The Himalayan Codex

R.J. MacCready #2

by Bill Schutt, J.R. Finch

In the wake of World War II, zoologist and adventurer Captain R. J. MacCready is sent to the frozen mountain valleys of Tibet to find a creature of legend that may hold the secret to humankind’s evolutionary future—or the key to its extinction—in this explosive follow-up to Hell’s Gate.

It is 1946, and the world is beginning to rebuild from the ashes of the devastating war. Marked by the perilous discoveries he encountered in the wilds of Brazil, Captain R. J. MacCready has a new assignment on the other side of the globe—a mission that may help him put the jungle’s horrors behind him. He is headed for the Himalayas, to examine some recently discovered mammoth bones.

Arriving in Asia, Mac learns the bones are only a cover story. He’s really there to investigate an ancient codex allegedly written by Pliny the Elder, a fascinating text filled with explosive secrets. The Roman naturalist claimed to have discovered a new race of humans, a divergent species that inspired the myth of the Yeti and is rumored to have the ability to accelerate the process of evolution. If Pliny’s assertions are true, this seemingly supernatural ability holds unlimited potential benefits—and unlimited potential for destruction.

Charged with uncovering more about this miracle species, Mac sets off into the remote mountain valleys of Tibet, using the codex as his guide. But the freezing climate and treacherous terrain are only the beginning of the dangers facing him. He must also contend with the brutal Chinese army and a species of native creature even the Yeti seem to fear. The deeper he plunges into the unknown, the more certain it appears that Mac and the associates who join his odyssey may not make it out alive.

Combining plausible science, history, and action-packed thrills, The Himalayan Codex is a page-turning adventure sure to enthrall fans of James Rollins, Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction, Action

405 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 6, 2017

About the author

Bill Schutt's latest nonfiction book "Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans" received a rave review in The New York Times Books https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/bo..., a starred review in Kirkus Reviews https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re... and raves from Publisher's Weekly (https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781...) and elsewhere. "Bite" debuted on August 13, 2024 and can be purchased or ordered anywhere books are sold.

Bill is currently working on "Desi the Vampire Bat" his first children's book, as well as a popular science book on the natural history of feet.

Bill Schutt is a long-time research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and Emeritus Professor of Biology at LIU-Post. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, he received his B.A. in Biology at C.W. Post, his MA at SUNY Geneseo, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Cornell University. He has published over two dozen peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from terrestrial locomotion in vampire bats to the precarious, arboreal copulatory behavior of a marsupial mouse. Schutt has written for the New York Times and Natural History magazine and his research has also been featured in those publications, Newsday, the Economist, Discover, and others. He is a member of the North American Society for Bat Research.

"Pump: A Natural History of the Heart", published in 2021 was a critical success, with great reviews from Publisher's Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirk's Reviews and more.

Published in 2017, Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History garnered rave reviews from The New York Times, Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly (Starred Review), The New Yorker, Scientific American and many more. Cannibalism was also a 2017 Goodreads Choice Award Finalist (Science and Technology) and a Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best books of 2017".

Bill Schutt's first book, Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures, was selected as a Best Book of 2008 by Library Journal and Amazon, and was chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program.

Schutt's co-authored WWII thriller Hell's Gate (R.J. MacCready novel #1) was published to widespread critical acclaim in 2016 (with starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal), as was The Himalayan Codex, a year later. The Darwin Strain, the final book in the R.J. MacCready trilogy debuted in Aug. 2019.

Schutt’s TED-Ed video "Cannibalism in the Animal Kingdom" came as the 9th most viewed TED-Ed video of 2018 (and currently has over 3.3 million views). His followup, "A Brief History of Cannibalism", had 1.2 million views in the first two months and came in as the 5th most viewed TED-Ed video of 2019. Schutt's 3rd TED-Ed video, on blood transfusions, had a quarter million views in the first 10 days.

Schutt lives in New York with his wife.

For Interviews & Media, contact  Katrina Tiktinsky - Publicity Assistant, Hachette Book Group, Katrina.Tiktinsky@hbgusa.com

For Speaking Engagements, contact Ashley Himes at Hachette Speakers Bureau, ashley.himes@hbgusa.com

Agent for nonfiction: Gillian MacKenzie - Gillian MacKenzie Agency - gmackenzie@gmalit.com

Agent for Fiction and Young Readers: Elizabeth Rudnick - Gillian MacKenzie Agency - erudnick@gmalit.com

Reviews

[Magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE HIMALAYAN CODEX is a fascinating book. We get to follow Mac in 1946 as he and his team are investigating the codex and also, and we also step back in time to Pliny the Elder's time and follow Pliny as he together with a group of Roman soldiers travelers to the Himalayans. Both storylines are intriguing and I was quite captivated by the book. The myth of the Yeti has intrigued me for years and I was fascinated by this story, about a human race that is said to be able to accelerate the process of evolution. Of course, this process could be very dangerous in the wrong hands, and Mac and his team are not the only ones looking for this race of people. Both the Soviets and the Chinese are also trying to get access to the remote mountain valley of Tibet where the race is said to dwell...

