Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story follows our protagonist, Nora Kelly, an archaeologist, and her desire and need to finish her deceased father’s work. 
It opens with an electric feeling of what the hell? As Kelly is contacted by a neighbour to head out to the old family homestead because of a disturbance. What she experiences, she isn’t quite sure, but she knows that something is not right. Finding a letter, written by her father sixteen years ago, yet mailed only recently, she becomes enthralled in her need to follow her father’s footsteps and search for the lost, ancient city of Quivera. She hopes to finish his work, and by chance, find her father. 

The beginning of the book dragged a little bit, but I feel that it was necessary to build the foundations of the story. It sees us meeting Nora, learning a bit about her past, and takes us through the motions of receiving approval to set out on this magnificent exploration. Once the story hits the ground at the start of our team’s journey, it runs. 

I found the story itself to be completely immersive. Learning about this lost civilisation, and also the horrors that have followed our team on their journey. A story filled with adventure, danger, mystery and a small sprinkling of horror, what’s not to love. 

At times I felt a little bit creeped out by our mysterious assailants. Who are they? What do they want? 

The reveal of the city of Quivera was amazing, I felt like I was there, and found myself just as excited as our team of explorers. 

The characters were well thought out. I felt myself rooting for Nora and majority of the team, there were a few characters that I didn’t like very much, but that was the point. I love the way the characters had depth, they were developed and had their own quirks and at times, their own agendas. I found myself not knowing who to trust, and second guessing myself on characters I thought I did. 

Overall, the reveal at the end section of this novel, which answered our questions on the mysterious assailants and revealed everything was well done, I wasn’t left with unanswered questions at the end, which can happen sometimes, and it irks me, especially if there is no follow up book. The ending itself was a nice way to wrap up the adventure and give Nora the answers that SHE was looking for. 

Overall, I can’t recommend this book enough. I was pleasantly surprised by it and enjoyed it much, much more that I anticipated. 

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