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12.21

by Dustin Thomason (Goodreads Author)

3.41 of 5 stars 3.41 · rating details · 1,579 ratings · 391 reviews

From the co-author of the two-million copy mega-bestseller The Rule of Four comes a riveting thriller with a brilliant premise based on the 2012 apocalypse phenomenon—perfect for readers of Steve Berry, Preston and Child, and Dan Brown.

For decades, December 21, 2012, has been a touchstone for doomsayers worldwide. It is the date, they claim, when the ancient Maya calendar...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published August 7th 2012 by The Dial Press (first published 2012)

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Nov 05, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Well....I know if you've read many of my reviews you've seen that opening before, and you probably know what it means.

Well, this one escapes a 2 rating barely. I like the main plot line. It's one I've seen elsewhere and so close to the real world that it's not really a strain to accept it (or something like it). I can't say more outside a spoiler tagged section.

So, good "plot line" but from there on there are (for me) not a lot of bright spots. While the plot is a good one the plot devices used...more Well....I know if you've read many of my reviews you've seen that opening before, and you probably know what it means.

Well, this one escapes a 2 rating barely. I like the main plot line. It's one I've seen elsewhere and so close to the real world that it's not really a strain to accept it (or something like it). I can't say more outside a spoiler tagged section.

So, good "plot line" but from there on there are (for me) not a lot of bright spots. While the plot is a good one the plot devices used to bolster it and carry it forward aren't really that great. The characters are a bit shallow and lightly drawn and I never got involved with them (and the female protagonist is frankly annoying). I found so much of the book predictable (when it happens you have that "I saw that coming way back" feeling).

I don't know I ended up skimming part of the book and that usually signals that I'm not going to go above 2 stars, but I was curious to see how the novel tied up.

I can't really recommend this one, at least not highly. Many like it so I'd suggest you look over some other thoughts on the book. Have you agreed with me in the past? might help to know. I mean if you've loved books I don't like or disliked books I love that may tell you something to. :)

Now if you plan to read the book know that the spoilers below are actual spoilers. Don't read it if you don't want some details about the story.

(view spoiler)

The book's okay, the plot's good, the characters are weak, a lot of the plot devices are pretty cliched... Maybe just me. Compare thoughts maybe you'll decide differently on this one. Not really one I find memorable. (less)

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Oct 15, 2012 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of medical drama with historical elements

Recommended to Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress by: Random House Giveway to Action/Adventure Aficionados Group

Shelves: action-adventure-group-read, apocalyptic-postapocalyptic-dystopi, meso-american-folklore, adventure, read-by-october-2012, owned-copy, medical-profession, medical-drama, outbreak-epidemic, beta-hero, nerd-prof-scientist-genius-geek, 2012-sky-s-the-limit-club, yearly-reading-challenge, all-things-autumn-challenge, october-scare-fest-2012, metafiction, books-about-books, epistolary-narrative, race-against-time, thriller-suspense, cannot-suspend-disbelief

12.21 was an entertaining read. I never got bored, that's for sure. I'm not big on the whole Mayan Prophecy thing, so I normally wouldn't run to read this sort of thing. However, Random House offered a giveaway for the Action/Adventure Aficionados group, so I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did.

What I liked:
* I love medicine, so medical dramas in various incarnations almost always appeal. The whole concept of an epidemic illness arising out of a connection to an ancient Maya tomb and civi...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Sunny in Wonderland rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads-read

I received this book months ago through goodreads (for free, in exchange for an honest review.) I know, I know - I definitely should have read and reviewed this sooner. And as an added punishment, December 21st has come and gone with no apocolypse, so the premise of the story wasn't nearly as disturbing as it should have been.

But, it's been sitting on my shelf, so I thought I'd read it before 12/21/12 was so far behind me that I wouldn't be able to relate.

I wasn't disappointed in the book. It wa...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Kristin Lundgren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: artifact-thriller, disaster, historical, thriller, thriller-medical

This book I won in a contest, and I saved it for December, reading it on 12.21. It is the story of a mysterious artifact,a codex, smuggled out of Guatemala by a young man. It is clearly black market, but nothing like it has been seen before. It is a complete codex of the Maya, the only one found to date. Chel Manu, a researcher at the Getty Museum, works with her old mentor to try and decipher it's meaning, as the forecasted day of the Mayan apocalypse nears. Chel doesn't believe in it, but is i...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Lexie Robinson Austin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay, confession time. I hated Dustin Thomason's other novel, the Rule of Four. I thought it was boring and slow. However, I LOVED this novel! It was like Hot Zone, but with a Mayan twist.

First, the summary: "For decades, December 21, 2012, has been a touchstone for doomsayers worldwide. It is the date, they claim, when the ancient Maya calendar predicts the world will end.

