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Summary: Lost City of Gold found
Review: Familiar Preston & Child heroine Nora Kelly is working as an untenured associate professor at the prestigious Sante Fe Archaeological Institute. While visiting her decaying childhood homestead Rancho de las Cabrillas, she discovers a recently delivered letter from her father Pat. Normally this wouldn't be cause for concern, however her father, also an archaeologist, disappeared sixteen years ago on a dig in the canyonlands of southern Utah. While at the ranch she was attacked by two mysterious masked creatures clad in wolf pelts but managed to escape.Kelly upon reading her fathers letter learns that he claimed to have found the lost Anasazi indian city of Quivira. Quivira was allegedly one of the seven cities of gold the Spanish conquistador Cortez was seeking in the American southwest. The letter also contained some cryptic directions to the site. Funded by Ernest Goddard, the director of the Sante Fe Institute, a handpicked team lead by Kelly is assembled to reconnoiter the legendary city. Among the team are Goddard's gorgeous and cunning daughter Sloane and the irrepressible journalist Bill Smithback. Undergoing tremendous physical hardships the team navigates its way through the tortuous route that leads to the site. Quivira proves to be beyond their wildest expectations, a veritable treasure trove of priceless artifacts. Further investigation reveals the city to be a center for witchcraft, evil sorcery and bad karma. A graveyard of bones brings up the possibility of cannibalism. Quivira proves to be a magnificent and priceless archaeologic find that harbors some deep, dark and terrifying secrets. This was not one of Preston & Child's best but in my mind they set a very high standard. The book was both enjoyable and informative but it saddens me to know that I now have read every book they've collaborted on.
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Summary: Great airplane reading, if you don't have to work!
Review: If you like Crichton, you will love Preston and Child. They combine excellent suspense with fairly interesting and original scientific or historical mystery. In their immediately previous book, Riptide, we learned a lot about the architecture of cathedrals and the technology of excavation and drilling. In Thunderhead, we learn something about lost cultures of the American southwest, the geophysical dynamics of the slot canyon country of southwestern Utah, the technique and philosophy of archeology, and the characteristics of various poisonous flora. Their plots move along very suspensefully, and I found myself staying up until all hours to finish the novel. Character development is minimal. So if that is what you are looking for, read Jane Austin or the Bronte sisters. If you can stay awake.
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Summary: More Genius From Preston/Child
Review: I've never been disappointed with a Preston and Child book. As a matter of fact, I've thoroughly enjoyed all that I've read. Thunderhead is no exception. It is what I have come to expect from the pair: a fast-paced story with vivid characters and a cool plot. The plot this time deals with a lost city in the desert southwest. Preston and Child are very talented in describing areas that few people have seen; the hidden valleys and mesas in Thunderhead, the polar ice cap in The Ice Limit, New York's underground in The Relic, and underwater tunnels in Riptide. In Thunderhead, the authors describe the area where the lost city is, and the reader can visualize it. I loved the characters in this book. The actions and thoughts of each are well defined, and the reader learns to love the good guys and hate the bad guys. As with several other novels by these guys, there's a touch of the supernatural. This adds to the mystery that kept me turning the pages late into the night. When I finished Thunderhead, I wanted to read another book by Preston and Child. To me, that is a sign of good authors. If you're into fast-paced stories with cool premises and great characters, pick up Thunderhead and give it a read. You won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Thunderhead left me THUNDERSTRUCK!!
Review: I wanted more than I can say to buy this in hard back when it came out...but I was strapped for cash and, well--suffice it to say I had to wait for the paperback before I was able to finally satisfy my addiction to Preston & Child's work. I can say in all honesty that the wait was TOTALLY WORTH IT. I STILL find 'Relic' to be their masterpiece, however I would have to say after having read all of their books-to-date that 'Thunderhead' ranks at #2 on my list of favorites by these two amazingly talented thriller authors. I have been an armchair Indiana Jones ever since I discovered the facination of archaeology, and this book was almost as good as BEING there! It has ALL the elements of a great adventure/thriller: a treasure that is screaming to be found, danger & the seeds of romance. Now I have to admit that I find the idea of sprouting a romance under the circumstances described in 'Thunderhead' a bit hard to swallow. I don't know about you, but if MY life is in danger, trying to figure out a way to sleep with the heroine is NOT gonna be high on my list of priorities. However just about everything else here was practically the perfect recipe for an incredible page-turner. I also enjoyed the fact that the characters were not 2-dimensional clones of so many others out there. Simply put, Preston & Child have delivered a fantastic and memorable action/adventure/thriller that has elements of the X-Files that ALL go towards making this a worthy addition to the great books written by these great guys. On a side note, check out 'The Ice Limit' by Preston & Child. TRUST me, the ending WILL take you by surprise! NOT 100% an equal to 'Thunderhead', but a really FUN story, though.
