Cherokee Gold by Daniel Burke
Blurb
Some treasures are better left unfound…
HIDDEN IN THE MOUNTAINS OF GEORGIA, CURSED BY A LONG-DEAD CHEROKEE WARRIOR, A TREASURE WAITS FOR THOSE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO LOOK FOR IT.
JOHN COOPER is a police detective in the small town of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Brokenhearted by the death of his wife, he’s been going through the motions since her loss, avoiding relationships and chasing small-time criminals through the present-day Cherokee Nation. That all changes the night he’s called to investigate the robbery and brutal beating of an elderly Cherokee man.
Cooper soon learns the old Indian’s attackers were after more than a little drug money. For over half a century, Edward “Flying Eyes” Blalock has guarded a secret. Days before they were rounded up and sent on the infamous Trail of Tears, Blalock’s ancestors stole a fortune and hid it in a cave. The treasure is now worth over a hundred million dollars, and the old man’s attackers took something that could lead them to it.
Cooper and Blalock’s beautiful granddaughter race to get there first, but as the body count climbs, one thing becomes clear: no one can escape the curse of CHEROKEE GOLD.
Cherokee Gold
The story has a lot of details about the Cherokee's who were the original inhabitants of Georgia a southeastern U.S. state (not to be confused by the country of the same name) and the infamous "Trail of Tears", an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of the tribes brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega area in Georgia.
The story deals with much of the shared history of the area and provides a fair view about the tribes, tribal's and other communities in the state and how the history keeps infringing on the present and shaping current relationships.
This is a story that starts with an ancient heist by the Cherokee in the 1800's in response to their forcible removal from the state by the government and forcing them to cede their territory. The story revolves around freshly minted gold coins stolen while in transit and lost for all purposes with no clue available for the law to retrieve them.
The lost story comes back into modern retelling when an old man robbed and his house ransacked is beaten up to the point of coma and the police get involved in the investigation.
The story/legend has been kept within the Cherokee family and it is left to their descendants to find the prize. Other people have meanwhile got the smell of the prospective prize and the case gets complicated with police involvement, involvement of the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service because the old man happens to be one of the tribe.
The story moves at a frenetic pace and is for most parts enjoyable. The characters of the key people is well developed and the visceral edge of the antagonist shines through.
The straight laced police is a relief to the plot and a fair part has been invested in detecting the dried spoor. The underlying current of greed, corruption and racism all raise their collective ugly heads in the story at some point or the other and sometimes all at the same time.
The Indian trips that seem to affect the principal police detective Cooper and bring fresh insights are to be read to be believed. The antagonist is a bad egg and is on a drug fueled bash here. Relationships are challenged and stretched in the story and bad judgement comes back to haunt a couple of characters, sometimes as a finality. How greed can affect and destroy is a key takeaway from this story.
This is a re-release of the book which first came out almost a decade back. I received this as an ARC but had picked up and read this book earlier in 2014, a copy which I had subsequently lost and it was a pleasure to read this again. I had to read a couple of chapters before Déjà vu hit me.
The story has a nice feel to it and the author needs to be commended for putting forward a compelling story while writing about some of the low points of American history in relationship with their tribal communities. The story delivers on the both fronts as an entertainer and also as an information dispenser.
I recommend this book and give it a solid 4 star.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stars
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