Since the days of Cortes, when conquerors came to the New World with dreams of riches and empires and first set eyes on the
alien-seeming cultures of Central and South America, stories have trickled back to Western civilization about lost cities, from
the well-known tale of El Dorado to the mystery of Machu Picchu. Among these were enigmatic references to a white-walled city deep
in the forbidding mountains and rain forests of what is now Honduras, glimpsed now and again by the odd traveler and referred to
in numerous local stories. For a long time, these were dismissed as the tall tales of travelers, or possibly wishful thinking and
mistaken identity, but in every generation were adventurers and believers who risked everything in the search. In this book,
writer Douglas Preston relates the history and prehistory of the American civilizations and the search for the so-called "lost
city of the monkey god"... and his own involvement in the expedition that finally unearthed the possible truth behind the legend,
a truth grander and more unbelievable than any tall tale.
Review
Sometimes truth really does seem stranger than fiction. Here, Preston relates the story of a groundbreaking expedition deep
into one of the few pristine wildernesses left in the world, in pursuit of a mystery that many experts had long dismissed as mere
fancy but which turns out to have some basis in reality after all (no spoiler for saying they actually do find something - more
than just one thing, actually). From the perils of snakes and ants and disease to the unfathomable difficulty of even getting
around in the rain forest, plus the perils of politics in perhaps one of the most volatile regions of the Americas (and the
related politics of archaeology in general), it seems utterly incredible that not only did the explorers survive, but accomplished
so much. Along the way, Preston discusses the history and prehistory of the region and the search, the allure and romance of "lost
cities" in the Western world (and how the notions are inextricably tied with colonialism and a sense of cultural superiority, the
"right" to claim and plunder whatever one sets one's eyes upon regardless of whose property, or story, it truly is), even how
expeditions like the one he becomes involved with play into national and international politics. The people involved sometimes
seem larger than life, and the search takes twists and turns aplenty as it wends through history and various obstacles and
setbacks, not to mention the fallout of success. Along the way, the grandeur and dangerous beauty of the remote Honduras
wilderness comes to life, as well as the awe-inspiring accomplishments of the city's builders and the incalculable tragedy of
their collapse. The chapters on the unimaginably devastating effects of European diseases on the Americas and the risks of disease
today (as the author and other expedition members discover the hard way) take on new significance after the height of the recent
pandemic that shows how vulnerable even our "superior" global civilization is to illness, and how (to be blunt) screwed we're
going to be if we don't take the lessons of the past - distant and recent - seriously as the changing climate allows "exotic"
tropical illnesses and parasites to spread to new populations. Once in a while the names can run together a bit, but overall this
is an interesting account of an incredible find and its impact on the explorers involved, expanding our understanding of a
fascinating region and period of history.
Tom Broadbent was just out for a backcountry ride in the New Mexico wilderness when he heard the gunshots from the nearby
canyons. He finds a dying stranger who only lives long enough to press a bloody notebook into his hands and extract a promise
to deliver it to the man's daughter, Robbie. Who was he, and what was he after in the canyonlands that got him killed? The
only clue is the notebook, but it's just a bunch of numbers he can't make head nor tails of, and the detective on the case
doesn't exactly strike Tom as up to the challenge. As he investigates, he finds himself pulled into a deadly plot involving
fossil thieves, lost treasures, secret codes, cutthroat academic rivalries, a novice monk with an unusual past, a murderous
ex-con on a single-minded mission, a rogue dark ops agency, and a secret dating back to the days of the dinosaurs... all of
which could make for many more bodies in the New Mexico desert in the here and now.
Review
The blurb promises action and intrigue and secrets set against the harsh backdrop of the New Mexico deserts, and on that
level it does deliver, I'll admit. There's a definite surfeit of testosterone about the plot, the few women shunted to the
side for much of the tale (though they do come into their own later, the writing and the plot can't help objectifying them to
the point of eye-rolls more than once). This isn't the kind of story that runs on deep complexity or nuance. Tom's the sort
of fellow who could have ridden straight out of an older Western where the white hat hero is always unquestionably on the
side of morality and truth; he willingly puts his life on the line, as well as the life of his wife, all because he made a
promise to a dying man and he's the kind of man who doesn't break a promise, no matter what. His wife is, of course, a
knockout in the looks department who gives riding lessons to special needs children and - inevitably - needs rescuing at
some point, though she does actually step up and do a little more than I'd expected of her at the start (not quite enough to
be truly independent, though). Ex-con Jimson Maddox may only be an agent for another man, but he takes his duty seriously,
in his own way as committed to his word as Tom is, if with far less moral fiber and being far more likely to assault and
kill in pursuit of his goals. Behind Maddox is a frustrated curator at a museum with his own reasons for blurring the lines
of good and evil in pursuit of what he wants... and he does not even quite know what he's waded into with this scheme until
it's too late and other, even darker and deeper entities are at work. Meanwhile, Tom has found an ally in Wyman Ford, an
ex-CIA agent who fled to monastic life after a tragedy (and a fridged wife, because of course); the fact that this is the
first book in a series about Ford shows just how long he retains "sidekick" status before shifting to the forefront. With a
skeptical detective becoming more and more suspicious of Tom's evasions (Tom not trusting the man to solve the Sunday
crossword, let alone the murder of the unknown prospector in the canyon), everyone ends up in a deadly game of cat and mouse
(or cats and mice) in and around the "Maze", an area of forbidding canyons and rocks and abandoned mines that can prove
deadly even to experienced desert hikers. As for what everyone is after... well, the name of the book is Tyrannosaur
Canyon and covers on various editions feature a prominent fossil, so that's a sizeable clue, but there's more to it
than just a potentially career-making find. Indeed, there's more to it than any one player in the plot knows or understands,
all the pieces slowly coming together in a story where it's clear author Preston did extensive research. It all involves, as
mentioned previously, plenty of action and intrigue (and testosterone), with some betrayals and deceptions and such along the
way.
All that said, it came very close to losing a half-star. For all that it is pretty much what it says it is on the cover, at
times I found myself pushed out of the story, or at least shoved a little to the side. I can't quite put my finger on why,
but it has something to do with how the characters tend to feel a bit flat beyond all that action, how women (when they
showed up) have a way of being turned into inherently weaker, inherently objectified things and only belatedly rising as
people with backbones, and how, at some point, a sense of action movie implausibility and fatigue sets in; how far can you
push people beyond the limits of human endurance before even heroes of an action story fail to endure? There was also a bit
of tug-of-war going on between Tom Broadbent, evidently a character from previous Douglas Preston novels (which I have not
read) and Wyman Ford for alpha lead of the tale, which sometimes made the story feel like a snake with two heads; it can't
possibly go in both directions it wants to go at the same time. Still, despite this (and a sense that the story might've
benefited from a little trimming now and again, and the characters from a little less flat white hat/black hat
characterization), I will say again that it does deliver on its promises, and I've definitely read far worse, so I decided
to give it the benefit of the doubt.