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

[Cathy Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second installment in the R.J. MacCready series was as entertaining as the first. The setting in the Himalayas of Tibet certainly adds to the mystique. The action followed a logical course that was at times a bit fantastical.... but there are many fantastical things in this world. Having read the first book recently it was nice to revisit the main characters - Mac, Yanni and Major Hendry as well as meeting the new characters of Jerry and the denizens of the valley. Interactions between Yanni, Alpha and the mammoth were well done.
The story is all the more enjoyable due to the research done then blended nicely with fable and rumor. As much as we know of the world in which we live, there is still considerable mystery out there for current day explorers to investigate. The utilization of historical texts in such endeavors may reveal information discovered long ago but lost in time. The blend of reality and plausible fable in an action adventure setting was easy to read. Alternating the story line between current day (1946) and the past (A.D. 67) was a good way to show the changes the Cerae introduced as circumstances demanded. The possibility of such changes with our current technology gives one pause for thoughtful deliberation - a bit of a cautionary tale, as it were.
I particularly liked the extensive Author's Note wherein fact and fiction are separated and their points of insertion in the story explained. All in all another good story for those interested in action, adventure and tales of exploration of unknown realms with just a touch of believability.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun adventure novel that takes a little bit of liberty with history. There's a touch of the weird in here as well. The afterward does a great job at outlining when and where fiction differed from fact.

[Beagle Lover (Avid Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Himalayan Codex

Solid 3.75 stars

This is a difficult novel to review, due to the fact that so many interesting factual scenarios occur and the plot is SO fast paced my head is still spinning. The plot revolves around two time periods, A.D. 67 and 1946. It includes everything from what we now call Yeti, but only a more advanced form of the creature, miniature mammoths with two trunks ending in "fingers," a strange slime that has almost mystical healing properties, a white ground worm that burrows into ones' skin and injects a hallucinatory poison, innocent "snowflakes" that are really carnivorous flying predators bred by the Morlocks (Yeti) to kill race-specific peoples.

The present day action resulted from a codex that a Roman naturalist wrote in A.D. 67, prior to the eruption of Vesuvio, (Mt. Vesuvius) regarding the the discovery of the Cerae (Yeti) and the miniature bi-truncated mammoths. This discovery led the naturalist to postulate that these tall, often brutish Cerae, where breeding race-specific insects and other parasites to protect themselves from the outside world.

In 1946, some mammoth bones were discovered and were classified as being from a previously unknown race of miniature mammoth with two trunks. A group of military scientists are sent to the Himalayan region were the fossils were found to prove the existence or non-existence of these creatures. Instead, they not only find the mammoths, but the Morlocks and other unusual and deadly creatures.

The Russians, Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists all find out about what the Americans are doing and invade the region, almost starting a war. But the Morlocks and the mammoths, plus the race-specific biological creatures they have created, fight back. In the end, the superior weaponry and enemy numbers force the Morlocks to flee to higher into the mountains, which allows the Americans to return and finish decoding the Codex.

This was a highly entertaining, educational and nail-biting experience for this reader. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who reads James Rollins, Michael Crichton and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Adventure and plot twists abound...read if you dare!

[Pat King · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot like James Rollins.

[Ron Frampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book along the lines of INDIANA JONES FAST PACE AND ENJOYABLE.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent tale

As full disclosure, I do know one of the authors, but I'm sincere in saying that I really enjoyed this book. It's a fascinating and enjoyable story that spurs the imagination and paints a vivid picture of a beautiful and dangerous possible world. Looking forward to further adventures with MacCready and friends.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

R.J. MacCready and crew are back and headed to Tibet in search of the legendary yeti and a secret mentioned by Roman historian Pliny, the secret to shaping life itself. Schutt and Finch have come up with another really fun read, but not quite as good as their debut, Hell’s Gate. This time around the story did seem a little rushed and disjointed, but still highly enjoyable, especially the parts describing Pliny’s journey among the inhabitants of the Himalayas. Overall, if you’re a fan of Michael Crichton, Indiana Jones, or James Rollins, then you owe it to yourself to give Schutt & Finch a try.

[Linda Haas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book, while interesting, moved quite slowly.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is a fascinating book ... filled with adventure, history, science and great characters. It reminds me of the best Michael Crichton novels. An exciting and well-written read that moves easily from the ancient past to the post WWII era, it makes one wonder about what might be or was possible. I especially appreciated the author's notes at the back and learned a lot from them. And I can't wait for the next MacCready story!
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as engrossing as the first MacCready book, but full of interesting ideas.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am writing this for Goodreads. Outstanding read. When I received this book I put it aside for a number of days, that is why it took me so long to finish. Once I started reading it became like an addiction. The action moves quickly, the flow of the story is seamless andyou get lost in it. The reward is that you really get two story lines not one. The only thing I wanted to know about the story and did not get was how the Codex arrived at the location it was found millennia later.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found myself disappointed with this book. I really wanted to like it, but by the time I was finished I felt like it could have been cut in half and still had the same effect on me. It has some crazy stuff in it, yes, but it got to the point where I was "really? when will it end and the story get moving again?" My 'sense of wonder' got replaced with a dullness, which was sad to me as I really wanted to like this book. It does start out with an interesting premise, but then it gets bogged down to the point where I was "really hoping" one of two things would happen: either Yanni and MacReady were killed or the valley was firebombed and destroyed. It got that annoying to me. The character development was so-so; I found myself rooting for some peripheral characters as opposed to the "two main characters." It is more of a "mystery" than an 'action' story, and even then, it really was not much of a mystery. It was more of a snoozer other than the authors coming up with different ways for soldiers to die from modified wildlife.

