Adventures In Ciphers

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I get as star-struck as any average citizen.  But not over celebrities...no.  Over authors.  It’s downright embarrassing how much I stutter and stammer and completely lose my vocabulary when in the presence of one of my favorite authors.  I was quite mortified, when Lois McMaster Bujold was autographing a book for me, that I couldn’t remember how to spell my own name.  Fortunately, I had a friend with me who could tell her the correct spelling.  And what a lovely, swirly signature she has!

All of this to say, I hold authors in very high regard.  And this is why I am SO VERY IMPRESSED when one of my friends publishes a book.  So today, I’d like to review a book written by a friend who is going by the nom de plume of Nick Toltec, and the book is called Fenn Point: The Hidden Patterns of Forrest Fenn’s Treasure (you can get it here).

“As anyone who has met me will attest, I enjoy being right a little too much.”

First, a little background.  According to the inter-webs, author and art dealer Forrest Fenn published a book in 2010 called The Thrill of the Chase: A Memoir (it’s a little spendy but you can get it here). It was a book of short stories, and over the course of the book, he revealed that he had buried a chest of treasure in the Rocky Mountains, and he included a poem which ostensibly gave nine hints to the location of the treasure.  Treasure hunters leapt on this opportunity to decipher clues and look for hidden codes and of course, actually find the treasure. 

This book is about my friend’s study of the clues and his attempts to find the treasure.  Now, while I’m not really all that interested in treasure hunting or in looking for patterns that may or may not exist in various “clues,” I am interested in a well-written story.  And my friend does not disappoint.  Nick has written his first book very well indeed, and best of all, his voice comes through clearly in the narrative.  It was delightful to follow his journey in his own words and be reminded of all the reasons that Nick has been my friend for so many years.  And I learned a bit about art, literature, and history along the way.

“I hate when a good bias is murdered by thuggish facts!”

Spoiler alert:  Nick does not find the treasure in the book.  Apparently, during the pandemic, a treasure hunter found the treasure under mysterious circumstances.  This man did not reveal his name until he was forced to do so by a lawsuit.  And the location of the treasure has never been revealed.   Given the mystery and controversy surrounding the “recovery” of the treasure, many hunters, Nick included, don’t actually believe that the treasure has been found.  So, I believe that my friend will likely continue the hunt.  And why not?  As Nick says in the book, “If the charge is optimism, then I plead guilty and know I am in fine company.”

“To my surprise, the more I wrote about Forrest Fenn’s writing, the more secrets and patterns I found.  The story I found myself writing was less about finding the treasure, and more about bringing to light the fantastic mysteries and patterns Forrest had hidden within his poem.”