McBooks Press 2008

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Fast-talking gem expert Lonny Cushman encounters the dangerous and malevolent world of the African gem industry as he accompanies a young female seminarian from New York to Rwanda in search of her missing father. Once they reach Africa, Lonny chases a collection of flawless green diamonds through the killing fields of the Congo. Their survival depends upon negotiating the bloody network of the conflict-ridden African diamond trade, including Islamic jihadists, corrupt military officers, Israeli agents, Ukrainian arms dealers, and a whole host of con men. Can Lonny save himself and the young seminarian from a tragic demise?

Portland Press Herald:

Several years ago, Portland writer John B. Robinson, armed with a Harvard education, a taste of life as a struggling artist in Paris and a thirst for experience, won a writing fellowship that took him to the sapphire fields of northern Madagascar. There, in the danger and unpredictability of mining and trading gems, the first novel in his Gemstone Thriller series was born. "The Sapphire Sea" was warmly welcomed. Now the second novel in the taut series has arrived. And "A Fistful of Diamonds" has been worth the wait. The year is 2000. Robinson's hero, New York gem dealer Lonny Cushman, has moved on to a new mission in Rwanda, a country where death broods, visible and threatening, over a horrific history of genocide and violence. Cushman is seeking a rare group of 10 natural green diamonds. Moving into the Congo region, Cushman confronts opposition military officers, Islamic jihads, con men and gem dealers of every stripe. Most of all, however, he confronts the prospect of failure and the shame it would bring to his dysfunctional relationship with his gem-dealing father back home. Still, Cushman makes his way through all the plotting and upheaval by remembering his touchstone -- the child who came into his life unbidden and has become his reason for living -- his young daughter Annie. It's one thing, however, to review "A Fistful of Diamonds" as a page-turner. It is that, to be sure, but it's also considerably more. Come for the story and stay for the history. There's no forgetting "A Fistful of Diamonds" anytime soon.

Portland Magazine:

If you're thirsting for a canny, ironic international thriller ... jump into John B. Robinson's A Fistful of Diamonds.

Winston-Salem Journal:

A masterpiece worthy of the highest praise.