In Los Angeles, two weeks before, all is calm. Dr. Gabriel Stanton takes his usual morning bike ride, drops off the dog wit...more Okay, confession time. I hated Dustin Thomason's other novel, the Rule of Four. I thought it was boring and slow. However, I LOVED this novel! It was like Hot Zone, but with a Mayan twist.

First, the summary: "For decades, December 21, 2012, has been a touchstone for doomsayers worldwide. It is the date, they claim, when the ancient Maya calendar predicts the world will end.

In Los Angeles, two weeks before, all is calm. Dr. Gabriel Stanton takes his usual morning bike ride, drops off the dog with his ex-wife, and heads to the lab where he studies incurable prion diseases for the CDC. His first phone call is from a hospital resident who has an urgent case she thinks he needs to see. Meanwhile, Chel Manu, a Guatemalan American researcher at the Getty Museum, is interrupted by a desperate, unwelcome visitor from the black market antiquities trade who thrusts a duffel bag into her hands.

By the end of the day, Stanton, the foremost expert on some of the rarest infections in the world, is grappling with a patient whose every symptom confounds and terrifies him. And Chel, the brightest young star in the field of Maya studies, has possession of an illegal artifact that has miraculously survived the centuries intact: a priceless codex from a lost city of her ancestors. This extraordinary record, written in secret by a royal scribe, seems to hold the answer to her life’s work and to one of history’s great riddles: why the Maya kingdoms vanished overnight. Suddenly it seems that our own civilization might suffer this same fate.

With only days remaining until December 21, 2012, Stanton and Chel must join forces before time runs out."

Things I loved: I loved the action, the plot, and the pacing. I thought the primary actors were really well done. I loved learning more about the Mayan culture, and I loved learning more about Prions and prion disease. And really, who would have thought to combine the Mayans and Prions? Well done Dustin Thomason!

Things I didn't like so much: the secondary characters were a little rough. Like Chel's mother, you never knew quite was was up with her. And Staton's ex-wife. She was a little strange too. There were others that were just a little out there too.

But overall, a strong and fun read. Fans of Michael Crichton will not be disappointed!(less)

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Nov 20, 2012 Roberto Mattos rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a very well written piece of fiction. Very dense, this novel brings all the elements to make this book an instant success. A thriller that goes from Los Angeles to the jungles in Guatemala in 10 days. The plot is simple and interesting. Doctor Gabriel Stanton is a specialist in prion diseases and Chel Manu is a star in the field of Maya studies. Dr. Stanton receives a call from a resident in a hospital saying that they have a patient that he needs to see. Problem is that the patient only...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Robin Carter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-thriller

After many Historical Fiction titles back to back i was just in the mood for a thriller, but didn't want cheesy, so skipped the latest Cussler and dived into an unknown book called 12-21 by Dustin Thomas.
At first i must admit i thought i was going to get some sort of cross between tacky Armageddon thriller and a robin cook. I was relived to find it wasn't, it was a really well written medical thriller with a great blend of medical information, history and location research. The characterisation...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Jacqui rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller-mystery, history

From the Prologue to the final spellbinding pages, Dustin Thomason's "12-21" (Random House 2012) is a page-turner. Within five minutes, the reader is locked in the grasp of two seemingly unrelated stories, told in tandem throughout the novel. Each new twist wraps them tighter together until the plot is a Gordian knot that will take all of the brilliance of the story's main characters to unravel.

Gabriel Stanton, an unhappily divorced workaholic, runs a prion research facility. Its initial goal, n...more From the Prologue to the final spellbinding pages, Dustin Thomason's "12-21" (Random House 2012) is a page-turner. Within five minutes, the reader is locked in the grasp of two seemingly unrelated stories, told in tandem throughout the novel. Each new twist wraps them tighter together until the plot is a Gordian knot that will take all of the brilliance of the story's main characters to unravel.

Gabriel Stanton, an unhappily divorced workaholic, runs a prion research facility. Its initial goal, now fallen into disrepute, is to find a cure for prion viruses--a particular strain of virus that has no known treatment. When he is called to consult on a patient who could be suffering from his specialty, he must not only come up with a therapy--something funding cuts and bureaucracy have prevented him doing since the center opened--but convince the CDC that the solution is to be found in the collapse of a booming Mayan city almost a thousand years ago. He gets assistance from a Mayan archaeological expert--Chel Manu--who comes into possession of a codex which the pair determine holds the treatment key. The trick is to decode it and then understand it through the lens of the long-dead heroes who wrote it--before life as they know it ends.

Which seems to be December 21st, a day predicted by in Mayan scripture.

The plot is an intriguing blend of science, history and the best elements of the thriller genre (heroic main characters, noble intentions--that sort of stuff).

