Maxwell Broadbent is a world-famous collector, with a personal collection of famous art, relics and valuables that amounts to more than half a billion dollars. His three sons - Phillip, Vernon and Tom - arrive at his Santa Fe estate only to realize that their father, who is dying of cancer, has disappeared with his entire collection. He's gone off to be buried with his possessions somewhere in the world, and if his sons want their inheritance, they'll have to rob his tomb just like Broadbent had done to build his collection.

The three brothers each set off on their own, each eventually picking up their father's trail, which leads deep into the Honduran jungle. One item in the collection of particular importance. A Mayan codex... a massive book which contains all the Mayan culture's extensive knowledge of the preparation and application of thousands of species of medicinal rainforest plants and insects. The value of that knowledge is immeasurable, and along with the three brothers, a beautiful ethnopharmacologist and their father's old tomb raiding buddy are soon in the race to find Max's final resting place, the codex, and the half a billion dollars in irreplaceable art and artifacts.

Readers who enjoy suspense, action, adventure, mystery, and a little fictional history mixed in.

The way the author was able to weave in the three separate storylines of the brothers each venturing to Central America on their own was particularly impressive. It's not easy to juggle that many storylines, but Preston made it look easy.

This was the third Douglas Preston book I've read (Relic and Riptide were the other two). After reading this one, I can safely add Preston to my list of favorite authors, who I will definitely revisit in the future.

Happy, sad... frustrated... hopeful and hopeless... excited... this book really runs you through the emotional ringer as the story unfolds.

It's a great archaeological adventure, in the vein of TOMB RAIDER or INDIANA JONES. It's an exciting tale of normal people braving the dangers of a Honduran jungle and swap in an effort to find their father's tomb; each for their own unique reasons.

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Created Jul 10, 2009 at 2:39pm • Submit your own review...