Rating: 
Summary: Decent, if unoriginal, Adventure
Review: "Neanderthal" is your normal "Lost-Creatures-in-the-Wild-Archaelogical-Adventure-with-Some-Big-Time-Consparices-Thrown-In-For-Good-Measure" similar to "Congo" and "Relic." While not as good as those two, "Neanderthal" is a decent read. At times it doesn't seem as fully realized as those other books, and the Tom Clancy subplot seems tacked on. But maybe those other books were just under edited. Some of the comments on the jacket such as "international sensation" are a bit of a overkill, and being "sold to 12 foreign countries before publication" doesn't make sense. The book is simply pulp entertainment that doesn't pretend to be a classic. The plot tricks are all quite familiar.
Since this book was published, a lot has changed concerning Neanderthal science. Genetics has show that they are unrelated to man and no evidence of interbreeding occurred. They are no longer, to the dismay of hard-core Darwinian naturalists, seen as a missing link in man's origins.
Rating: 
Summary: EXCITING AND FULL OF ACTION
Review: But not very memorable. The story line supposes that a tribe of Neanderthals still survives in a hidden Himalayan valley. Our hero, a scientist out exploring, stumbles upon them and ends up helping to save them from another race of beings who live underground in nearby caves. It's perhaps an entertaining read for a vacation or a lazy afternoon in the hot tub, but not going to set the world on fire. It's formula fiction with a variation on a classic plot. Entertaining to read all the same.
Rating:
Summary: Good entertaining read
Review: But not very memorable. The story line supposes that a tribe of Neanderthals still survives in a hidden Himalayan valley. Our hero, a scientist out exploring, stumbles upon them and ends up helping to save them from another race of beings who live underground in nearby caves. It's perhaps an entertaining read for a vacation or a lazy afternoon in the hot tub, but not going to set the world on fire. It's formula fiction with a variation on a classic plot. Entertaining to read all the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as I remembered
Review: I first read this book a few years ago (as a teenager) and enjoyed it then. So when I was looking for a book to entertain me while trudging away on the treadmill, I thought it would be a light, exciting -- and perhaps mentally stimulating -- read. Hmmm ... it wasn't what I remembered. The first half, while the team is on the quest for the lost Neanderthals, was pretty intense and interesting. But as soon as the team found them (not a spoiler, you KNOW they're going to find them or there wouldn't be a book), the book plummets into boredom. I found myself trudging through the book as well as on the treadmill. Also, this time around, I noticed a lot of cheap writer tricks. The worst and most obvious was using dialogue between characters to explain concepts to the audience. These highly educated individuals would not have needed to explain this stuff to each other. But we do need it, so the author thinks we'll enjoy it more coming from the mouth of one of our charmingly two-dimensional characters. This little trick and the others are nothing new in popular fiction. But they really stick out compared to more literary fiction. If you're not worried about how good the writing style is, maybe you'll love this book. It does put forth some interesting ideas about Neanderthals, but by the end such unbelievably silly things are happening that you don't really care anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: I picked this book up at a used bookstore because it looked pretty interesting and I had recently read Clan of the Cave Bear, which piqued my interest in the Neanderthals. Unfortunately this book doesn't hold a candle to Jean Auel's well-researched and intelligently-written book. Darnton clearly did do some extensive research and sprinkled interesting historical details here and there, but overall the storyline was pretty flat and not all that original, borrowing devices we've seen before - attractive intellectuals who used to date and now rediscover their love, a government agency whose goals are not entirely noble, even a Trojan Horse and a half-mad scientist whose behavior is straight out of Heart of Darkness. The writing failed to capture my interest - the characters are not very well-developed and the action is not described with sufficient detail and imagination to really draw the reader into the story. There was enough here for me not to give up on the book, but I kept waiting for the plot to reach its peak. It never did - and before I knew it, the story was over. At least it was a quick read.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea, bad execution
Review: I picked this story up because I was fascinated by the concept. The idea that neadersal man could developing ESP I thought was very cool. So I checked the book out and got about halfway through. The problem in this book lies not with the concept but with the characters. Them seem like they are ripped from the pages of a soap opera. Instead of worrying about the scientific discoveries and important stuff like that the two main protagonists seem only interested in having sex with each other. Never mind that they are high up in the mountains being chased by a bunch of homicidal hominids. Overall-Great idea the author must really want the reader to go take an anthropology 101 class.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea, bad execution
Review: I picked this story up because I was fascinated by the concept. The idea that neadersal man could developing ESP I thought was very cool. So I checked the book out and got about halfway through. The problem in this book lies not with the concept but with the characters. Them seem like they are ripped from the pages of a soap opera. Instead of worrying about the scientific discoveries and important stuff like that the two main protagonists seem only interested in having sex with each other. Never mind that they are high up in the mountains being chased by a bunch of homicidal hominids. Overall-Great idea the author must really want the reader to go take an anthropology 101 class.
Rating: 
Summary: ATROCIOUS!!!
Review: I was browsing through the bookstore when I saw the title Neanderthal. I have always been fascinated with that period of history, so I decided I would purchase it. I am a fool.
It starts interestingly enough, providing a informative primer to neanderthals, but it the novel goes quickly degenerates into nonsensical madness. The characters are incredibly poorly developed, and actually quite unlikeable. How many times do we have to read about a broken relationship between a man and woman, and forced to reconcile amid extreme danger? At one point, the "heros" of the novel tacitly participate in the cold blooded murder of one the expedition to central asia.
The ending is comical. While it was bad enough that they used a "trojan horse" concept to trick the neanderthals, doing to the "Born in the USA" was the capper. This was would have been a good episode of McGyver.
Rating:
Summary: Insipid and Shallow
Review: I was very disappointed by this book after reading the glowing review using such phrases as "breathtaking suspense" and "dazzling storytelling", both of which were conspicuously absent. It was impossible to make any kind of connection, good or bad, with any of the shallow characters. The plot had some potentially interesting moments, but these were never carried to completion, and in many cases cause and effect appeared to be totally unrelated.
Rating:
Summary: Michael Crichton-ish but in a lesser league.
Review: Neanderthal is an engaging and suspenseful story that would seem to make for a fascinating movie. (It's loaded with dramatic and imaginative visuals.) It takes an interesting premise, the existence of modern Neanderthals, and transcends the typical survival struggle with its own myths and a bit of philosophy. The story is fast paced throughout with better than average characters for this type of thriller.
Written in 1996, one drawback is Neanderthal's setting-- in the supposedly obscure and unknown mountains of Afghanistan. As infamous as the country has become, Afghanistan, as a setting, is unfortunately a jarring distraction.
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