Thomason has a wonderful knack for etching a character with a few well-placed words. Within sentences of the story's beginning, we see Stanton's flaws, humanity, decency, and brilliance. He does it within the plot lines via dialogue and action in ways any aspiring writer wishes s/he could do as succinctly and effective.

Sounds amazing, doesn't it? You ask: Why the four stars? Two reasons:
* that Chel comes into possession of the codex that can cure the disease is hard to swallow. It traveled from Guatemala to her front door. Thomason provides rationale, but really?
* the Zero Patient for the modern-day prion epidemic just happens to come from the Guatemalan home town of Chel's family. Again, really?

Coincidences always weaken a story, so I had to ignore these and continue.

Which I did, right up to the feel-good ending. My conclusion: I'm going to keep reading Dustin Thomason(less)

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Sep 30, 2012 Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Insomnia plays a key role in the short list of symptoms. It's amazing what sleep deprivation can do to a person.
It's the end of the world as we know it. The city of LA is under quarantine. Deadly prions have escaped from the ancient Mayan civilization to wreak havoc on all they come in contact with. Dr. Gabe is thoroughly confused and guesses food as the culprit. Dr. Chel has committed a major crime (accepting and decyphering an ancient codex) and could face jail time. Hero and heroine search f...more

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Sep 16, 2012 JoAnne Pulcino rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, adult-thriller

12 21

Dustin Thomason

This good read transports you from modern neuroscience to texts from the ancient Maya culture and lost cities.

For decades the Maya calendar predicts the world will end December 21, 2012 which is only two weeks away at the onset of this novel.

Dr Gabriel Stanton the foremost expert on the rarest infections is confounded by a patient whose symptoms terrify him. Chel Manu, the brightest star in the field of Maya studies is a Guatemalan American researcher at the Getty Museum. Che...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Gaby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, technothriller

World renowned expert Dr. Gabriel Stanton doesn't expect to encounter a patient with prion disease. When Stanton receives a call about an urgent case, he nearly dismisses the call believing that the resident has misdiagnosed the disease. But careful examination leads Stanton to discover that the patient is not just infected with prion disease but that the gestation period for the disease is dangerously short. This disease doesn't just spread easily, it develops and kills swiftly.

It's by chance t...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Da Vinci Code like adventure about the Mayan Calender and the last days of the world. The intelligence factor of this novel was incredible. The author definitely did his homework and managed to accurately detail many aspects of Mayan culture and modern day medicine. But he was still able to create ingeniously the fictional elements that not only make a novel more entertaining, but also remind us that no matter what historians and scientists can "prove," there is always so much we don't know, s...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Richard Gazala rated it 3 of 5 stars

The vast majority of fictional entertainment (and lots of psuedo-science masquerading as unassailable fact) addressing the Mayan Long Count calendar's ancient imputed prediction that civilization as we know it will end on December 21, 2012, pivots on the fantastic. If humanity's impending annihilation doesn't have its origins in climatic cataclysms or sudden reversal of the earth's poles due to rare planetary alignments, then it will be incessant earthquakes or a malignant alien invasion that wi...more The vast majority of fictional entertainment (and lots of psuedo-science masquerading as unassailable fact) addressing the Mayan Long Count calendar's ancient imputed prediction that civilization as we know it will end on December 21, 2012, pivots on the fantastic. If humanity's impending annihilation doesn't have its origins in climatic cataclysms or sudden reversal of the earth's poles due to rare planetary alignments, then it will be incessant earthquakes or a malignant alien invasion that will bring about our apocalypse. Those theories are only a few of the countless doomsday scenarios inspired by the purported "end" of the Mayan calendar next December that fill groaning shelves at DVD and book stores around the world.

Dustin Thomason's take on the subject in his interesting new novel "12.21" is refreshingly different. In Thomason's novel, mankind needn't peer elsewhere than in its collective mirror to find the source of the threat to its existence perhaps chronicled in the Mayan calendar. When a tomb robber steals an ancient artifact from Mayan ruins long lost in dense Guatemalan jungles and brings it to Los Angeles for sale on the archaeological black market in December, 2012, he unwittingly unleashes a catastrophe on humanity unseen since the Black Death. Once they suspect they might have uncovered the calamity's provenance, a medical doctor named Gabriel Stanton with expertise in strange infections reluctantly teams with a Guatemalan American academic named Chel Manu to strike out for the Mayan ruins. Armed with only cryptic clues thousands of years old in a dead language about where to find the ruins, and a shaky hypothesis of what caused the disease ravaging the continent, Stanton and Manu trek into the jungles with hopes far outweighing certainties that they can stop what will surely be the end of man on earth.

