Excavation

by James Rollins

A heart-stopping adventure from the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of MAP OF BONES and THE DOOMSDAY KEY.

High in the Andes, Dr Henry Conklin discovers a 500-year-old mummy that should not be there. While deep in the South American jungle, Conklin's nephew, Sam, stumbles upon a remarkable site nestled between two towering peaks, a place hidden from human eyes for thousands of years.

Ingenious traps have been laid to ensnare the careless and unsuspecting, and wealth beyond imagining could be the reward for those with the courage to face the terrible unknown. But where the perilous journey inward ends - in the cold, shrouded heart of a breathtaking necropolis - something else is waiting for Sam Conklin and his exploratory party. A thing created by Man, yet not humanly possible. Something wondrous...something terrifying.

• ISBN10: 0060766298
• ISBN13: 9780060766290
• Publish Date: 29 June 2004 (first published 3 July 2000)
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Out of Print: 11 April 2013
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[Heather]

 

I read this book for the #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks challenge.  It has been sitting on my shelf forever.  I don't know where I got it.  I'm sure I picked it up because of the author.  He's a veterinarian when he's not writing and I have to support my people!

High in the Andes an Incan temple has been found with an intact treasure chamber.  An attempt to loot it sets off traps and then it collapses on the archeologists who go in to investigate the break in.  They are only able to escape by work their way through the puzzles built into the temple.  It is very Indiana Jones.

At the same time, a mummy removed from the area turns out to be not Incan but a Spanish priest.  Inquiries lead to the kidnapping of the lead investigator by a group of priests.  Seriously, if priests or monks show up in a contemporary story is it ever a good thing?  These guys have a wacky theory about some metal hidden in the temple and go about trying to steal it too.

I've read several other of his books and enjoyed them.  This isn't one of my favorites. It can be a fun read but nothing memorable.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[empressbrooke]

James Rollins has really been filling that archaeological-action-adventure-thriller niche in my library. Although it could be ridiculously melodramatic in places, Excavation was even better than his first book, [book:Subterranean]. It spent less time setting things up and practically plunged right into the action and mystery right away. It also rolled along at a brisker pace - I didn't have the need to skim like I did with Subterranean.

Rollins is a fun author; his books aren't high literature, but they're certainly lots of fun. The only downside is that his characters only exist for the action. I'd love it if he could come up with some memorable characters like [author:Douglas Preston] and [author:Lincoln Child] do in their collaborations.