Thunderhead

Spellbinding. * Kirkus Reviews * Chilling...Preston and Child continue to redefine 'page-turner. * Denver Rocky Mountain News * Exciting, well-conceived, and well-oiled...a rip-snorter for lovers of adventure stories, with more than a touch of evil. * Toronto Star * A novel of considerable scope and interest.... Grounded in science but flirting with the supernatural, Preston and Child have created a highly readable tale of adventure and long-ago crimes. * Dallas Morning News * --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. The thrillers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child "stand head and shoulders above their rivals" ( Publishers Weekly ). Preston and Child's Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number-one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series and their recent novels include Fever Dream , Cold Vengeance , Two Graves , and Gideon's Corpse . In addition to his novels, Preston writes about archaeology for the New Yorker and Smithsonian magazines. Lincoln Child is a former book editor who has published five novels of his own, including the huge bestseller Deep Storm . Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly "strangely entertaining note" from the authors, at their website, www.PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their alarmingly active Facebook page, where they post regularly. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From AudioFile An archaeological expedition after Coronado's legendary Lost City of Gold moves at the fast pace of Preston and Child's other thrillers, RELIC and RIPTIDE. Desert, canyon and mesa sites set a good stage for the story and create a strong sense of place. Dana Delaney is up to the action and intrigue surrounding the discoveries though her accents occasionally get a bit muddled. Most listeners will simply race along as ancient curses, deception and greed fuel the adventure. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From School Library Journal YA-Checking on disturbing noises at her family's abandoned ranch house, Nora Kelly experiences a frightening encounter with two entities that resemble extremely large and ferocious wolves (in reality men disguised as skinwalkers), barely escaping with her life. On her frantic flight toward safety, she accidentally stumbles across the last letter her father wrote, describing the route he had taken in finding the lost legendary Anasazi city of gold, Quivivra. Nora finds a financial backer and puts together an expedition staffed with experts to help her find the site once more. The group encounters monumental natural obstacles and deep personality conflicts. And once the skinwalkers reappear, the eerie power of evil seems to take over. Members of the team begin to die mysteriously, and when a flash flood hits the canyon, the body count rises. The delicate balance of good and evil in the world serves as the major theme. The adventure occurs amid the beauty and spectacular dangers of the harsh environment, inspiring and frightening to behold. The constant challenge of staying alive keeps the excitement sharp. The strong emotion of greed and the interaction of opposing interests insures continual strife within the group. High-tech communications and the latest knowledge about diseases contrast with the ancient culture, and also provide answers to many of the mysteries associated with the Quivivra. This is a story filled with excitement, a sense of place, and personable characters, delivered in a quick-paced race against evil, humankind, and the tremendous forces of nature. Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From Kirkus Reviews Since joining forces, Preston and Child have hit pay dirt, especially with 1995's wild and woolly Relic (subsequently filmed as an Alien clone, with a monster loose in the basement of Chicago's Field Museum); its follow-ups, Mount Dragon (1996) and Reliquary (1997); and the unstoppably thrilling Riptide (1998). Their latest focuses on the Anasazi Indians' Quivira, the legendary Lost City of Gold in Utah. Sixteen years ago, archaeologist Nora Kelly's father vanished among southeastern Utah's red-rock canyons. Now, when a 16-year-old letter from her father to her mother weirdly lands at her feet, Nora is led to believe that her father actually found Quivira, and she mounts an expedition into the canyons hoping to discover some meaning behind his disappearance somewhere west of the Kaiparowits Plateau. An orbiting Jet Propulsion Lab shuttle imager, which maps the earth and can see through 30 feet of sand to locate lost roads, reveals the hand-and-toe trail used by her father. Her group follows a horrifyingly dangerous trail and eventually finds the perfectly preserved lost city, one of the great archaeological discoveries, described here fascinatingly. But bad news strikes. Horses are gutted. Then come the monstrous skinwalkers, masked beasts that rip and tear. Spellbinding as ever. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. "Archaeologist Nora Kelly is adrift in her career and her personal life when a violent, inexplicable incident leaves her in possession of a mysterious letter. Written by her father, who vanished sixteen years ago in the remote desert, the letter reveals the location of a legendary site hidden in the red rock canyon country of southern Utah: Quivira, the Anasazi Indians' wondrous lost city of gold."--BOOK JACKET. "Convinced that her father truly had found Quivira, Nora puts together an expedition and takes a team up Lake Powell to the mouth of Serpentine Canyon. In the stark labyrinth of canyons and slickrock desert she will find the answer to both her greatest hopes and her deepest nightmare. For hidden in the shadows of the sunbaked cliffs are untold treasures, the solution to the greatest riddle of American archaeology - and implacable, suffocating death."--BOOK JACKET. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From Publishers Weekly The adventure is marginally higher than the suspense in Preston and Child's sturdy new tale of scientific derring-do, concerning a search for Quivira, the legendary Anasazi Indian City of Gold. With four high-concept thrillers behind them, from 1995's Relic to last year's Riptide, the authors know what buttons to push and levers to yankAperhaps too well. The novel has a clockwork feel, from its first tickAthe spooky stalking of archeologist Nora Kelly on an isolated New Mexican ranchAto its last tock. Playing it safe, Preston and Child take no missteps as Nora finds an old letter from her long-missing father with clues to Quivira's location; leads an expedition of central-casting types (a leathery old cowboy, a beautiful female photographer, the jokey journalist who figured in Relic and Reliquary, etc.); after much difficulty, discovers Quivira, which is revealed as a repository of ancient evil; and encounters death by way of the Native American witches who threatened her at the novel's start. It's all predictable but rarely dull. The authors display deep affection for the pulp they're recycling, talent for exciting set piecesAa hazardous ascent along a ridge toward Quivira and the flash-flooding of the canyon harboring the city are showcases of action writingAand, always their ace, the ability to infuse every aspect of their story with authentic techno-scientific lore. This is a novel in which the archeological niceties of ancient black-on-yellow micaceous pottery are as important to plot as the caliber of the gun the heroine wields. Fans of the authors' similarly inspired, and similarly metronomic, scientific textbooks-cum-thrillers should find this one much to their taste. Simultaneous audio. (July) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From Library Journal The authors move from Riptide to The Relic to the deserts of Utah, where archaeologist Nora Kelly's father vanished in his search for the legendary Lost City of Gold. Now it's her turn to try.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Read more