Review: The Four Symbols by Giacometti and Ravenne

My thoughts

This story takes us across the globe: an abandoned Spanish monastery, a Himalayan cave guarded by monks, London, and Germany. Hitler, Churchill, Himmler, Goering, and others appear. There are conspiracies and stolen artwork and danger at every turn.

The historical background and the occult story are interwoven impeccably until it’s hard to separate fact and fiction. Giacometti and Ravenne orchestrate a huge cast of characters, some known to us from history and others springing from their imaginations. Then they tell an epic story that spans continents and touches all types of people. It’s fitting: an epic-sized story to fit this epic-sized world war that devastated countries and killed millions.

There’s plenty of action. And violence. And intriguing conspiracies and plots and mysteries. It has all the makings of being a thrilling thriller.

And yet I wasn’t thrilled.

An unthrilling thriller

For me, the book fell flat. I finished the book. But I didn’t feel engaged with the story until three-quarters of the way through. Honestly, I felt only twinges of emotional engagement with the story.

If I had to pinpoint what went wrong in my reading of The Four Symbols, it would be the characters. The characterizations felt cinematic. I’m not sure if that’s an accurate term for it or not. But it felt like a movie where the director relies on the lead actor’s charisma to make up for the script’s shallow character development. Somehow that’s how many of the characters–particularly the historical ones–came across to me.

The fictional characters fared better. I could’ve become more attached to Tristan and Laure. (They were the two whom I “bonded” with the most.) But there’s so much time spent with Hitler & company (whom I’d prefer not to spend time with, thank you) that there’s not as much time for the fictional characters to fulfill their potential.

Heavy on action

In Giacometti and Ravenne’s defense, though, there’s not much time to develop any one particular character at all. The novel cuts from place to place, character to character, so often and so quickly. There’s barely time to breathe. I jumped from exciting scene to exciting scene, one point of view to another, globe-hopping, sometimes within the same chapter.

Sometimes there is a page of historical background between actual scenes. While I know the historical background in necessary, the summaries jarred me.

I also became weary of the violence. After a while, all the various horrible methods of torture and execution weren’t horrifying anymore.

Not my type of book

This is a particular type of thriller, of course, and it’s obviously not my favorite type of thriller. Some reviewers have compared it to Dan Brown’s books. Having not read his work, I don’t know if the comparison is accurate. Maybe that’s an indicator that I’m not the target demographic for this book!

For me, characters and emotional engagement are the most important things in a novel. Not everyone agrees, of course. Those who like lots of action and epic-sized conflicts and conspiracy thrillers might feel differently about this book. (There are plenty of 4 and 5 star reviews!)

I do admire the ambitious nature of the book. It’s undoubtedly daunting to write historical thrillers with so many well-known characters and various historical facts to juggle. Giacometti and Ravenne know how to create an exciting plot within these parameters.

Somewhat recommended

Do I recommend it? Somewhat. For those who like fast-paced stories and adore action and intrigue, you might want to check out The Four Symbols.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.