I know nothing about art. Well, almost nothing. I have this wonderfully huge coffee table book that reproduces the work of Hieronymus Bosch and that I consult on occasion for inspiration (I never claimed to be wrapped too tightly). I also have a basement full of "sequential art" --- that's what fans of comic books call them when they wish to be pretentious. That's it. So I didn't even know there was such a thing as the Amber Room. It is accordingly a measure of the strength of this fine first novel by Stephen Berry that while reading it I spent hours on the Internet delving further into the history of it, and will continue to do so.

The Amber Room --- the art object, that is --- has not received much press in the United States but is very well known in Europe. It is a work of art with a rich and enigmatic history. It is, in actuality, a room constructed out of amber, with artwork carved into the amber. Berry drops little nuggets of information about amber throughout THE AMBER ROOM, and for those of us who thought amber was only good for trapping flies, it's fascinating info. But THE AMBER ROOM is not an art or science textbook. The Amber Room of history and of this novel disappeared during World War II while in the possession of Nazi Germany. There are several theories regarding what happened to it. It may have been destroyed, it may have been hidden too well, or it may be in the hands of a private collector. No one really knows for sure.

Berry takes this mystery and cleverly uses it to build a novel around. THE AMBER ROOM involves an unlikely protagonist, Atlanta Judge Rachel Cutler, and her attorney ex-husband Paul. Rachel has an interesting connection to the Amber Room: her father, a White Russian who was taken prisoner by the German Army during World War II, has some clues as to the location of the Amber Room that he has kept to himself for decades. When he dies suddenly and mysteriously, the information that he kept hidden is revealed.

Cutler, doubting that her father's death was an accident, travels to Germany with Paul sensing that danger is following close behind. They are unaware that they are on a collision course with two art collectors who have made the acquisition of stolen or supposedly lost art treasures a competition, and that they both will acquire what they seek by any means necessary. Berry leads the Cutlers, and his readers, on a thrilling chase through a Europe that is off the guidebook path and through the world of clandestine art collecting before revealing the surprising final fate of the Amber Room.

Berry's writing is surprisingly surefooted and confident as he takes a subject that is of limited and specialized interest and uses it as a vehicle for a thrilling debut novel with certain widespread appeal. There are not many writers working today with the ability to do this --- Jeffery Deaver comes most immediately to mind --- but Berry certainly joins those talented ranks with THE AMBER ROOM. Let's look, and hope, for more from Berry soon.