I love a smart book with strong characters and good action. Once the action bogs, my mind wanders, so I want the author to keep me on task. Toss in a little alternative history, secret groups, and mystery and the recipe should keep me busy for a few hours. I am a fast reader when the book is good.
Charles Brokaw's The Atlantis Code was a recent find for me and I had high hopes for an entertaining time curled up with a book. I was not disappointed as it was a well written book, good characters adequately drawn to engage them as real people, and a mystery to keep you guessing.
I was not, however, a really good book. It seemed to wander too much into the shapes and forms of a 'da Vinci Code' book genre: super intelligent scholar is the only one to solve some arcane mystery, secret cult/group/agency out to stop them, and some secret that will shock - SHOCK- I tell you! the entire religious world, social order, goverment, global civilization, etc.
Brokaw's hero, Thomas Lourds, is super smart guy who has to fend off all the super lovelies who throw themselves at him. It is never his fault; he is, he tells the reader, not out for commitment and they know this up front. Lourds, however, is not really that likeable and dispite his being portrayed as getting excited and involved in the quest for the meaning of the strange objects he needs to find. he fails to portray any 'hunger.' Maybe it is because he lacks the passion, the opinion, and the gravitas of a man devoted to an arcane subject area who has achieved world acclaim. That maybe cliche but having been around some world class academics I can affirm they can get that fire in the eyes and passion in their voice that is lacking in Lourds.
An author's job is to have his characters grow and evolve over time. It is hoped if a sequel emerges that we see Lourds not get the woman, reclaim some of the passion of his subject and not find answers coming as easily as they did in The Atlantis Code.
Review scale: 3 coffee cups
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