Thomason (who with Ian Caldwell in 2004 published the bestselling novel "The Rule of Four") tells his story crisply, in a writing style neither particularly graceful nor inept. His characters, settings, and dialogue service his plot as well as they must to keep readers turning the pages to find out what happens next. All told, "12.21" is a solidly entertaining contemporary thriller that's certainly more worth reading than most of the current drivel trying to cash in on whatever will (or won't) come to pass next December 21.(less)

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Aug 23, 2012 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

This thriller begins ten days before the purported apocalypse of 12/21/2012 predicted by interpretations of the Ancient Mayan calendar.

Gabriel (“Gabe”) Stanton, is the director of a center in L.A. for research on prions - proteins in the brain responsible for some rare and currently incurable diseases, including Mad Cow Disease and Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI). He gets an urgent call from Michaela Thane, a resident at East L.A. Presbyterian Hospital. She believes she is seeing a case of FFI, wh...more This thriller begins ten days before the purported apocalypse of 12/21/2012 predicted by interpretations of the Ancient Mayan calendar.

Gabriel (“Gabe”) Stanton, is the director of a center in L.A. for research on prions - proteins in the brain responsible for some rare and currently incurable diseases, including Mad Cow Disease and Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI). He gets an urgent call from Michaela Thane, a resident at East L.A. Presbyterian Hospital. She believes she is seeing a case of FFI, which causes total insomnia, leading to hallucinations, panic, and seizures. Nearly all of the afflicted die after a few weeks. Thane's patient doesn’t speak English however, and when someone finally guesses he may be speaking Qu’iche, a branch of the Mayan language spoken by many Guatemalans, Stanton and Thane call upon Chel Manu, a local language expert, to help them translate.

Dr. Manu, curator of Maya antiguities for the Getty Museum, specializes in epigraphy, the study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions. Coincidentally with being summoned by Stanton, she has come into an incredibly valuable ancient Mayan codex, or written history, which was painted in glyphs (hieroglyphic-like symbols) by a royal scribe of a king.

Chel discovers that the patient, Volcy, is the one who found the codex, and he sold it to the collector who gave it to Chel for safekeeping. Volcy dies before he can tell them where he got the book, which is presumably where he contracted this virulently lethal disease. It is imperative for Chel to translate the codex as soon as possible, in the hope that she can figure out where it came from. Stanton needs to get to the source of the infection in order to figure out a cure, because somehow the FFI is spreading, at a rate suggesting that the rumored apocalypse could actually be happening.

As Chel translates, she learns about the fascinating world of Paktul, the scribe of the codex; what happened to cause the collapse of his city; and the reason that Volcy would get sick and die almost 1100 years after Paktul himself succumbed.

Discussion: Some aspects of the story were not plausible to me, such as Chel’s speed at translating broken fragments of a document that was moreover written in ancient glyphs no longer readily understandable.

It also appeared that everyone was quite susceptible to the disease except the characters the author needed to keep around.

The persona of Victor, Chel's mentor, seemed a bit inconsistent to me, and the villain was a little too cardboardy. As for the two main protagonists, I really never felt like I “knew” either Gabe or Chel. But I found the medical part and the explication of Mayan culture quite interesting, and I enjoyed the sections of the book that told Paktul’s story.

Evaluation: I had a mixed reaction to this book. Much of it moved along at a “thriller” pace, but I considered some aspects to be better written than others. The ending also disappointed me; in addition to an abrupt denouement, the theme of coincidence or fate, so prevalent throughout most of the book, just sort of got dropped.

Nevertheless, it is an entertaining book, and certainly recommended for those with an interest in the prophecies about a possible apocalypse on 12/21/2012.
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Aug 21, 2012 Kathleen (Kat) Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, murder-mystery, medical-suspense-fiction, supense-thriller-fiction

Two weeks before the perceived end of the world, according to those who agree with the Mayan prophecy that on December 12, 2012, the world will end in a cataclysmic way. While the world moves in one of two directions those thinking that life will continue on as it normally has or those that are preparing for the end.

Dr. Gabriel Stanton has been watching from his office in Los Angeles and believes that life will continue on December 22nd and this is one of those times where people go to the extre...more
Two weeks before the perceived end of the world, according to those who agree with the Mayan prophecy that on December 12, 2012, the world will end in a cataclysmic way. While the world moves in one of two directions those thinking that life will continue on as it normally has or those that are preparing for the end.

Dr. Gabriel Stanton has been watching from his office in Los Angeles and believes that life will continue on December 22nd and this is one of those times where people go to the extremes with thinking the world will come to an end just because a calendar has run out. But his life is about to take an unexpected change when a phone call from a doctor in Los Angeles believes that she has a case he'd be interested in. As a doctor who works for the CDC or Center for Disease Control working on incurable prion diseases and trying to find a cure, he learns that a unidentified man hasn't slept in 14 days and no matter what they try he can't slept. Not only that he keeps muttering a phrase no one can understand, so they are trying to find a linguist who can help. Dr. Stanton knows that time is running out, because if you can sleep in 20 days, the body will die.

