Rating: 
Summary: What they do best
Review: Like most of Preston's and Child's books, this is a very entertaining read. In addition to presenting an adventure with a mysterious twist, Preston and Child do what they do best--take interesting modern discoveries in science and make them the cornerstone of their adventure. I remember reading just a few years ago a controversial article that posited cannibalism by ancient peoples by the condition of excavated human bones (burnished on the ends by "pot polish"), and darn if that article doesn't fuel one of the twists in this book! It really is a pleasure to see how these writers come up with wild and innovative ideas that are grounded in science. What fun! I can also recommend another of their books starring Smithback and Nora--"Cabinet of Curiosities"--for another fun read.
Rating:
Summary: Can't put it down!
Review: This is a magnificent thriller; and that the catch is ever-elusive element that is Just Around The Corner ... but *what* could it be? Set in the desert, this history is fascinating, as is how the history itself has been altered, looted by previous generations, so that our excavators leave conflicting evidence. Meanwhile we are searching for our heroine's father, who left a map that might lead our Extremely Diverse questing group. I can recommend ALL of the books by Lincoln Child, Douglas J. Preston. "Relic" and "Reliquary" were a great start, but speaking for my husband and mysef, "RipTide" is still the best of the best. Even so, "Thunderhead" is a fascinating read ... just don't feel embarrassed if you want to leave the lights on at night for a while! Thank you for Reading my opinion! With warm and a kindred appreciation of the written word, Mary
Rating:
Summary: What a story!
Review: First off, Preston and Child are writing some of the most entertaining and intelligent action/adventure novels being published today. Unlike many of their contemporaries, they can also create believable and compelling female characters. One of the best is Dr. Nora Kelly, first introduced here. Imagine the exotic discoveries of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World and the archeological adventures of Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones films. Throw in a fine measure of history, science and gritty realism and you have Thunderhead. This is what my grade school librarian was speaking of when she whispered reverently about curling up with a great novel and getting lost in another world, with great characters, for hours and hours... Of course, if you read one Preston/Child novel, you'll have to read them all. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed by the science, but a undeniable page turner.
Review: This is the second book I read from Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. As usual, I was immediately drawn to the compelling story of a lost city, and read over 100 pages a day. The narrative is furious and fast and never led down. The characters are surprisingly likeable but predictable. I could guess what Sloane would turned out to be way before the end of the book. However, this is a minor complain in a book made for popcorn entertainment. The only thing I don't like about this book and The Ice Limit (also by Child/Preston) is that there are supernatural elements that are not explain, unlike the books of Michael Crichton. Overall, I felt anyone looking for a good read should pick up this book.
Rating:
Summary: Thunderhead - Preston/Child
Review: Preston and Child seem to write two types of stories - horror such as Relic or adventure/mystery such as Riptide. Thunderhead joins Riptide as a well-executed archeological adventure and thriller. As always, Preston and Child develop an almost irresistible mystery and compelling characters. The action is swift and relentless, the setting authentic and mysterious, and the background, as always with these guys, based in fact. Overall, Thunderhead provides an entertaining, quick read with an age-old mystery impossible to resist.
Rating: 
Summary: Over-rated as a "page-turner"
Review: This book didn't get good until the last 100 pages. It was so boring and oversimplified. The only interesting characters were "Skip", Nora's brother, and "Black" the midden-heap archeologist. The authors need to practice character development. The plot was more of a plod until they actually got to the city, then it picked up. But even at that the whole thing with Sloane went nowhere and was ended in an unsatisfying manner.
Rating:
Summary: Overlong but enjoyable
Review: My only real problem with this enjoyable tale of the quest for and discovery of a lost Anasazi city in Utah was its length weighing in ,as it does at well over 500 pages.Some judicious trimmimg , to say 450 pages tops,would have given it a greater pace and sense of momentum.Its a problem I am finding more and more common with contemporary thrillers and I would like to see authors embracing the "less is more "philosophy from time to time.
The main protagonist is a young associate professor of archaelogy at the Sante Fe Institute of Archaelogy,named Nora Kelly.She receives out of the blue a letter from her long dead father purporting to give the location of the lost city of Quivara,abandoned by the Anasazi centuries before.She is appointed director of an expedition funded by the Institute thriugh its charismatic head Goddard.All is not plain sailing however.Tensions break out between the members of the expedition which includes Goddards headstrong daughter Sloane,who feels oppressed by the weight of parental disapproval;a journalist Smithback (from earlier novels by the authors)
The site is a sinister place and the findings unearth evidence of human sacrifice ,cannibalism and the evil cult of the skinwalkers
Soon murder and death by carefully planted virus eat away at the fabric of the expedition and the novel builds to a lively climax involving an enormous storm and attacks on the surviving members of the expedition by skinwalkers
The storm device echoes Riptide and there is a sense of retreading old ground about the book
Even so it is enjoyable enough but a sense of lassitude enters into the mind of the reader as the book plods rather than moves freely toward sits climax.When this does arrive the writing and action move up a gear and the ending is satisfying.Characterization is functional and the writing plain but to the point.
Rating: 
Summary: Are archaeologists really this dumb?
Review: I've seen too many PBS specials to fall for Gold fevered professional archaeologists -- supposedly the best in their fields. The plot is strait out of Scooby-Doo. Even though I read the whole thing and couldn't put it down -- of course I was stuck on a 14 hour flight to Tokyo -- I found the book completely dissatisfying.
Rating:
Summary: A very satisfying read
Review: Thunderhead is the story of a head-strong archeologist on a treacherous search for a fabled city of gold. Her progress is impeded by both her result-hungry team and a pair of antagonists who will stop at nothing to prevent their success. Thunderhead provides the reader with excellently developed characters, plenty of action, and the same entrancing writing the authors are known for. The characters are all unique and well-developed enough that Lincoln and Preston are able to effectively give them the real twists and turns that are so defining in humans. The events that guide the characters are unique and enthralling, and packed full of action to keep interest at a maximum. I gave Thunderhead a rating of four stars, but it really deserves closer to 4 1/2. After finishing the book, I can only think of two real complaints: 1) It seemed to fall a little too heavily into a stylistic groove paved out in their past works. Although I cannot complain about the addition of Bill Smithback into the text (a character borrowed from The Relic and Reliliqy), it seemed strange how he keeps getting into such amazingly similar sequences and made me wonder if he might possibly just have enough bad luck to be the cause of it all! It didn't make me loose appreciation for the book, (after all, the full path is one of the reasons their books are so great!) but while reading it, the similarity of their past works ebbed at the back of my mind. 2) The epilogue bothered me. I felt that the authors could have fit their amazing explanations in better by offering them in a different way. Instead, it came across as isolated from the hundreds of thoughtfully crafted pages before it and made me wish I had put it down 5-or-so pages early. It does, however sufficiently relate the answers to the biggest mysteries and keep the reader from finishing unsatisfied. Despite my small complaints, I found Thunderhead to be a strong book, well worth reading. It follows along with Lincoln and Preston's tradition of fantastic work wonderfully and once you start reading, you simply can't put it down (I finished my copy in less than two days!). I will definately be reading it again and highly recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: A Fast Archaeological Thriller Read !!
Review: A fun and fast read thriller about an archaeological expedition in the southwest. Having been in the area and visited some of the sites they talk about, it has a plausable feel to it; and the weather effects are not unlikely to happen in real life. While a fun read (thus the high marks); the story is a tad short and moves maybe too quickly. But I think you'll find it fun none-the-less. I would add it the "Summer Beach Read" pile.
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