The Dante Connection by Estelle Ryan

Art theft. Coded messages. A high-level threat. 

Despite her initial disbelief, Doctor Genevieve Lenard discovers that she is the key that connects stolen works of art, ciphers and sinister threats. 

Betrayed by the people who called themselves her friends, Genevieve throws herself into her insurance investigation job with autistic single-mindedness. When hacker Francine appears beaten and bloodied on her doorstep, begging for her help, Genevieve is forced to get past the hurt of her friends' abandonment and team up with them to find the perpetrators. 

Little does she know that it will take her on a journey through not one, but two twisted minds to discover the true target of their mysterious messages. It will take all her personal strength and knowledge as a nonverbal communications expert to overcome fears that could cost not only her life, but the lives of many others.

Biography

Estelle Ryan was born in South Africa and spent her childhood being surrounded by African beauty, nature and diversity of cultures. Her first trip to Europe at the tender age of 16 transformed her world into a much larger place, endless in its possibilities and places to explore. For most of her adulthood she’s travelled all over the world, lived on a few continents, explored numerous cultures and is insatiable in the quest to still the hunger for more life experiences.

She’s written for numerous international magazines, was the editor of a European lifestyle magazine and has seven romance novels published under a pseudonym. With her interest in international politics, arts, crime, behavioural psychology, criminal psychology and music, she decided to combine all these elements in her writing. And so Genevieve and the team came into being.

She is an unabashed coffee shopaholic. Good coffee, ambiance and music in the perfect combination is all that is required to turn a mundane coffee shop into her ‘office’. The appropriate coffee shop is chosen depending on the mood, the weather, the type and amount of work that needs to be done and, of course, the craving of the day. All of her books have been written in numerous coffee shops all over the world.

You can read more about Estelle and her books on her website

My Review:

The main character in this book has Autism. She is high functioning. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this. But then I went to the Author's website, and she is all about Autism awareness.  I decided that she was trying to do that with her books too. I liked the main character and I also enjoyed the suspense. The characters were written so well that I had them each pictured in my mind. 

The first book ended with Genevieve alienated from her friends. However they showed up in this sequel  ready and willing to help her with the villain from the first book. I did wonder who the author will be explaining the same villain again in the third book. However that only makes me want to read the third book more. 

I am giving this book a 4/5. I won a copy from Library Thing and was asked to do a review. However all opinions are my own!