Chel Manu, is a Guatemalan American researcher for the Getty Museum who loves learning more about Mayan artifacts since that is her family's heritage and background. Especially in light of all the end times prophecy surfacing around the city. When a colleague of hers meets her late one night asking her to keep an illegal artifact until he can obtain the necessary paperwork to sell the item to her and the museum. He promises it will only be a couple of days. When she opens the package, she finds herself looking at what could possibly be the oldest known codex from the Mayans that unlocks a potential disaster to those who can translate what it says. Not only that, it is priceless in terms of value.

In the best selling novel, 12-21: A Novel by Dustin Thomason, two unlikely people will meet to work to save the fate of the planet when it appears the cases they are working on are in fact linked. Dr. Stanton has called in Chel Manu to attempt to communicate with his victim before time runs out and what he keeps mumbling has devastating effects that could truly bring about the end of the world and fulfill the ancient Mayan prophecy in a chilling way!

I received 12-21: A Novel by Dustin Thomason compliments of TLC Book Tours for my honest review and instantly was hooked by the story line. Considering this is the year the prophecy is either going to be fulfilled and the world will end or it will be like all the other, "doomsday prophecy's" that will go unanswered like Y2K. It is chilling to learn some things I hadn't considered upon reading this book like the term rendering and how it makes me want to completely become a vegetarian or raise my own food when you consider just how little we really know about what we ingest and use on our bodies. It does make the reader think and wonder just how possible this premise might be to reality! This one made me want to give up sleep to finish it and thus always rates highly in my opinion if it can keep me engaged and it did that and more! This rates a stellar 5 out of 5 stars and for those of you that are fans of authors like Michael Crighton, then you will LOVE this one!(less)

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Aug 12, 2012 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars

December 21, 2012 is the last day of the Mayan long calendar, and the date has long been associated by many as the day the world as we know it, ends. Author Dustin Thomason, an MD himself, has written a fast moving medical mystery thriller that has us all wondering if this could be how life as we know it will disintegrate all around us.

December 14 begins with the usual routine for Dr. Gabe Stanton: bike ride, coffee at his favorite coffee shop and then on to work at the CDC Research Center in L...more December 21, 2012 is the last day of the Mayan long calendar, and the date has long been associated by many as the day the world as we know it, ends. Author Dustin Thomason, an MD himself, has written a fast moving medical mystery thriller that has us all wondering if this could be how life as we know it will disintegrate all around us.

December 14 begins with the usual routine for Dr. Gabe Stanton: bike ride, coffee at his favorite coffee shop and then on to work at the CDC Research Center in LA. But his first call sends his day spinning wildly off kilter, as he hears the symptoms described which could mean that a very rare, but potentially fatal disease has attacked a John Doe patient just recently admitted to the hospital.

In the meantime, a Mayan researcher at an LA museum, Chel Manu, has received a hurriedly delivered package for safe-keeping from a shady antiquities dealer. It may be fake, but the more she looks at it, the more she believes she has received the genuine article, an ancient codex which almost certainly is even older than the existing Mayan writings currently housed in a few fortunate Museum collections. That means it is illegal for her to possess it and that legally it should be returned to the country of Guatemala, from which it was no doubt stolen and secreted out of the country in hopes of a quick sale to dealers in the US.

As Chel ponders her ethical dilemma, she receives a call from the hospital where the John Doe is being treated. He speaks no English and the translation panel at the hospital believes he is speaking a Guatemalan dialect. When Chel speaks to the patient, she realizes that he does speak the dialect of her birthplace. The doctors are guiding her to ask questions that will help them isolate the source of his disease, which most likely came from something he ate. His frightening symptoms include insomnia, hallucinations and an incredible unquenchable thirst. As she asks questions she comes to realize that he is very likely the agent who sold the codex to the antiquities dealer. Without telling the hospital authorities and Dr. Stanton her suspicions, or even of the existence of the codex, she continues to ask for the exact location of the ruins where the ancient book was found.

Too soon, the disease takes the life of Volcy, the Guatemalan the hospital had admitted as John Doe. Chillingly, there are soon other cases discovered, and the hospital researchers discover that this prion disease, similar to mad cow disease which is spread by ingesting infected meat, is not spread by food at all but is airborne and enters the body through the eyes.

