Amazonia by James Rollins

Amazonia

by James Rollins

From the author of ALTAR OF EDEN and MAP OF BONES comes another fantastic mystery adventure, this time set deep in the Amazon jungle.

Out of the inhospitable Amazon rainforest a man stumbles into a missionary village. Soon the CIA operative and former Special Forces soldier, his eyes wide with terror, is dead. The photograph of Agent Clark's corpse in the Brazilian morgue shows two intact upper limbs, yet Agent Clark had only one arm, the other lost to a sniper's bullet.

Nathan Rand's father led a scientific mission into the rainforest and never returned - the same expedition that took Clark into the jungle. Now Nate is to follow the elder Rand's trail, along with a team of scientists and experienced US Rangers. For somewhere in the dark, impenetrable depths of Earth's most dangerous region lie mysteries that must be solved...whatever the cost.

As Nate Rand and his party push on into the jungle, they are haunted by a truth: that they are not alone. But each step brings the team closer to an ancient, unspoken terror that even the native people dread. As madness, fear and horrific death descend upon the second cursed expedition, those still living must confront a power beyond human imagining - one that can for ever alter the world beyond the dark, lethal confines of the Amazon rainforest for better...and for worse.

Reviewed by empressbrooke on

3 of 5 stars

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This was probably my least favorite of Rollins' books so far, but it was still fun. It didn't veer once from the expected stops on the adventure-thriller ride - you can even identify the main character's love interest from the very first line that introduces her.

It would have been nice to have had a more ambiguous bad guy, it would have made for a more interesting story; the villain was way too over the top. He hunted endangered animals for money, and he destroyed rain forests, and he liked shooting people, and he blew things up, and he had a grudge against the main character's family, and hey, his girlfriend's hobby is making shrunken heads, sometimes while the victim is still alive! Can you tell he's evil yet? What if he'd had a more legitimate motive instead?

A note of apology: I see from glancing over my reviews for Rollins' previous books that I have used the word "fun" in every single one. And I already complained about a too-evil villain in [b:Deep Fathom|294045|Deep Fathom|James Rollins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173469857s/294045.jpg|1018137]. I guess that books filled with clichés lend themselves to clichéd reviews.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 27 May, 2010: Finished reading
  • 27 May, 2010: Reviewed