Well. Great gobs of galloping goose grease! And bacon! Lots and lots of bacon!

Mom and I got this book in the mail the other day. Added it to our TBR pile. You know. The one that’s about 256 feet tall. Her Momness says, “No worries, Kimmi. Let’s just take a quick peek at the book blurb. Maybe a gander at a sentence or two. Or a paragraph or… 67. A few pages… chapters… bases…”

Silly Mom.

Next thing ya know, it’s 1:47 a.m. We’re rounding third base. Sliding into home. And turning the last page. Silly Mom again. Cuz ya know what? We couldn’t put this thing down! (The book. Not the bacon. Well, okay. The bacon, too. But ya know what we mean, right?) Here’s why:

The Treasure of Tundavala Gap

By Jeffrey K. Schmoll (Koehlerbooks, 2024)

Genre: Action/Adventure

Pages: 218

Via: Author request. Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

What’s a “plinth”? If you don’t know the answer to that, you may want to look it up, pronto. Cuz it’s pretty important in this high readable, action-packed adventure by Jeffrey Schmoll. There’s also danger, deception, and diamonds. Yeah, diamonds. Lots of them.

The 4-1-1

“Socially awkward” but monumentally brilliant Mateus “Matty” de Silva is working on his doctoral dissertation at Cal Tech. He has a photographic memory and roots in Cuba. He’s also a coffee connoisseur, an avid gamer, and a cocaine addict. 

Mateus’s best bud, Altheas “Tay” Jackson,” is a fellow student at Cal Tech. They’ve been pals since childhood. When Matty receives word that his long-lost abuelita – grandmother – is on her death bed in Cuba, he rushes down to see her. He arrives just in the nick of time.

Before she passes, Grandma tells Matty about a cigar box secreted in her attic. Inside the box Matty discovers an enigmatic poem written by his namesake and grandfather, Col. Juan Mateus de Silva. Turns out gramps was killed fighting in Angola back in the 1980s. But not before he found and hid a fortune in diamonds. (Those of us who are older than dirt remember the Angolan civil war. Ditto Jonas Savimbi. UNITA. Cuba and the MPLA. Castro and Che, et. al. Hi, Mom.) 

After his grandmother’s funeral, Matty returns to California. He comes home from class one day to find his apartment trashed. One thing leads to another and Mateus and Tay suddenly find themselves heading to Angola in search of the mysterious diamonds. Once in country, the guys meet the beautiful and mysterious Romiana. And danger they can’t even begin to imagine.

Buckle Up!

The story takes a little while to get going. But once it does, it takes off like Secretariat rounding the final turn at the Belmont Stakes. So buckle up!

Besides an epic treasure hunt, there’s a lot of Angolan history, culture, cuisine, and battle scenes, etc. The timeline bounces back and forth between the 1980s and the early 2000s. It also jets between Altadena, California, Cuba, and Angola. So you may want to strap in tight. And BYO helmet. 

There’s also fellow Cal Tech student and all-around Wonder Woman Harmony “Muni” Kim, aka: The Human Digital Hurricane and her “little hobbits.” This is really fun and adds a touch of levity to this page-turner.

A Crap Shoot

Now. If you’ve been following us for any length of time – say, 20 minutes or so – you know we’re willing to review books by indie and self-published authors. Frankly, it’s a crap shoot. You never know what you’re getting. And you wouldn’t believe some of the junk that comes our way in these categories. Think lining for the bottom of a bird cage.

But every once in awhile the crap shoot pays off. A book by an unknown indie author hits the jackpot: Well-written. Structurally sound. Professionally edited. Careful attention to pacing, dialogue, and character development. A story that’s as fresh and original as it is masterfully told.

Jackpot!

The Treasure of Tundavala Gap is one of those jackpots. Cuz it’s a barn burner. It’s one of those books you probably don’t want to start late at night. Cuz it’ll have you up into the wee hours turning pages to the end. And yep, Mom is still silly. But you already knew that, right?

Wait. Is that bacon?

Our Rating: 4.5

Visit Jeffrey on-line at his web site.