The disease spreads like wildfire through LA and is unwittingly carried to other US cities by travelers before a quarantine is mandated by the CDC. Dr. Stanton and his team are scrambling to find a way to counteract the fast moving disease and to prevent it's further spread. Chaos reigns in LA, as the disease moves faster that the bureaucracy's efforts to slow it down. Chel continues to translate the codex, discovering some startling secrets about the ancient Mayans, secrets which may hold the answers that Dr. Stanton and his team are trying to find. When the expert on the ancient text and the lead researcher on prion diseases join forces, they just may be able to save the world. (less)

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Jun 29, 2012 Ronald Roseborough rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, adventure, fiction, suspense

From the disease ravaged streets of a quarantined Los Angeles, to the sweltering heat and nearly impenetrable jungles of Guatemala, this book is full of nonstop suspense and action. It is a real page turner. The threat of a civilization ending disease is coupled with the ancient Mayan doomsday calender ticking down to 12/21/12. Many believe it is a date upon which the world as we know it will cease to exist. Dr. Gabriel Stanton and his staff try to find a cure for a mysterious brain disease that...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Kim McGee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Look for this book in August because 12 21 will have you on the edge of your seat !
Reading thrillers like 12 21 can keep you up at night. It isn't the heart pounding adventure or the characters miss with near death experiences but the simple fact that this type of thriller could happen. The realization that a horrific virus is just out there in some ancient ruin waiting to be unleashed upon the world makes my skin crawl. In the same vein as Steve Berry, James Rollins and other super thrillers, 1...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Lorretta rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received this through the GoodReads Giveaway.

This was a terrific read! It has creepy medical scares, sacred artifacts, spiritual groups and good people who sometimes make dumb choices. After all, who likes a hero that never makes a single misstep?

Gabe is a top researcher in the study of prions which cause disease like mad cow. Since the huge scare has been over, his funding has been dwindling and he is relegated as a specialist in a supremely narrow field. He is stunned when a doctor from a hu...more I received this through the GoodReads Giveaway.

This was a terrific read! It has creepy medical scares, sacred artifacts, spiritual groups and good people who sometimes make dumb choices. After all, who likes a hero that never makes a single misstep?

Gabe is a top researcher in the study of prions which cause disease like mad cow. Since the huge scare has been over, his funding has been dwindling and he is relegated as a specialist in a supremely narrow field. He is stunned when a doctor from a huge Los Angeles hospital calls with a potential case.

Chel is a curator at the Getty museum in Los Angeles. She is from Guatamala, descended from the Mayans. She is eager to discover and protect the Mayan treasures and history, goes to religious services, and can even speak the ancient language. Her mother, on the other hand, refuses to talk about Guatalama or the fantastic heritage of the Mayans. Chel understands that the death of her father at the hands of the government was hard on her mother, but since he was a leader of the revolution, Chel cannot understand why her mother does not have more vocal pride.

A shady art dealer gives Chel a priceless book-a Mayan codex that looks to predate almost all other codexes known to date. Against her better judgement, she takes it and uses Getty resources to preserve and translate it. It is written on bark and fallig apart. To translate and decipher, she must turn to her old mentor who once betrayed her and an ex-boyfriend who she hasn't seen in months.

In two weeks, it will be 12.21 and the believers in the Mayan calendar are preparing for the end. Chel is contacted by a local hospital to help translate the ravings of a sick man. Once there, she is stunned to find out that it is he who smuggled the codex from Guatamala. She holds back some information from the doctors to protect herself. Only after the sickness spreads does she admit to Gabe her deceit by omission.

From there, they are in a race against time to find something to stop this deadly disease!

I enjoyed this book a lot; I hope this author is prolific!

Like the cover art very much

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Mar 12, 2013 Sheila rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. An evil Maya dwarf cannibal? Isn't a pandemic and the end of the world (that is, or was, December 21, 2012) enough for author Thomason? I guess not. But, since Thomason is not a racist, there is a lovely Maya protagonist scholar, and a Black doctor. But, as in many a Hollywood movie - the Black doctor gets knocked off (but the white doctor protagonist hero carries on). You can see Thomason trying hard to honor Maya people and culture - he must have gotten scholars to help him with the many detai...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

4.0 out of 5 stars - Suspenseful and very entertaining...

Ever since I returned from touring Mayan ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula, I have been searching for books about their culture, customs, habits, family life, etc. -- in other words -- any anthropological and archeological information about this group of people! This book dealt with a story about Mayans from deep in the rain forests of Guatemala.

A series of related events combine to create a very suspenseful medical thriller as well as an int...more 4.0 out of 5 stars - Suspenseful and very entertaining...

Ever since I returned from touring Mayan ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula, I have been searching for books about their culture, customs, habits, family life, etc. -- in other words -- any anthropological and archeological information about this group of people! This book dealt with a story about Mayans from deep in the rain forests of Guatemala.

A series of related events combine to create a very suspenseful medical thriller as well as an interesting theory about what happened to the Mayans. It is December, 2012, in California. The doomsayers on the streets are insisting that the world as we know it will end on 12-21-12 -- because that is the end of the Mayan calendar -- the Long Count. A man is taken to the Emergency Room of Presbyterian Hospital and is diagnosed with a rare prion disease -- seems he is just out of the jungles of Guatemala. His symptoms rapidly become fatal and the fear of a contagious epidemic brings Dr. Gabriel Stanton of the CDC to investigate the cause and hopefully to find some sort of cure.