The authors describe a part of the "natural defense" as being a 'racially-targeted bioweapon' developed specifically geared for the Chinese. In their "afterword" blurb, they talk about how it is 'time' to start discussing prohibiting creating bioweapons targeted at a specific race. This is not the first time such a 'topic' has been 'discussed' in a fictional book; I remember Matthew Reilly talking about essentially the same thing in his action-thriller Area 7. The "death snow" was pretty crazy, though, that is for sure!

Also, the whole "bioweapon environment" was strongly reminiscent of the Yuuzhan Vong from the original Extended Star Wars Universe. I kept expecting "one of them" to pop out of some crevice with a living staff and start skewering characters. The "living defenses" were cool, at first, but then it got real old, real quick, as the authors kept focusing on the "carnivorous white grass-worm things" that were quite particular in what they would and would not eat (anything, I guess, as long as it did not smell like mini-mammoth and, maybe, "Morlock").

The book had 'two major weaknesses' for me. One was that it kept going back-and-forth to the past to Pliny the Elder and the survivors of his Roman cohort as they tried to survive in this hidden valley and back to the present with Yanni and MacReady being held captive in the same valley. Not only that, but it also kept jumping to New York City, where some other "members of the team" were attempting to translate Pliny's Codex further. Sometimes it was effective; towards the end, it got to be distracting. I got to the point I really wish Pliny's 'adventure' had ended sooner than it did.

The other weakness was that the book went from "wow!" to "when will it be over? will it ever end?" a hundred or so pages before I reached the end of the book. I finished reading it because I did want to finish it and I did want to find out how MacReady and Yanni escaped from their predicament. It became quite dull and boring and there was no longer any 'wow' factor. I do not know if I can even say it got 'overwhelming' as much as it became 'enough is enough! finish the story!' It got long and tedious and boring, as first a small group of Chinese soldiers were eaten alive, then a larger group of Chinese soldiers were killed, than some ancient Scythian army was decimated and eaten alive, then a small rescue team of Americans was partially killed off. That was about the time I was hoping a Chinese army of 100,000 men would come pouring over the mountainside to attack, except the 'death snow' would have made short thrift of them. But that could have led to bombers flying overhead and dropping napalm or some other incendiary devices to clear the way for the ground troops to come in.

Also, the story really seemed pointless, in the end, because nothing really happened, except a bunch of people died. Well, Nora Nesbitt did manage to escape with various specimens she took with her to her new job after she return to civilization. The 'mystery of modifying life' was never solved; the 'source' of the "Morlocks" power was never discovered. By the end, it was decided that mankind was best left to not discovering the secrets of this hidden valley and its ability to transform and modify life into other lifeforms. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever. It's not like the Chinese would not be heading back into the region with 'overwhelming forces,' racially-targeted bioweapons or not. That was the most frustrating part of the story - NOTHING OF IMPORTANCE REALLY HAPPENED! Well, nothing other than the authors trying to 'restore the good names of Pliny the Elder' and 'the Roman centurian whose body was found at the ruins of Pompeii." That was a big 'whatever!' to me!

There was one thing I did find amusing. In the first novel, MacReady is sent in to find and rescue a team of American Rangers who disappeared in the Amazon looking for the Nazi factory. In this novel, a team of U.S. Army special forces operators AND one Jack Kennedy were sent in to find and rescue MacReady and Yanni. So it was an amusing twist on the first novel. I guess there were two things I found amusing. The other was Pliny the Elder's warning to Severus (the Roman centurion who had become the lover of one of the "Morlock" Teachers) about his lover. He told Severus, essentially, "whatever you do, don't make her angry" (after both observed some extremely vengeful behavior on her part as a vanquished enemy suffered horribly while being eaten alive by the carnivorous bioweapons). The way the Scythian woman suffered and died was not amusing; it was Pliny's comment to the Roman that was hilarious to me.

Two things I thought were really stupid. One was when either MacReady or some other dude who dies about halfway into the story makes the authoritative announcement that Christians were never killed by the Romans in the Colosseum. Maybe he was referring to the structure in Rome, specifically? I have read other history books where it describes Christians being killed in arenas by wild beasts and whatnot. A bit of clarity would have been good, here, as this guy is discounting a historical statement without explaining why one statement was true and the other false (unlike the rest of the book, where the character cannot shut up when it comes to revealing the extent of his knowledge).

