TYRANNOSAUR CANYON

It seems to me that Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are engaged in a duel to see who can write the best thriller. This book is Preston's turn, and he didn't disappoint. Both of these authors continue to write novels that you can't put down, don't want to put down, and will not put down! Mr. Preston takes us from the Moon to New Mexico to New York and back to New Mexico, along with a stop 65 million years ago for a day in the life of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

The story starts with Apollo 17 astronauts bringing back rock samples from the Moon in 1972. Mysteriously, one sample goes missing for 30 years. Meanwhile, Stem Weathers, a veteran prospector, is found dying from a gunshot wound in the New Mexico desert by Tom Broadbent. Before he dies, Stem gives Tom a "number-coded" notebook that he wants delivered to his daughter. After Tom leaves, Stem's killer, Weed Maddox, returns to the scene looking for the notebook, but only finds a piece of dinosaur bone. Weed flies to New York to give his boss, Dr. Iain Cuvus, assistant curator of the American Museum of Natural History, the bad news. From here on in the story explodes with excitement, intrigue, and mysterious characters.

Dr. Corvus gives the dinosaur sample to museum technical specialist, Melodie Crookshank, to analyze in secret. She is amazed by what she finds. The bone is from a fossilized T-Rex, but there is something else - something that can change the theory on what really caused the dinosaurs' disappearance for good. Conversations between Melodie and Dr. Corvus are picked up by a government listening devise, causing a black-op detail from the CIA to join the chase. Does this dinosaur sample have anything to do with the missing Moon rock from thirty years ago? Will the government use deadly force to obtain the location of the T-Rex and it's secrets?

Tom Broadbent, his wife Sally, and Wyman Ford, a ex-CIA agent (now a monk!), hit the desert looking the fossilzed T-Rex. Wyman, a ex-coder in the CIA, figured out what they were looking for. Meanwhile they are being followed by the crazed Weed Maddox, Detective Jimmie Willer of the Sante Fe police, and the secret black-op group, led by the murderous Mr. Masago. And what happens to Melodie and Dr. Corvus in New York? Who lives and who dies? What is the secret that people have to die for? What does the Moon and 65 million year old dinosaurs have to do with it?

For thrill seekers, this is a must read! The action is non-stop and rivals writing partner Lincoln Child's book Utopia for thrills and chills. I highly recommend reading novels like this in between serious reads. Between the two authors, this is the ninth book I've read, and they are all enjoyable.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Wyman Ford and Tom Broadbent have appeared in several of Mr.Preston's solo novels. Since Preston worked for the American Museum of Natural History from 1978 to 1985, the paleontology facts in the book are highly believable. Besides writing novels, Preston writes for three magazines including The New Yorker. If you read Prestons' The Monster of Florence, you will remember the stupidity of Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. I find it interesting that he was involved in the recent Amanda Knox conviction, and so does Douglas Preston.