A stolen codex is given illegally to Chel Manu, the curator of Maya antiquities for the Getty Museum in LA, California. Being Mayan herself, and from the general area where this treasure was found, Chel accepts the looted book knowing that she could lose her job and her reputation. The lure of discovering her own peoples' history -- to find out what had caused the demise of their civilization during the classic period -- between 800-900 AD -- years before the Spanish conquistadors had arrived, is too strong for her to resist. Once thriving cities abandoned and a way of life ended with no trace of what had caused this fall.

Stanton and Chel find that there is a connection between the codex and the two initial victims of the prion disease. Their goal is to find the source site of the book and some evidence of prions in an ancient tomb or temple that some feel is a mythical lost city of the Mayans. Both are soon disgraced when authorities discover her perfidy in accepting the looted codex and his unauthorized attempts to treat the devastating disease.

LA is under quarantine and there are suddenly thousands infected with the prion. Is there anything that will help those affected? How did the prion get into the Mayans all those years ago? Stanton and Chel call in anyone they know who can help them translate the codex, locate the lost city, and figure out the mystery once and for all -- can they do it before 12-21-12 or is this how the end is coming?

This was a very fast paced read with lots of interesting detail. I don't know how much of it is based on any factual evidence, but it's a great tale nevertheless and quite imaginative if not true! I enjoyed the "translation" of the codex as a glimpse into Mayan life during those ancient times including the symbolism, language, and customs surrounding their life and worship of king and gods. I think any reader who enjoys speculative fiction with a historical aspect -- AND a bit of medical mystery thrown in -- will enjoy this novel as I did. (less)

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Apr 24, 2013 Randy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: april13, science-fiction, thriller

Dr. Gabriel Stanton and Dr. Chel Manu have not met. Stanton is a specialist in infectious diseases, and Manu is a specialist in ancient Mayan linguistics. When Dr. Stanton is called in to consult on a disease resembling the prion diseases he has been working on for years, a series of events is triggered that threatens not only the city of Los Angeles, but potentially the entire continent and world. Sound apocalyptic? Well, as the title suggests, the end of the world is nearing, at least if you b...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Felicia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-read, 4-50-wine-glasses

Read for Review (Edelweiss)
Overall Rating: 4.50
Story Rating: 4.50
Character Rating: 4.50

First Thought When Finished: 12.21 by Dustin Thomason was brilliantly written, scary in premise, and wildly imaginative!

What I Thought of the Story: Dustin Thomason has managed to weave a story that on the surface seems a little bit like "Outbreak" (more the book than the movie). There is a disease that may or may not have been originally introduced through contact with an animal (though ingestion in this case...more Read for Review (Edelweiss)
Overall Rating: 4.50
Story Rating: 4.50
Character Rating: 4.50

First Thought When Finished: 12.21 by Dustin Thomason was brilliantly written, scary in premise, and wildly imaginative!

What I Thought of the Story: Dustin Thomason has managed to weave a story that on the surface seems a little bit like "Outbreak" (more the book than the movie). There is a disease that may or may not have been originally introduced through contact with an animal (though ingestion in this case). Very quickly though 12.21 takes a completely different turn. The characters are taken through a labyrinth of scenarios for source and the reader is taken through a series of scenarios that keep us guessing. 12.21 is a great mix of different story-telling methods that work: history (Mayan), science, and emotions. How would they all play together in a real world scenario? That is something you will be asking yourself as you read along.

What I Thought of the Characters: Dr. Gabriel Stanton is a prime example of a man who lives for his work and he is good at it too. He is a bit of a tunnel vision guy: recognize a breakout, put things into effect, and really his way is the right way. I found him to be complicated in some aspects and relatively simple in others. There are people like him in the world and honestly if something bad is happening, they are the people I want working on it (I just don't necessarily want to work with them). Chel Manu is the other main character in 12.21. She is a woman on a mission to save the Mayan culture and preserve their history. Though the story starts out with her making a very damning choice of withholding information, I do believe her choices are made with the best intentions. She is passionate about what she does and she ends up being very integral in the overall story. Together Stanton and Manu make a very determined team and Dustin Thomason did a great job of making their chemistry very organic!

Final Thought: 12.21 by Dustin Thomason is a story that will make you think! For me, personally, I will never look at insomnia the same way again!(less)

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Sep 29, 2012 Ctgt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: action

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 11, 2012 Jeanne Jenkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

I won this book via a Facebook contest.