Yanni really bugged me throughout the whole book, to be honest. Well, MacReady started bugging me, too, actually. I really disliked their characters as they felt like "fillers" for a different story the authors were trying to tell. I guess if that was the authors' intent, they are geniuses, because they did a great job telling a story that really had nothing to do with the two main characters. I do not remember the last book I read where the "main characters" proved to be as irrelevant as these two turned out to be in this book.

I was also going to complain about the whole 'anti-gun' thing in the book, but after thinking about it, I realized the "Morlocks" were more "anti-weapon" as opposed to "just anti-gun." But, still, the whole "drop your guns or you die!"-thing going on in the book got really annoying, too. I mean, it was not like the "heroes" used their brains to think their way out of it! The "only" reason why the two escaped was because a mini-mammoth and a "Morlock" chose to free them. So, I guess that does reflect "real life" in some respects - sometimes you can't think your way out of something and need an outside power greater than yourself to set you free.

The mini-mammoths! It was nuts reading about them in this book! I had just finished Varley's Mammoth a couple of days ago, so it was crazy to read about this 'new' species in this book. It also made me compare the creatures in each book, too, which was kinda fun(ny).

I also did find myself wishing the authors had expanded a bit more upon the "mammoth revolt" in Tibet that occurred. It would have been 'interesting' to learn what actually happened. The authors' comments about the aftermath of the "revolt/uprising" was pretty ominous in nature, and it made me wonder what Yanni would have been shocked about. She seemed to have a pretty high opinion of the mammoths and believed they were "better" than either humans or "Morlocks." You could read the aftermath in one of two ways - either the mini-mammoths did NOT seek revenge against their former masters or they DID seek revenge and kill as many of the "Morlocks" as they could during the revolt/uprising. My gut tells me they sought revenge and massacred their former captors, but I would not be surprised if I turned out to be wrong.

I may or may not read the third book when it comes out; this one was that much of a disappointment to me. I liked parts of it, but I really was wishing it had been cut shorter by about one hundred pages or more by the time I reached the end of it. All things being equal, I did enjoy the first half or so of the book; I just wish that enjoyment would have lasted all the way until the end. Having John F. Kennedy show up in the book and end up being on the rescue mission was pretty funny to me, too, as his character really did not add anything to the story, either. In any case, I am glad that I read the book (since I now know I will probably never read it again). It was definitely a one-time read (of course, I might change my mind at a later point down the road and try it again and find I enjoyed it more the second time around. I doubt it, but it could happen), and I am glad that I found that out by checking it out from the local library instead of spending money on it by buying it.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎After reading several nonfiction books it’s time to rest the gray cells. My random choice is The Himalayan Codex (2017) by Bill Schutt and J. R. French. It fits the bill perfectly: no brain power is harmed by reading this book about two expeditions, separated by 2,000 years, to the Himalaya Labyrinth – the skein of valleys and ridges that make up the Himalayan foothills.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎The year is 1946 and the story begins with the discovery of a codex in the stacks of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Natural History. Titled “The Himalayan Codex,” the book details a Roman expedition circa 70AD that encountered disastrous contact with a race of white-furred primates in the Himalayas. The codex was written by the leader of the expedition, Pliny the Elder, a first-century Roman best known for his encyclopedia Natural History, a compilation of then-known science that served as a primary source of scientific information into the Middle Ages, and his military history The Germanic Wars). Pliny's career was multi-faceted— when young he was an officer in Rome's cavalry, and later he was a Naval officer and ship's commander. Pliny died in 77CE in Herculaneum during the eruption of Vesuvius.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎Among Pliny’s tales in the Codex is a report that his expedition encountered a species of advanced primates in the high mountains. They were highly intelligent and covered with a white fur that blended into the snow, allowing them to blend into their environment of snow and rock to become nearly invisible. And they were not to be trifled with, nor were there highly intelligent pets miniature mammoths with two trunks.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎The Codex intrigues the Museum so much that they devote a portion of their apparently abundant research funds to send four investigators to the Himalayas. In July of 1946 they arrive at the Himalayan rockface in a small helicopter occupied by R. J. McCready (pilot and the protagonist in a series of novels by the authors); Lt. Jerry Delarosa (Special Forces); Major Patrick Hendry; and a female scientist named Yanni Thorne.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎As the helicopter flies by the rockface, they see an intriguing blur of whiteness in motion on a nearby ledge. When they approach the ledge to investigate, a gust of wind sends them into the rockface, destroying the helicopter’s blades and stranding them in a God-forsaken cold and barren region.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎The white blurs are Snow Apes called Yeren by the Chinese and Yetis by Tibetans. The Yetis find and capture the four intruders. At Yeti Central the captives also encounter the miniature Mammoths and other strange life forms, including tiny carnivorous white worms that swarm together to attack and eat anything with protein. The only defense against the worms is a very repellant body odor, which both the Yetis and the elephants have in abundance. The swarm of worms looks like a blanket of white grass as it moves in unison toward its target.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎The cast of human characters includes Chinese soldiers who arrive in the area to capture or kill the Americans; Josef Stalin, who realizes that the Chinese are in the Himalayas and sends his own helicopters; and, you guessed it! – A Navy lieutenant named Jack from Boston.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎This is a book that crushes the first requirement of fiction reading — suspended disbelief. Idiotic? Yes. Restorative? Absolutely. I can only muster tw0 start—it would be more if there was a category for chutzpah in my rating manual.

