The Himalayan Codex
WWII has just ended. Captain J. R. MacReady, U.S. Army Intelligence officer and trained zoologist, is sent into the Tibetan mountain valleys ostensibly to search for mysterious mammoth bones. What Mac, and his friend, a mentally gifted and immensely likeable indigenous Brazilian woman named Yanni, don’t realize is the real purpose of the mission. They are following in the footsteps of 1st-century Roman naturalist and historian Pliny. As the team comes to understand the real objective, they find themselves searching for a biological secret which is seemingly related to the mythical Yeti of Tibet. But the possibilities are far more intriguing and dangerous than any “abominable snowman”—a means to mold life by speeding evolution, ethnically targeted biological weapons, and miracle cures for all diseases may be the outcome of their endeavors.
The team not only encounters bizarrely strange and dangerous biological creatures, including weird intelligent primates of different varieties, they find themselves dealing with aggressive communist Chinese soldiers and with Soviet Russians on the way—all intending to exploit the ancient secrets of the valley which Pliny tried to hide forever.
I reviewed the authors’ debut novel and compared it favorably to Michael Crichton’s science-infused thrillers. This great sequel is more like Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. The savvy reader will recognize historical figures from the time period, but they are almost casually emplaced. The authors were clearly having a good time. Mac also discovers a “trophy room from hell” which surpasses all the natural history museums of the current world. There is a fantastic line in the book—“the strangest band of travelers since the Wizard of Oz.” Readers will find to their fascination that the description is completely accurate. Highly readable and great fun!
