Neanderthal

ISBN: 0-312-96300-9 Order from: Amazon.com

An improbable thriller combining governmental conspiracies, hackneyed romantic interests and primeval struggles.

Reviewed by David on September 06, 1998

Genre: Science Fiction (Conspiracy Theory, Lost World)

Synopsis: Two talented anthropologists are summoned by a mysterious institute to pursue the research of their erstwhile mentor, who vanished while exploring Neanderthal remains in the remote Central Asian republic. While retracing his steps, the two scientists stumble over evidence of secret government research, ancient relics and surprisingly fresh evidence of hominid inhabitance.

Full Review: The respected anthropologists Matt Mattison and Susan Arnot have both once studied under the brilliant Dr. Kellicut. They had been close friends and lovers. However, since their bitter ending of the love affair, they have rarely seen each other until the disappearance of their former mentor in the mountains of Tajikistan. In that wild and beautiful country, some astonishingly recent remains of the Neanderthal Man have been discovered. Susan and Matt, with the assistance of the mysterious but well-funded Institute for Prehistoric Research, retrace Dr. Kellicut's path in the mountains where recent disappearances and old legends of snow-men have spooked the locals. Soon after starting, the former lovers discover signs that the US intelligence knows much more than they say about the remains, and the secrets of the mountains may shed the light on the enigma of our cousins' disappearance from Earth.

The book is filled with rather implausible and incompetent government conspiracies, and pseudo-scientific explanation of ESP. Among many improbable elements, I found it unlikely that an illiterate, pre-agricultural society will preserve historic record for tens of thousands of years and the revolutionary social change occurring just at the moment of our heroes' discovery of a lost civilization.

The romantic development is telegraphed early, but handled with more realism than the science fictional aspects of the story. Except for the two main characters, the cast is cartoonish and 2-dimensional.

Tajikistan, which has some of the most wild and breathtakingly beautiful places on Earth, is given some credit in the book; and some of the action scenes make up in human excitement what they lack in plausibility. However, on the whole, the book is hardly a contribution to modern fiction, genre or otherwise.

Overall: 4; Plot: 3; Characters: 3; Style: 5; World-building: 4.5; Originality: 5.5;

ISBN: 0-312-96300-9 Order from: Amazon.com