Thunderhead

Overview

Archaeologist Nora Kelly is adrift in her career & her personal life when a violent, inexplicable incident leaves her in possession of a mysterious letter, that reveals the location of a legendary site hidden in the redrock canyon country of southern Utah: Quivira, the Anasazi Indians' wondrous lost city of gold. Nora puts together an expedition & takes a team up Lake Powell to the mouth of Serpentine Canyon

Editorial Reviews

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 the Hardcover edition.
-- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Lincoln Child

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are the coauthors of the bestselling novels The Relic, Mount Dragon, Reliquary, and Riptide. Lincoln Child is a former book editor at St. Martin's Press and has published numerous short-story anthologies. He welcomes reader e-mail at prestonchild@prestonchild.com.

Bio of Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are the coauthors of the bestselling novels The Relic, Mount Dragon, Reliquary, and Riptide. Douglas Preston worked for the American Museum of Natural History, is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and in 1989 retraced Coronado's thousand-mile odyssey on horseback. He welcomes reader e-mail at prestonchild@prestonchild.com.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Hachette Book Group USA

Filesize

2.57 MB

Number of Pages

560

eBook ISBN

9780446402774