[deep]

PW Starred: chutt and Finch provide a textbook example of how to make the fantastic easy to buy into with their superior second Crichton-esque thriller featuring field zoologist R.J. MacCready (after 2016’s Hell’s Gate). In 1946, Maj. Pat Hendry visits Mac at his offices in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Natural History and shows him jawbones from a dwarf mammoth that suggest the creature had two trunks. Hendry reveals that the bones came from a remote part of Tibet known as the Labyrinth, which may also be the site of an even more amazing discovery—an incomplete codex believed to have been written by Pliny the Elder, which describes the ancient Roman naturalist’s encounter with something in the Labyrinth that could be “the key to shaping life itself.” Mac agrees to travel to the Himalayas to find and recover whatever that something is. Schutt and Finch enhance their suspenseful plot with descriptions of unusual but convincing life forms. An extended author’s note at the end explains that such speculation is grounded in science.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, very intricate plot. Received this book from the Goodreads.com Giveaways.
The story switches back and forth between two different time periods, one in the 1940s and one in the time of Pliny the Elder. It tells a fictional tale of one of Pliny's trips where he goes to a valley in Tibet and discovers creatures quite different from us, more like intelligent Yeti. It tells of his adventures and misadventures. The other part of the story is about some people in 1946 decoding Pliny's writings and going to the same place to find these creatures and discover how they are manipulating evolution with ideas of bringing back this info to use for their own purposes. Some of the scientists gain a respect for some of the creatures and realize that the info could be very damaging. It tells how they cope with their findings and how they survive.
Some interesting concepts are introduced and different people react differently to each situation. The author weaves some famous people into the story.

[Arindam · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the first MacCready book was about giant vampire bats, this one is about yet another mythological creature, the Yeti (aka Cera, Morlock, Yeren). RJM has become quite the crypto-zoologist
with a knack for danger. However, unlike Indiana Jones, he is no action hero and relies mostly on his wits and friends to avoid mishaps. Unlike many other adventure books, the protagonist does not overshadow any other major characters. That is what made this book a much better read than the first one of the series.
Yanni is back, so are a host of other fun, interesting characters, as the story traverses through time - first century AD to 1940s. It brings in real historic figures such as Pliny the Elder, Alfred Hitchcock and several others as the authors weave the fine line between history and history based fiction.
Overall, an enjoyable read and I will look forward to yet another for a fun, fast read

[Patricia Zashkoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange and engrossing book. This is the sequel to Hell's Gate, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It follows the main character McCready on a trip to Tibet after discovery of an ancient codex. These writings tell of an group of animal-like people and strange happenings dated from 67AD. Also, a bone belonging to a mammoth with 2 tusks was found there as well. The trip is more than eventful gives McCreary more than he bargained for. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery and mayhem with a WWII background.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting follow up to the first one set in South America. This one was slow to get going and the alternating narrators covering the same story but centuries apart served only to throw you out of the rhythm of the storytelling. But the author certainly knows biology and comes out in how they write the character of Mac. The amount of research versus speculation is balanced which great especially when paired with this concept.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't care for science fiction, but I enjoyed this second installment of R.J. MacCready's adventures.
This time he and Yanni were sent to Tibet, and Yetis, flesh devouring grass, Russian, Chinese, Romans, and even a Templar Knight were frozen in did Yeti caves.
The authors were smoking some pretty strong stuff to write this series, but I have to say I enjoyed it.
Nightmares will arrive as they did after Hell's Gate.

[Teena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent science fiction from inventive minds. The beings and society in the story are thought provoking and scary with a dose of power hungry and greed to further the conflict. One of my top reads this year.

[Laura Schlecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great follow up to Hells Gate. Imagery painted and incredible picture while keeping the suspense moving at every turn.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a real James Rollins feel to it. It's a good adventure yarn set in Tibet. The characters were interesting and fun to read.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. Fun. Not GREAT, but certainly entertaining and interesting. I think I wanted something more from the ending, but it didn't end badly. If you enjoy figuring things out in small chunks, old stuff, cool stuff, and Yeti...you'll probably like it too!

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic story with lots of historical facts woven into the plot.

Great to learn about a different part of the world and history that most in America are not familiar with.

[CM Boryslawskyj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good story telling. Uncertain about end of the story. Will it be a possible sequel? Creepy and scaring until you are relieved to know some characters may be saved.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most surprising thing about this book (after discovering I had read it previously) is when I realized that two of the characters in this book are named after the lead characters in the two classic sci-fi films based on John W. Campbell's seminal Who Goes There?: Major Patrick Hendry is Captain Patrick Hendry of Howard Hawks' 1951 The Thing From Another World and R.J. MacReady is the same from John Carpenter's 1981 The Thing (only in this story, MacReady is not the helicopter pilot; his friend Jerry is the pilot). That is very cool!

