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Reviewed by Marta Tandori for Readers' Favorite
Twenty Days to Treasure by Phyllis Gunderson is a high-octane treasure hunt that has the makings of an Indiana Jones sequel. Ethno-archaeologist, Dr. Matt Howard, an impoverished adjunct professor at a university in Arizona, is staying at the family home she had inherited from her parents, hoping to write a pottery textbook in order to rise in the ranks and ultimately command a higher salary. However, her efforts thus far have been hampered by the broken air conditioning, the whining of her long-suffering dog, Zeus, and the lack of funds to replace the terminally-diagnosed AC system. Matt’s fortunes take a turn for the better when she receives correspondence from a law firm in Detroit, informing her that a distant cousin twice removed has died, leaving Matt with a house and five acres in the Uinta Mountains. Matt thinks a month in the cool mountains will give her time to decide whether to keep her inheritance and also work on her book. With no airline willing to transport a dog of Zeus’ considerable bulk, Matt loads up her old car and begins her road trip to her inheritance – one that becomes sidelined when she stops for food about 70 miles out from her destination and Zeus decides to hitch a ride with a young guy in a pick-up truck, forcing a fuming Matt to reluctantly go after them. When she finally catches up to them, Matt is surprised to learn that Zeus’ dognapper is a 15-year-old girl who’s on a mission to find the gold hidden in a tunnel somewhere in the neighboring canyon. She impulsively decides to accompany the girl, kicking off a modern day treasure hunt.
Twenty Days to Treasure is equal parts adventure, history and mystery, but what really makes the story stand out is the quirky humor of its main protagonist, Matt Howard. At thirty-five, she’s tough as nails, recognizes the economic pitfalls of her chosen profession, but can’t resist the possibility of finding lost gold – even if it means following someone she’s just met to an isolated area without a care for her own welfare. This same quirky humor also lends itself perfectly to Matt’s love/hate relationship with her Great Dane/Boxer mix, Zeus, who’s not above leaving his mistress in search of better travel accommodation. While Gunderson clearly knows her history, she manages to convey it in such a way that it lends itself to the story rather than taking away from the momentum of the action. Her prose has just the right amount of adjectives to effectively convey time and place, keeping her readers firmly engaged. There isn’t anything not to like about the story and Twenty Days to Treasure is sure to be a treat for all adventure junkies and treasure hunters alike.
