Item - The Secret Treasure of Tibet

I enjoyed this book; its plot twists unexpectedly but not unbelievably, and the story is well-defined and fairly consistent. There's at least one continuity problem (it's possible to report a kidnapping that you can't possibly know about), but since everything else works pretty well, the error is forgiveable.

More reviews by Demian

Sorry, no. Major disappointment. 2.5/10

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Richard Brightfield's fifth entry in classic Choose Your Own Adventure, The Secret Treasure of Tibet is his first that can be called anything better than below average. You have only recently been certified as a private investigator, when a wealthy man named Bertram Buckingham hires you. Decades ago Buckingham discovered a hidden area in the Himalayas called Siling-La, and the monks who lived there could levitate themselves off the ground. An acquaintance of Buckingham's, Hubert Crossley, has recently wagered a substantial amount of money that Buckingham can't prove the levitation story is true. Buckingham wants you to find Siling-La and return with evidence, but where should you begin?

Consult an expert named Everett Snide, and you sense his apprehension as soon as you mention Siling-La. He telephones you later and requests a secret meeting, but is it a trap? Perhaps you should head for the Himalayas before an "accident" befalls you. On the flight there you meet a Tibetan monk named Lobsang, but is it wise to inquire about Siling-La? Lobsang claims that Genghis Khan's treasure is at Siling-La, wealth beyond anyone's craziest fantasy. You could remain with Lobsang and have him teach you to levitate, or pursue a lead on how to get to Siling-La. If you took another route before ever leaving the U.S., you are abducted, and awaken tied up in an unfamiliar place. Wriggling free of your bonds, you may find a statue to crawl inside as a hiding spot, but it is loaded onto a truck and delivered to the mansion of a wealthy criminal, your presence undetected. Will patience reward you with an escape opportunity?

Sneaking out of the mansion, you meet Jimmy Crossley, whose father's big-money bet is why Buckingham hired you. Is Jimmy actually on your side as he says? If Crossley catches you on the premises, he'll suggest you accompany his son Jimmy on a vacation to India, an offer you'd best not refuse. You can slip away from Crossley's men at the airport, or play it safe and fly to India. A servant of Crossley's named Narak Singh interrogates you, though he claims to be an undercover lawman. You could end up with Otto von Kamp, a German well-acquainted with Siling-La whose life is in jeopardy from those who would silence him. You may wind up captured and marched toward Siling-La; a woman named Kando has the means to free you, but once you're in the treacherous mountains, death is ever-present. An alternative route sends you, Jimmy, and von Kamp traveling to Siling-La, where Genghis Khan's treasure and the secret of levitation are both within your grasp. If you made other decisions very early in the book, you meet Sylvia Morrison, who has studied levitation and the Himalayas. Gunmen are after her, and won't feel badly about putting a bullet in either of you. Buckingham's case is more dangerous than he let on.

The Secret Treasure of Tibet is Richard Brightfield's best to this point in original Choose Your Own Adventure, but not by a lot. The action is convoluted; I had difficulty keeping things straight. Some of the cloak-and-dagger intrigue is fun, but the stakes of Buckingham's bet are too low to make the reader feel invested. The Secret Treasure of Tibet isn't a book you’ll think or talk about when you aren't in the immediate process of reading it.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74

I liked this one as a kid, in part because it treated me as an adult. I liked being a private eye in a realistic way, following suspects and committing minor trespass, as opposed to the Bond-style secret agent or the kids-investigate-neighborhood-crimes trope. The plotlines that lead overseas are the best ones.

More reviews by Scrumptious