I do find it funny that not only did I read this book a second time but that I did in fact enjoy this book more the second time around. I also find it hilarious that I had totally forgotten I had previously read the book until I was about fifty pages in and went to update my Goodreads feed only to discover I was not very fond of the book in my first review. Not a very memorable first reading, apparently, hahahah!

So, in light of my prior review, here are some random things that stood out to me:
I am still not sure why Mac would equate the “white grass” closing behind the group with the Red Sea washing away the footprints of the Egyptian army (76). It seems a bit of a stretch to me (unless it is a comparison in the vaguest, most general terms possible?) It must have to do with the imagery of the Red Sea coming down around the Egyptian army being compared to how the grass mimics swirled around the footprints of the Morlocks and humans, causing both to disappear beneath a "sea" of carnivorous white worms.

Mac and Hendry are talking about how humans would react if aliens from an Asimov or Heinlein science fiction story ever actually landed on Earth (83). The conversation is longer than recorded in the book with Mac remembering Hendry commenting something about hating calamari. Is Major Hendry's comment about hating calamari a callback to It Came From Beneath The Sea (since Kenneth Tobey played the main parts in both movies: the Air Force Captain in The Thing from Another World and the Navy submarine commander in It Came From Beneath the Sea)? Another very cool shout-out to another one of my favorite movies! (Not that the authors know how much I enjoy these characters and/or these movies; it is nice to see that they have such wonderfully discriminating taste!)

In any case, the authors continue comparing how humans would treat aliens versus how the Morlocks are treating the trio of humans who "dropped into their midst" (83). Instead of being put on the market as a menu to be eaten, the humans are being led through a field of carnivorous grass (worms) to be placed in a jail before the Morlocks decide what to do with them.

I have never heard of the Yangtze Disappearance legend (told as "fact" in the book with the Yeren / Morlocks being the culprits behind the "division's" disappearance) (129). Jerry is telling the story to Mac as the two walk through a cavern filled with the trophies of past victories - enemy combatants and their weapons/animals have been imbedded in the cavern's structural formations and covered in a kind of amber to preserve them for all time. Some of the deaths and bodies are a bit more gruesome than others As the story goes, just under 3,000 Chinese soldiers manned defensive positions before the Battle of Nanking (or something like that) whereafter their commanding officer went to sleep. A few hours later, he is awakened by an underling who tells him that all contact has been lost with the battalion. When the commander goes to investigate, the discovers the battalion has disappeared without a trace. In Jerry's telling, the Chinese had moved a heavily-armed battalion deep into the mountains past the source of the Yangtze River while being pursued by the Japanese and neither force was ever heard from again. Now we know why.

This was probably the saddest part of the book for me (or, one of the saddest parts): Mac is hallucinating that Jerry is still alive and removing one of the carnivorous worms from Mac's calf (146-153). The two are discussing the fate of Yanni as Jerry is removing the worm; the worm keeps spitting venom into the bite wound. Once the worm is fully removed, Mac realizes that Jerry is not there with him while a strange voice in Mac's head tells him that Yanni is okay; I suspect the mini mammoths are telepathic, maybe? as Jerry's death at the hands of Scarface rushes back to the forefront of his memory. The other "sad" part is when Mac chooses to kill the mini mammoth that is charging Dr. Nora Nesbitt, not realizing that she has violated the bodies of Severous and the Teacher by taking samples from their still-living bodies (331-335). Mac and Yanni realizing that the meat they were being offered to eat at the beginning of their internment was miniature mammoth was more shocking than sad; it did make me wonder later if their being fed that meat would have prevented the grass mimics/worms from attacking them due to the nature of the flesh of the creatures living in this underground ecosystem - the Chinese and Scythians (as well as Pliny the Older, Proculus, and Severous) all saw improvements in their health and abilities after eating the flesh of the Morlocks/Yeren.

The moment the Chinese soldiers inside the helicopter realized they were being eaten alive by the carnivorous worms was pretty horrific (157-159/162). I was horrified on their behalf. At the same time, I found myself wondering how such a large number of worms initially made it into the helicopter (unless some of the soldiers had hopped onto the ground, were attacked, and then jumped back into the helicopter?). As the helicopter crashed to the valley's floor and bodies poured from the helicopter, Yanni and two Morlocks watched one Chinese soldier (probably the pilot?) fall out of the aircraft and be devoured before the rest of the bodies of the Chinese soldiers were devoured. One of the Chinese managed to survive long enough for his flailing about to throw worms onto Yanni, and she was only saved by the quick actions of a mini mammoth (as it gave her a quick shower of whatever fluids it "excreted" (for lack of a better word) and flushed the deadly carnivores from her body).

We are told the story of how Mac and Jerry saved J.F.K. Jr.’s life after Jack’s PT boat was sunk (175). I am not sure if the “youthful genius” named Tamara that Mac falls in love with was a real person or not (I suspect not, although if she were an historical person, her death at the hands of the Japanese would not impact history in terms of her and Mac being in love). Mac was injured during the rescue attempt, and Tamara helped nurse him back to health. This was a sad moment, too: Mac left the island and vowed to return to Tamara only for the inhabitants to be (apparently) killed by the Japanese three weeks later. It is amusing that Mac and Jerry were supposedly in trouble for saving the lives of J.F.K. Jr. and his crew and it took a call from Jack's father to keep them from being court-martialed; was there a U.S. military base on this island that was destroyed by the Japanese military three weeks later?

