4/30/2008 1:46:51 PM,Books,Dean,
I finished this book last week, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than Blasphemy, which is another book I read by Douglas Preston.
The book tells the story of a stranger carrying out a dying mans last wish, and the tangled mess that comes with it unbeknownst to him at the time.
The story takes place mostly in the New Mexico desert, and Preston does a great job in laying down the lay of the land and making you feel like your lost in the landscape, which plays a big role in the book. He describes the terrain in such a way that the detail is very easily imagined without using too much geographical terminology.
The characters are quite believable, and enough background is given that each ones personality traits become apparent. I was especially interested in Wyman Ford, who was also a main character in Blasphemy. It came as a surprise to me that he was in this book, as I did not know there were any connections between the two books.
There are a few pretty tense areas of the book, and it manages to be entertaining almost right away. To me, the opening chapters reminded me of the Indiana Jones movies, and I just could not wait to find out what happened next.
This is a pretty easy reading book, but that is not to say it is not intelligent. I will likely be looking for another Douglas Preston book to read soon.