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Summary: Nowhere near as good as Relic, but an interesting read!
Review: This novel started out a little slow for me, but at some point I found myself engrossed. I happen to love archaeology and the idea of lost cities, so this book was right up my alley. I wouldn't say that it is even close to the caliber of Relic (which I would give 5+++ stars), but overall I enjoyed it. I thought the main character Nora Kelly was quite likeably and interesting, and I loved seeing Smithback return from the Relic novels. I was not a fan of their most recent novel Riptide (which I would at most give 1 star to), so I feel that this novel is back on track for them. If you're a first time Preston & Child reader I would recommend reading Relic and Reliquary first. After that I would read Thunderhead. It's certainly enjoyable, but it's not one of their novels that I would read over and over again like Relic.
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Summary: another ripping page-turner
Review: As I have said before, these two writers know how to tell a gripping tale. This one is a ripping yarn about the search for a lost Indian city in the American West by an intrepid band of scientists. My only little gripe is that the title of the book did not seem right to me, though it does refer to an important feature of the story. I would have called the book by the name of the city they were searching for.
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Summary: An Archeological Thriller
Review: This book, co-authored by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, is an archeological thriller. The heroine, Nora Kelly, leads a team in search a lost city of early inhabitants of North America. Ms. Kelly is also on a personal mission as she hopes to find an explanation for the disappearance of her father many years before. The archeology is spiced with the supernatural, science and some romance. Even though the plot, including some of the twists and turns, is predictable, I still found this book to be an irresistible page turner. This book is good entertainment, even if the minor romance thread borders on silly and is a stereotypical middle age male fantasy.
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Summary: Like a thunder Ball on my Head
Review: I have always loved these guys' books. Why? You ask; because their stories are both fast paced and exciting. I have read many writers who give you an adventure tale that are so far fetched it is not even fun anymore. I like fiction, but not science fiction. This Story deals with a Girl who's father (an archeologist of Native American Studies,) turns up missing and it is up to her and a rogue team of scientists to find him and solve the mystery of a lost city in the desert. That is just the start, I haven't gotten to the fun part yet, here were are faced with diseases, mad scientists, witchdoctors, flash floods and great romance. I strongly recommend it. This is a good book for the road or air. I will not steer you wrong.
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Summary: Dead Letters are Better Left Unopened
Review: Nora Kelly receives a sixteen-year-old letter from her dead father who describes a lost city of the vanished Anasazi tribe located somewhere in Utah's remote canyon country. She talks a friend into stealing data from NASA to locate the ancient road her father mentioned in his letter, then sets of with a team from the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute to find the lost city. Along the way they are stalked by two beings with dark intent and when they finally find what they were looking for, they find more then they bargained for as the city turns out to be a place of evil that will leave many team members dead. A somewhat scary story that proposes some interesting notions about the Anasazi and why they vanished. Reviewed by Devon Adams, the Cool Kid
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Summary: Not as good as some of their others, but pretty good withal.
Review: In these days of the ability to see people and trucks on the ground using cameras in orbit, I have a good deal of trouble with the concept of Lost Cities, even ones tucked away in shadowy places. Add in the Dreadful Disease, and there's a bad case of disbelief here. Still, these two always write well, and I will continue to purchase their books as soon as they are available in paperback. I have to say that RELIC remains my favorite, though I found RELIQUARY (the sequel to it) nauseating.
I do think that the scene wherein the protagonist finds her father's body is very well done--so many times, such healing never takes place in real life.
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