We see Yanni observing how lethal the environment is as two different creatures interact (a flower-mimicking animal and another crab) and the predator becomes the victim to its prey (201). She believes that one bite from a grass mimic has enough toxin to kill Mac; she clearly doesn't know he has already survived such a bite.

Mac is sleeping as Yanni watches the circle of life taking place between the flower-mimic and the crab. The plant-mimic employs some interesting tactics to ensnare the crab only for the crab to turn the tables and eat part of the plant. Mac is waking up as the crab makes off with a piece of the former predator-turned-prey.
Mac: Did something just scream?
Yanni: yeah, a flower.
Mac: Oh, okay.

It is funny to me how they have come to accept the environment in which they are held. It does make one wonder if anything will bring back the sense of awe, wonder, and excitement they first had upon entering the subterranean system (probably not, due to the amount of death they have seen hidden behind any sense of external beauty).

Evolve your way out of that one (203). A great line by Mac as he stomps a phosphorescent bush into extinction because it was following him, Yanni, and Alpha, betraying their presence as it lit up behind them.

Amusing conversation between Mac and Yanni about why Alpha is helping them (205).
Mac: Well, I suppose if anyone can help you get out alive, it’d be the Morlock jefe and his mammoth posse.
Yanni (snorting): Now there's a sentence I'll be you never thought you'd be uttering.

I missed this description the first time I read the book about how the guinea worms would be transformed into a horrific bio-weapon (207-208). It is interesting because it is described in the "modern times" as Nesbitt, Patricia, and Knight are reading Pliny's codex and looking at images of worm-things twisted about on a stick removed from water.

Pliny the Older (supposedly) was the first naturalist to observe how easily an advanced technology could present the stubborn illusion of witchcraft (shades of Arthur C. Clarke) (211).

A race-specific weapon created 2,000 years ago by the Morlocks (Cerae) (227); we see this weapon being "reforged" on pp. 236-237.

Initially, Dr. Nora Nesbitt wonders if there was a way to make sure that Mac and his team never returned with the Morlock's knowledge on how to alter existing life forms to create new life forms (232). Funny how this attitude changes and she is the one who brings back samples from the Morlock's cave of wonders at the end of the book (only to quit her job and take up a new job at a research laboratory on Plum Island [of all places!]). (I started to wonder if she was an historical person or not; she is fictional according to the authors)

Here we see the bit about Christians being fed to lions in Rome's Colosseum that annoyed me so much the first time I read the book (259). Yanni and Mac are waiting for the grass mimics to reach the top of the prison chamber and drop from above to devour the prisoners. Groups of Morlocks periodically stop to watch before moving on:
Yanni: I wonder if this is how your Christians in the Colosseum felt, waiting for the arrival of the lions?
Mac: That story is bullsh*t. There's no evidence that any of the so called damnnati were killed that way.
Yanni: But people were torn up by wild animals -- bears and tigers and sh*t, right
Mac: Yeah, well, that part is true.
Yanni: Just not shredded by a psychotic lawn?
Mac: No, I think they missed out on that one.
Yanni: Well, thanks, Mac. I feel a lot better now.

It's mildly amusing how adamant Mac is about the veracity behind whether or not Christians were killed by lions in the Colosseum. He is quibbling over unimportant details while facing certain death. No Christians were killed by lions in the Colosseum. Okay, fine, but he is so begrudging to admit they were killed by tigers and wild boards and other dangerous animals. I do remember this part bugging me when I first read the book, but I do not remember why. It is a bit more amusing this time around because of how Yanni forces Mac to admit that, yes, Christians (and other prisoners) were ripped to shreds and killed by wild beasts in not just the Colosseum but other arenas; quibbling over niggling details about how people were killed while facing their own mortality was actually kind of amusing.

Scarface attacks Mac and is in turn killed by the miniature mammoth (277-278). That was a pretty boss moment in the book! Scarface had attempted to kill Mac at least one other time (my mind says two), so it was nice to see Scarface get his comeuppance even if it was at the hands of one of the mini mammoths and not Mac's hands.

Mac can fly a helicopter after all! (278) He states that if the helicopter is flyable, then he can fly it.

Those left standing now saw that Teacher could easily have ended the Scythian's misery with a single neck twist, but the physician had something more vengeance driven in mind. And so the ticks and worms ate their fill (299). (The Scythian leader had covered herself with the skin and bones of some killed Cerae, preventing the race-specific ticks and worms from feasting on her body until Teacher removed the human woman's protection, leaving her defenseless and exposed to the Cerae's living bioweapons.)
Pliny: If you survive this night, I have one piece of advice for you.
Severous: And what is that?
Pliny: Don't ever get her mad at you! Still hilarious reading it a second time! To be honest, though, I found myself still hoping the Scythians would kill more of the creatures and inflict more damage upon this isolated civilization. As it turns out, the Scythians did inflict serious damage to the "tribe" because so many physicians and "scientist" (not sure what else to call them) who knew how to heal and create bioweapons were killed in this battle. So the battle did have a serious impact upon this hidden mountainous culture.

