantic moments.

The only little flaw I picked up on was jeep not capitalized in several places.

The bottom line—I loved this story and it deserves to be on the NY Times bestsellers list! Congratulations Mark on a well-written story, I'm looking forward to your second book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Mark Downer for the wonderful read.

287 pages

3 and 1 / 2 stars

This book is a very good debut. I'd be interested in looking at this author's next work. It is fairly well written and plotted. I liked the Matt and Courtney characters. I wonder if they will feature in the next book?

It is 1945 at the time of the fall of Germany. I felt like I was in the cockpit with pilot Max and his young co-pilot during the introduction to the story. The plane ultimately crashes. It was very well written. Years later, Max's nephew Matt Ferguson inherits a mysterious legacy. With it is a letter written in German. When Max takes it to someone who can translate it, he meets Courtney, the other main character in the story.

The secret of the downed German aircraft with a load of stolen art gets out and a romp around the world starts with bad guys chasing good guys. This is where the story gets a little formulaic. There is a nice surprise in store for the reader near the end of the book.

I want to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for forwarding to me a copy of this good debut book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Matt Ferguson’s uncles deathbed revelation makes Matt realise he knows the location of priceless artwork the Nazis stole during the war.
Matt sets off to find the buried treasure, accompanied by art expert Courtney Lewis. Unfortunately followed by different groups of criminals, who want the treasure for themselves and the police, who want to know about the bodies found along the way.
Ghosts of the Past has a bit of everything, history, adventure, suspense and romance.
I loved the storyline and was instantly drawn in to the book, devouring it in one day. The characters are well developed and easy to connect to. And I never saw the plot twist coming.
Mark Downer has a good descriptive style of writing so you can really visualise where Matt and Courtney are.
A very easy 4 stars from me.

Information from a dying uncle sets Matt Ferguson on the quest of a lifetime.

An immense treasure of purloined art is hidden away, not by design but by a fortuitous accident as the treasure is being flown to Switzerland by two young shanghaied German Luftwaffe pilots. The transportation of art objects is at the personal bequest of Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering himself, but a chance meetup with a US fighter pilot results in a crash landing. The plane and its’ crew remain in hiding, sitting out the rest of the second world war.

Max Hignite, the German pilot in question leaves a map drawn on the back of the cargo manifest. Two pieces of art are in Max’s safe and are authenticated by assistant curator Courtney Lewis and her contacts at the Speed Art Museum. The two small paintings are valued and insured at $4,000,000.

Courtney and Matt set out to find the treasure and have it distributed to the rightful family owners. The problem is that the curators who helped verify the authenticity of the paintings are interested in the rest of the shipment and as Matt and Courtney begin the quest, they start an international conspiracy to obtain the balance of the valuable cargo.

Mark Downer has put together a quick engaging read with a number of twists and turns that are very entertaining. The book took center stage in my daily activities until I finished it. You will find the story well-plotted and paced although at times predictable. I highly recommend it for a quick and satisfying read! 5 stars – CE Williams

My husband has his pilots license and sitting in the co-pilots seat gives one a sense of thrill and knowing you are going to be up in the sky within the clouds! I can only imagine the exhilaration Major Max Hignite was feeling about flying a special mission until he figured out that it was stolen art and other priceless artifacts and jewels of spoils during the war.

During the flight mechanical failure arises and Max had to do a crash landing. He survived the flight , but nothing was ever said of the cargo until his death. He gave a deathbed confession to his nephew, Matthew an average every day guy who was a advertising executive. He decided to obtain help and this is where Courtney Lewis , a art expert enters the picture.

A can of worms has been opened because now that it’s been validated that the treasure does exist all these criminals come out of the woodwork!
Twists and turns and get ready for a electrifying ride from country to country as the author develops the storyline moving. The action packed duplicity will keep you turning the pages until the end! For a first time book the author has kept my undivided attention from start to finish, I HOPE he continues a series with this cast of characters because I would definitely read the book!

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

"Ghosts" is a heck of an adventure story and a definite all nighter. It has it's roots in the 2nd world war as the defeat of Germany becomes more and more of a certainty. The leaders of the Nazis are becoming very concerned with their own survival and looking for a place to flee to as well as the means to maintain their luxuriant life style wherever they go. Hermann Goering has amassed a huge collection of priceless art via confiscating it from rightful owners when he sent them to the gas chambers. Considering the art an excellent form of retaining hard currency and collateral to ensure his survival he calls on Ace Luftwaffe pilot Max Hignite to secretly fly a plane filled with the art work into neutral Switzerland and deliver it to Goering's agent for safe keeping. Unfortunately, the plane is disabled by an American aircraft limping back to base while shot up. Max is able to guide his aircraft down and somehow get it into a hiding spot on the shores of a lake.
Max manages to get himself into the United States and develops a life there with the cargo of art being relegated to a second place. Years later, on his death bed Max summons his nephew Matt Ferguson a high level executive in a leading advertising agency and charges him with finding the art. Matt needs help and enlists the aid of Courtney Lewis an expert in the art world. Now it somehow happens that Courtney besides being bright is a stunning woman and wonder of wonders she and Matt quickly develop some strong feelings for each other.
There are groups of people that have been waiting many years for Goering's art to reappear and hearing that it has go after it with the intention of taking the paintings and killing those that have found it. Action is plentiful with danger everywhere, but love and lust are also in evidence. Make sure that y9ou have enough coffee to finish the book because you will not sleep until you do. I also get the impression that Matt and Courtney will have more adventures together and of course develop stronger and stronger feelings for each other.
A novel to enjoy and the advent of an author that will rise to the top of the literary world as his writing continues to mature.

My review of this book appeared on Ricochet.com on February 21, 2021. It can be viewed here:

https://ricochet.com/899132/intrigue-seeking-stolen-nazi-art/

I had a great time reading this mystery novel, it was such a great premise and didn't disappoint. The characters were great and I enjoyed the mystery itself.

I would like to thank Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to experience the rush of international adventure that this novel had to offer.

I was first drawn to Ghosts Of The Past when I read the plot summary. It seemed like an intriguing approach in historical fiction writing, three parties traveling across the globe followed by a tenacious detective in order to locate a priceless cache of stolen World War II artwork.

I was hooked from the beginning. The background of the main character’s uncle set up the premise of the story as the history was followed by an introduction to the characters that played an active role in the modern day events, including brief, relevant snippets of how they came to be who they were.

Although the idea that two inexperienced people could have a remote chance of finding a treasure trove of art by themselves, much less in pristine condition after sixty years in a mountain cave, seems unrealistic and far-fetched, the author lays a foundation for expanding on this notion in a possibly more detailed and edited version of the book.

Speaking of editing, I came across a plethora of grammar, punctuation, and run-on sentence errors that even a debut novelist and his or her editor should never miss. The story was peppered with misplaced quotation marks, making it hard to discern to which character the dialogue was attributed. Commas were awkwardly placed in areas where their main purpose, to create a pause, stopped the flow of action where it should have been continuous, as if taking a deep breath in the middle of a thought before finishing the sentence.

Nonetheless, I was on the edge of the figurative seat and too fascinated to let minor mishaps of writing stop me in the middle of the fast-paced action.

In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed one pair of bad guys following another set of villains who were chasing the two protagonists across the Atlantic Ocean to Switzerland, trailed by a law enforcement officer who was on the hunt for the main characters and hard-pressed to obtain the truth.

Ghosts Of The Past packed the punch of a Jason Bourne thriller written by an author with a potential for rubbing literary elbows with the likes of Daniel Silva and the late Robert Ludlum.

It was an honor to have been part of the journey as a reader.