Michael Marshall Smith, writing as Michael Rutger, have given us a book described as Indiana Jones meets X Files. I am more inclined to think of it as Indiana Jones meets Ancient Aliens, but the result is essentially the same.
Nolan Moore is a “Rogue Archaeologist” which is a real think as I once knew a rogue Egyptologist. He is essentially a Giorgio Tsoukalos (Ancient Aliens) type of presenter who hosts a web series that explores all manner of paranormal mysteries. He is widely ignored and ridiculed for his show, but he does what he needs to get by. He has been reading up on a hundred year old expedition to the Grand Canyon that discovered a cave with all manner of relics. Evidence suggests it was then covered up by the Smithsonian in Washington. What was so important that it needed to be hidden? Moore is going to find out!
Nolan, along with his Producer, guide, assorted helpers, a journalist and representative of his financial backers, head into the canyon expecting to film a few scenes of them searching and ultimately leaving empty handed. Things go wrong when they actually find the damn cave, and all the secret horrors within.
I’ll be honest. I sat down with this and for some reason the first 30 pages were a total slog. I put it down and picked it back up the following night. Sighing, I promised that I would hit page 50 before giving up on the book (a good rule of thumb for any novel). Four hours later I had finished all 300+ pages and had ordered the sequel (The Possession) on Amazon. This was an outstanding novel! Once they hit the canyon things fall into place really quickly. It has mystery, secrets, horror, monsters, action, everything you would expect from an Indiana Jones/X-Files mash-up. As I said, I’ve already gotten the sequel and will be diving in once I clear a few books on my backlog. This was a great one.
The Skinny from the Fatty 