James Rollins  “Excavation”

I came home one afternoon to find this and one of the “Bourne” series books in my mailbox. A quick look at the jacket blurbs of both solved the mystery of the mailbox books. The gifter HAD to be my dad. Only he would think these would be something I couldn’t live without. I put them aside on the shelf for a few months. Then, a few weeks ago, I was home alone and in desperate need of some reading material. My partner works the odd night shift and I’m seriously like a little kid afraid of the dark when he’s away. It’s totally ridiculous. I’ve found through trial and error that if I can find the right book, preferably something light and happy, I’ll fall asleep reading in the wee hours and not suffer any nightmares. Most importantly, I won’t wake up until morning. I couldn’t have picked a more unsuitable book.

This one starts out kind of interesting in a pseudo scientific way. An archaeologist discovers a mummy in the Andes of a Spanish priest with a unique gold cross. The mummy is out of place and there’s a bit of a mystery as to who it is and how he got there. Meanwhile, there’s a related archaeological dig in the jungle. They discover an ancient temple/pyramid, of course crowded with treasure. Of course the bad guys try to kill them so they can make away with the loot, but the plan backfires and the archaeologists are trapped underground. Now this is where things get really weird. I’ll just give you a quick rundown of what the rest of the story includes so as to not ruin the whole surprise…

-Indiana Jones type traps

-hostages

-Super aggressive and hungry tarantulas

-killer bat guano

-A weird cult

-Matter that can give eternal life

-A lost tribe of Aztecs

-Lots of bad guys and gratuitous killing

-Volcanoes erupting

-Zombies

-UFO’s

OK at some point I did fall asleep. I’d like to think some of the above were bad dreams but I’m pretty sure it’s all contained in this lovely book. Sweet dreams! Thanks dad!