This was a most unusual novel. Since it was titled 12.21, you know the end of the world as we know it, I thought it would be a bit negative. Actually it was not. As a matter of fact, except that the underlying story line was 12.21, it didn't dwell on it. It told a story of a manuscript that was apparently written in the year 900 that was found and brought to L.A. There are apparently lots of "2012ers" living in L.A. Well, that makes sense for la la land. A...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Laura Salas rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, suspense

I might be the only person on the planet who only very recently heard of all the hub-bub about the Mayan calendar, end of the world, yada, yada, yada. Can you say out of the loop? Anyway, this terrific novel mixes elements of Mayan culture and history with the suspense and drama of a plague to come up with a really readable, intriguing adventure. The two main characters, Gabriel Stanton, a prion disease researcher for the CDC, and Chel Manu, a Guatamalan American researcher for the Getty Museum,...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, own, tlc

I wouldn’t categorize this novel as a thriller per se, because there’s not a whole lot of action or globe-trotting heroism like fans of Berry and Rollins expect. It’s more of a medical drama with a good Mayan conspiracy thrown in. Thomason did an effective job creating a very scary scenario about a very real and deadly infection and connected it to Mayan mythology in an engaging way. Bonus, at the center of this medical crisis is an ancient Mayan codex that reveals the downfall of that civilizat...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Andres rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I swore I would never read anything (fiction or non-fiction) about the supposed end of the world due to the end of the Mayan calendar. I’ve read 'real' books about the Maya culture and can’t even begin to entertain any half-baked notions. Just…c’mon people.

So why exactly did I read this particular novel? Because it was written by one-half of the team that wrote the really enjoyable “The Rule of Four”. That was enough for me to give the advanced reader a try when it landed on my desk.

It includes...more I swore I would never read anything (fiction or non-fiction) about the supposed end of the world due to the end of the Mayan calendar. I’ve read 'real' books about the Maya culture and can’t even begin to entertain any half-baked notions. Just…c’mon people.

So why exactly did I read this particular novel? Because it was written by one-half of the team that wrote the really enjoyable “The Rule of Four”. That was enough for me to give the advanced reader a try when it landed on my desk.

It includes all the things that I find fun and interesting: Maya culture and especially Maya glyphs, medical intrigue (here, specifically about prions), archaeoastronomy, and even local familiar locations (the Getty Center, Venice Beach, Griffith Observatory, and many more).

And I really enjoyed the book for the first 2/3rds. That last third though…

Usually with these kinds of books (techno-thrillers, I guess?) there’s sometimes a few (or many) instances of credulity stretching incidents, whether it’s a gaping plot hole or illogical actions taken by some character or iffy science or… something, something that depending on its degree you can easily gloss over or make your eyes roll or even make you put down the book.

None of that happens here though, at least for more than half the book. Everything rolled along believably, delving into the science of the prions, the culture of the Mayas and even the city-wide quarantine stuff. There was even one character I was really rooting for, and it was when that character died suddenly that I felt the book took a turn for the strange. The death didn’t feel ‘earned’ or ‘necessary’—it just kind of happened, and it felt more plot ordained than anything else. It needed to happen to ramp the story up, I guess, but after that the story seemed to fishtail and never really find its footing again.

The story doesn’t wrap up in the usual Hollywood wrap up way, which I’m fine with, but it felt as if there were more story to tell, like maybe there’s a sequel? Even open-ended endings have a kind of finality to them. But here, there’s a kind of world-building it taps into but then kind of leaves dangling at the end. The character stories are wrapped up for the most part, but still it felt like not everything was satisfactorily tied up.

It was a fun read but it leads to an odd ending.
(less)

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Dec 20, 2012 Melodie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-adult, mystery, political-thriller

This would have made a decent movie for late Fall.Part historical fiction(mostly accurate as admitted by the author),part medical/political thriller, this doomsday-type story will keep you guessing.
The end of the Mayan calendar is two weeks away as the story begins.Calm reigns,but not for long. Soon there is a strange but familiar sounding case for a doctor with the CDC to deal with,an ancient,never before seen Mayan artifact surfaces, and from there all hell breaks loose.Soon LA is in full qu...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Cathy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, thriller, medical, politics

A fascinating book. A thousand+ year old Mayan codex makes its way from the ruins of a lost city in Guatemala to Los Angeles, bringing along with it an unknown disease that is infecting and killing people with increasing alarm. Gabriel Stanton, a CDC doctor, and Chel Manu, a Guatemalan American expert on ancient Mayan culture, race to find the cause and cure for the prion epidemic. As Chel and her colleagues translate the ancient codex, we and they learn much about Maya culture c. 900-1000 AD –...more

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About Dustin Thomason

Dustin Thomason is an American writer. He co-wrote the 2004 novel The Rule of Four with his childhood friend Ian Caldwell.[1]

The Rule of Four reached the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, where it remained for more than six months. The book was a number-one national and international bestseller and has been translated into more than 25 languages. It has sold more than four million copies...more

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