Book Review - Sandstorm by James Rollins
December 9th 2007 07:12
An inexplicable explosion rocks the antiquities collection of a London museum and the race begins to determine how it happened, why it happened, and what it means.
Lady Kara Kensington's family paid a high price in money and blood to found the gallery that now lies in ruins. Her search for answers leads Kara and her friend Sofia al-Maaz, the gallery's curator, into a world they never dreamed existed. Evidence exposed by the tragedy suggests that Ubar, a lost city buried beneath the Arabian desert, is more than mere legend... and that something astonishing is waiting there.
The two extraordinary women and their guide, Omaha Dunn, are not the only ones being drawn to the desert. Former U. S. Navy SEAL Painter Crowe, a covert government operative and head of an elite counter-espionage team, is hunting down a dangerous turncoat and the trail is pointing him toward Ubar.
What is hidden below the sand is more than a valuable relic of ancient history. It is an ageless power that lives and breathes. Many lives have already been destroyed by ruthless agencies dedicated to guarding its mysteries and harnessing its might. The end may be at hand for Kara, Sofia, Crowe, and all of the interlopers who wish to expose its mysteries, as it prepares to unleash the most terrible storm of all...
JAMES ROLLINS is the bestselling author of five previous novels: Subterranean, Excavation, Deep Fathom, Amazonia, and Ice Hunt. He has a doctorate in veterinary medicine and his own practice in Sacramento, California. An amateur spelunker and a certified scuba enthusiast, you'll often find him either underground or underwater. (net sourced)
Since the Da Vinci Code was released, it seems that everyman and his dog has jumped onto the hunt for the clues bandwagon, and its becoming hard to find a novel that is well written, paced and plotted. This book had been on my shelf since August as at first I thought my previous comments might apply to it but after reading the first couple of chapters, I started to enjoy it. The characters aren't too bad although I felt that a couple of them were the typical cliche of a hero.
The actual plot of the story was very good and fairly original, with the overall presentation of the story nicely done. Again as with most of these kind of books, more of something to read on a plane or whilst sitting on a beach some where but I found this one of the better hunt the clues novels and I would recommend this for holiday reading. I guess quite a bit of research had gone into this as I found the scientific parts very interesting although I won't say any more so not to spoil the plot.
kiwiauthor rating 8/10
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