🗺️ What Should an Adventure Book Actually Be?
It’s Monday night, and I’m sitting in front of my screen with a sudden realization: I still haven’t written Wednesday’s blog. For the first time since I started this journey, I didn’t have a single clue what to write about.
But sitting here in the heat, looking at my bookshelf, a fundamental question popped into my head: What should an adventure book actually be?
As an indie author currently promoting an action-thriller treasure hunt (An American Treasure) and reading a debut adventure novel (Thiago), I’ve been thinking a lot about the DNA of this genre.
When people think of adventure, their minds usually go straight to Clive Cussler’s high-stakes expeditions, Indiana Jones dodging booby traps, or James Rollins' fast-paced historical secrets. But does an adventure story have to follow that exact blueprint to be successful?
🧭 Roaming the Streets of Peterborough
I’ve always loved a good adventure. My passion for it was probably born from childhood—roaming the streets with my mates until the streetlights came on. I remember having a wooded area close to where we lived and making dens in there out of anything and everything we could find. I was out of the house constantly. Mainly I was playing football (soccer for my American friends), but sometimes we would go far and wide on our bikes, exploring every corner of Peterborough.
All of my books to date feature a long-lost treasure—the gold at the end of the rainbow. But I don’t think a true adventure book is solely about the prize. Do you?
To me, a great adventure should give you puzzles, travel, vivid locations, and rich characters. I try my absolute best to describe everything so clearly that you feel as if you are physically standing inside the book. Granted, not everybody likes my style of writing, and I do have the odd 1-star rating out there. That’s life; you can’t please everybody. But my goal will always be to make readers feel like they are part of the story, right there on the journey with Hans and Cedric.
👑 Learning from the King of Adventure
The author who inspired me to pick up a pen in the first place is Clive Cussler. For me and millions of others, he is the undisputed king of adventure writing. His books are fast-paced, action-packed, and wrapped in historical mystery.
Funnily enough, An Irish Mystery never actually started out as an adventure book. It didn’t start out as anything, really! The entire idea of writing about a lost treasure came to me while reading A Fargo Adventure—a Cussler series about a married couple, Sam and Remi Fargo, who travel the world hunting for missing history.
A lot of thriller writers cycle through the same mainstream treasures: the Fabergé eggs or the Amber Room, to name a couple. I wanted to find historical mysteries that weren't quite as common. The Irish Crown Jewels are lesser-known globally, and Mosby’s treasure is famous in Northern Virginia but largely unheard of in the rest of the world. That’s exactly why I chose them. It makes the puzzle feel fresh.
🧭 The Trap of the "MacGuffin"
In writing terms, a "MacGuffin" is the object everyone is chasing—the lost gold, the ancient relic, or the secret Nazi document. A lot of people think an adventure book is defined entirely by the prize at the end of the map.
Personally, I don’t think the size of the treasure or the scale of the explosion matters. An adventure book shouldn’t just be a checklist of action sequences. It has to be about the journey and the stakes for the people involved.
Take Cedric Newman, for example. In An American Treasure, he isn’t hunting for Civil War gold because he desperately needs the money—he’s rich already! He’s doing it for the thrill, the truth, and let’s be honest, the press coverage. The adventure is driven by his personality, not just the gold buried between two pine trees.
⏱️ The Pace: Fast Throttle vs. The Slow Burn
As I mentioned last week, I'm currently 60 pages into Dante Coman's Thiago. It's an adventure book, yet 30% of the way in, we haven’t even arrived in Indonesia or seen a sniff of treasure. Instead, he’s building the characters and the intrigue.
It made me realise that adventure doesn't mean "constant gunfire" from page one.
- The Setup: You need a bit of background to make the world believable. If I don't care about the characters while they are sitting in a normal room, I won't care about them when they are hanging off a cliff.
- The Reality: For me, a true adventure needs a grounding in reality. That’s why I spend hours researching real graveyards in Warrenton or checking actual restaurant menus. If the setting feels authentic, the adventure feels like something that could actually happen to you.
💬 What Do You Think?
Every reader has a different threshold for what makes an adventure work. Some want a lean, 200-page sprint with fistfights and helicopters from the first chapter. Others prefer a massive 400-page puzzle where the historical mystery takes center stage.
For me, an adventure book should simply be a story that makes you want to turn the page because you feel like you've left your living room behind and stepped into the unknown alongside the characters.
I want to throw this over to you: What is the absolute "must-have" ingredient for a great adventure story? Does it need a legendary treasure, or is a brilliant chase enough? Let me know in the comments!
📊 The Stats That Have Left Me Gobsmacked
Speaking of An American Treasure, this month has been absolutely incredible. I have had 13 direct book sales so far: 3 for An Irish Mystery and 10 for An American Treasure.
But the thing that has left me completely gobsmacked is the Kindle Unlimited page reads. As I write this, I am just 36 pages short of 3,000 page reads for the month! I even had a single day this month where the dashboard recorded 1,011 page reads in twenty-four hours. It just blows my mind.
When I published my first book, I never expected a single person to like it. Now, people are reading thousands of pages every single month. The reviews coming in—especially from across the pond in America—leave me speechless. An Irish Mystery now sits on 33 reviews on Amazon.com with a 4.5-star rating, and An American Treasure already has 6 ratings with a 4.7-star average.
Before last month, I had never even eclipsed 1,000 page reads in a single month. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everybody who has taken a chance on my books. It is truly unbelievable.
📚 What I’m Reading...
(Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Supporting indie authors helps the whole community thrive!)
Thiago by Dante Coman
I have officially started my next read, and it's a book by a fellow indie author I found on Reddit. The author's name is Dante Coman, and the book is called Thiago. It’s Dante’s debut adventure novel, and the premise hits all the notes I usually love: hidden treasure, ancient art, drug smuggling, and a WWII secret buried deep in the jungle. Intrigued, I ordered myself a paperback copy.
I am currently up to page 110 in a book that is 207 pages long. Now, up to this point, there hasn't actually been any action or even a sniff of treasure—but the story has started to get traction!
Despite the slow burn, it has kept me thoroughly interested and I’m genuinely wondering where the story is going. I know we are eventually going to end up in Indonesia searching for that long-lost WWII fortune, but the way Dante is introducing the other characters is making the buildup quite intriguing.
As usual, I will let you know my final thoughts once I cross the finish line!
Enjoyed the ride? 📖
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📚 The Newman Adventures
An Irish Mystery A fast-paced historical adventure about stolen treasures, hidden histories, and the cost of obsession. The story that started it all.
An American Treasure The journey continues! Cedric Newman returns in a high-stakes hunt for the lost riches of Mosby's Rangers. Action, mystery, and a new enemy await.
Available in Ebook, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback & Hardcover
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