It is still crazy that Severous and Teacher were still alive nearly 2,000 years later (332-333).

We find out that Dr. Norah Nesbitt quit her job and went to Plum Island (347). Nobody knows she has taken multiple specimens from this hidden subterranean ecosystem with her back to the States. I find myself wondering if she shows up on the third book....

We find out that the miniature mammoths revolt against the Morlocks and exact deadly revenge in the process (implied) (347-348). Why then? Why not before?

Some gripes:
In the latter part of the book, Jack (rescued by Mac and Jerry during WWII) and Dr. Nesbit are assigned a team of Devil's Brigaders (a Special Forces unit mixed unit composed of Americans and Canadians) to assist them in rescuing Mac and his party. I think maybe half of the rescue party is killed by either the Chinese or the Morlocks. This was such a letdown in the book! This group of tough, elite soldiers go into a dangerous region and essentially do nothing!!!!!! They are forced to throw away their guns lest Alpha and the mini mammoth that has befriended Yanni refuse to help the Americans escape from the valley. They run around and hide and run some more; they shoot their .45 pistols a couple of times, but nothing of consequence really happens. It was almost like the authors wanted some more characters to die but did not want to kill either Mac or Yanni, so they brought in some more American no-name grunts to do the dying that needed to be done to, you know, make the book seem more intense, more exciting, more dangerous. It was a super-snore, to be honest.

There is this "build-up" involving Chinese military forces throughout the book to the point that a team of Chinese soldiers makes its way into the valley up to a point and then is wiped out despite not causing very much damage and very little death. Why not have them start dropping grenades or explosives of something just to mix things up? We get the impression they are quite capable of handling themselves because of how they kill a couple of these "improved" Yeren and then eat their flesh. Why would the Chinese soldiers who ate the flesh (meat) of the Yeren not have gained some protection benefits from this action? They gained other benefits from eating the flesh (meat) of the Yeren (Morlocks). Why could they not also have been protected on some level? We know that eating "food" from this subterranean system changes people; Mac, Yanni, and Jerry were changed/healed/improved on some levels after eating the "spaghetti strings" and drinking the water. The Scythians ate Cerae flesh and saw positive results immediately (improved strength, stamina, endurance, healing, etc.).

The Russians get involved and it turns into a giant nothingburger. They send a single helicopter into the region to capture MacReady and his team; why not send more helicopters and more soldiers into the region? They know where Mac was going to land. Why not send in more forces? That made absolutely zero sense to me. Also, the Chinese helicopter that descends "into the valley" does not descend into the valley where the Morlock live. So why would that Morlock bioweapon come up the way it does and kill the crew of that helicopter? That made no sense to me, either. Otherwise, Mac and his team should have seen the strangeness of the valley below them when they first landed at the start of the book. We get a standoff between the Russian bird and two of the Chinese birds until Mac and Jack start shooting at the Chinese helicopters which in turn fire upon the Russian bird. All three end up being destroyed in the end. It was so ANTICLIMACTIC and really ruined the story in some ways. I think I "get it" that the authors were going for something different, but it still feels like the reader was cheated out of some cool "four-way battle" or something where the mini mammoth and Morlock sided with the Americans against the Chinese and Russians. I truly felt cheated of something "special" (or spectacularly violent and short) with how that whole thing was resolved. I suppose it was clever writing in its own way, but I still felt cheated and disappointed with how that situation was resolved.

What with Jack's health showing such dramatic improvement, one would think that the entire team (Mac, Yanni, the Chinese scientist, and the rescue team) would have been tested for exposure to the elements of the caves in the subterranean system. AND one might think that the improved health of Jack, Yanni, Mac, and Sgt. Juliano would lead to more tests and more difficult questions to be answered.

Despite how much I enjoyed the book this second time around and how fast of a read it turned out to be, I am still frustrated with the weak-@$$ ending. Patrick Hendry and R.J. MacReady showing up as main characters almost knocks it up a star (maybe 2.5-2.7 stars). Sadly, still 2 stars for me.

[Mitchell Kaufman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, it's a potboiler. It's Pliny the Elder meets Indiana Jones meets John F. Kennedy meets Yeti, but it was just a good read. Put all disbelief aside, and it's just plain fun.

[RYAN · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book a lot, it really makes you think about everything we haven’t discovered in the world yet. Who knows what’s out there?

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done novel in terms of originality and creativity. Incorporated a narrative of Neanderthal X Avatar-like species in a modernization periodic age fairly well. Certain periods of the book did seem like a drag as conversations between these characters appeared to be crucial in developing solid relationships between all expeditioners. Although, it felt more like National Treasure 2 w/o the sappy romance.

Probably wouldn't read again due to the heavy lore in the species, but probably can be adapted to a movie. A fresh breath of air to a "discovering a new intelligent species and way of life" novel.