Customer Reviews

The Codex

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

As a team, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have produced some great thrillers. And it turns out that their solo efforts are every bit as fast-paced and exciting. Max Broadbent, who is dying of cancer, leaves a videotape to his three sons announcing that he has buried himself and his half-billion dollar art and antiquities collection in a tomb in an undisclosed location. If the sons want their inheritance, they must track down the tomb. This begins a long treasure hunt through the jungles and rain forests of Honduras. The title refers to a codex, a Mayan compendium of plant pharmacology that becomes the most hotly contested object of the treasure hunt.

The story line switches between the separate treasure hunting parties and the pharmaceutical company executive who desperately needs the codex to keep his company from going bankrupt. The action converges in a final showdown over the treasure. This story has vivid descriptions of the jungle and its dangers. There are so many exotic natives, battles between man and beast, chases, narrow escapes, and ancient ruins that it resembles an Indiana Jones film. In fact, the story is perfectly suited to become a movie. The premise of this story might be far-fetched, but stay with it and you will be rewarded with a grand adventure, full of danger, treachery and surprises. I recommend this novel for those who enjoy pure escapism and armchair travel to exotic places.

Eileen Rieback

After a business meeting ended earlier than expected and not finding any earlier flights out of Dallas, I was facing an eight-hour wait in the airport. I spent some time eating in one of the restaurants there, but after that there wasn't much else to do. Luckily I had this book with me! Time flew by while I was immersed in the story that took me through the jungle in Honduras.

Maxwell Broadbent summons his three sons to his house to talk about their inheritance because he is a dying victim of cancer and has a collection of art and jewels worth half a billion dollars. When Phil, Tom and Vernon get there they find no sign of their father or of the valuable collection. What they do find is a video in which Max explains that he has done a bad job as a father and that as a result his kids have no goals other than wait for their inheritance. Therefore, he has sealed himself in a tomb somewhere in the world with his collection and his sons will have to find him if they want their inheritance. This is supposed to teach them independence, the value of work, self-reliance and how to take care of each other. From this point on, a race that involves the brothers, the police officers that were in the house investigating the "theft" and Maxwell's previous partner in treasure hunting.

The participants in the quest soon find out that one of the items in the collection is a Mayan Codex that contains the secrets resulting from centuries of experimenting with plants and animals found in the jungle. The value of this work is priceless, especially for pharmaceutical companies, which spend millions in research and development. The situation starts getting more and more dangerous as all these elements come into play and the fast-paced action will grab you and not let go until the end. This story has it almost all, action, suspense, love, dismay, hope, betrayal and even humor!

The only weak point I found is that the author was careless in some Spanish expressions he used throughout the book. For example he uses "Veinte cuatros" instead of "Veinticuatros" or "Buenos tardes" instead of "Buenas tardes". Anyway, this is a very minor issue and the book is really great. The reason why I gave the book four stars instead of five is that the story line is not very original. However, if I were you I would not hesitate to give this book a try!

I'm a big Preston/Childs fan. But after successive reads of Lincoln Child's "Utopia", and Douglas Preston's "The Codex", it's becoming clear that these two do much better as a team than when going solo. While "Utopia" had its moments (and even gets a cameo in "Codex"!), Preston's implausible "Codex" falls short on virtually all counts.

In a nutshell, "Codex" is the story of an eccentric father, who, dying of cancer, decides to bury with him a fortune in rare art he has collected over a lifetime. The catch is that his choice of a burial spot in his secret, leaving it to his three insufferable sons to locate and claim their inheritance. It goes downhill from there. The brothers are chronically whining about the injustice of "father's" scheme, while reminding the reader every page or so what a rotten childhood they had. About the time this banal sibling chatter becomes unbearable, Preston subjects the reader to a steady stream pidgin English from one of the natives in the jungle in which the boys inevitably end up ("Thankee, brother. We talkee later". I'm not making this up). Preston throws in the standard love interest - blond, brainy, handy with a horse and rifle, and initially while hard to get, there are no surprises to where this "Laura Croft" will end up. Stashed away with "father's" treasure is the lost Mayan Codex, the document that will unlock the mysteries behind all diseases human. Right. So while the boys and girl are running around the Central American jungles looking for the lost tomb and its Codex, the stereotypical evil CEO - in the case from a pharmaceutical giant - has his even more evil henchman chasing them through the swamps. In summary, a silly plot, cardboard characters that still manage to annoy, and lame dialogue, and a predictable ending add up to a pretty disappointing read. Skip this one, and save your time and money for (hopefully) a rebound when Preston and Childs team up again for this summer's "Brimstone".

RELIC was great. This is a mess in which the characters make zero sense and the action is almost preordained. The biggest fault lies not with the plot or the action but with characterization. There is no main character, just several with varying degrees of visibility. The story was never personal since it came from so many different directions.

A filthy rich man has 3 sons sired by 3 wives. He raises them as many parents do - pushing, pushing, pushing around the clock. One lives beyond his means, another goes hippy with fake gurus while the third is steered away from his first love (dinosaurs) into the world of vetinary medicine. All men receive a summons to his house for an important announcement. The house is empty save for a video - he has gone to die (cancer) and is buried "somewhere" in the world. Their mission - find his tomb and collect the treasure buried with him including an ancient Codex in Mayan containting cures from native plants.

So, using the oldest plot device in history, the chase, we plunge ahead. The vet meets up with a feminist right out of the 70s, prickly, asserting the rights of womanhood every chance she gets. She's the type that screams sexual harassment over a swimsuit calendar. The sons split and search on their own but of course are reunited in (of all places) Honduras. Along the way they are shot, attacked by Indians, soldiers, animals, insects, face starvation and non-stop rain. It is never explaind how a single old man (with cancer yet) manages to transport a huge treasure all by himself but let's not get technical.

Needless to say a bad guy appears, a former partner who is an almost likeable sociopath. You can write the rest of the tale - they find the tomb, dad is still alive (don't ask), bad man shows up, gets killed and the kids divide the treasure and reconcile with repentant dad before he conveniently dies. Somewhere along the way, tough gal blurts out she is in love with the vet so they hook up and start translating the Codex for "humanity". Despite this treasure trove of ancient wisdom, the average Mayan lifespan was less than 30 years - LOL.

Yawn. Well, I guess now we know which one of the Child/Preston writing juggernaut is the talented one: not Douglas Preston. At least, not in this book.
Paper-thin plot peopled by entirely artificial characters. Rugged cowboy? Check. Misfit seeker hippie? Check. Materialistic aesthete? Check. Arrogant, quixotic patriarch? Check. Beautiful, utterly humourless feminist scientist? Check. Wise Man of the Jungle who will teach Important Lessons About Life to the above? Check, and check.
Throw all the above characters into a painfully derivative and frequently baffling story line, mix with a dose of stealth Christian evangelism, bake for 2-3 hours, and voila; one entirely untransported reader. The two stars that I gave it in this review were for Hairy Bugger, the monkey, and the Don Alfonso, the withered Indian guide. It's a pity that these two didn't get to be in a book that was worthy of them.
In summary, don't waste your money, and if you find a petition that would forbid Preston from writing a novel without the help of Lincoln Childs (who proved he could solo with his techno-thriller, Utopia), don't hesitate to sign it.

I was excited to start reading this book when I saw it in the bookstore; however, my excitement quickly turned to boredom as I struggled to finish this tale. One of the comments on the cover of the paperback claimed it was Amazing Race meets Raiders of the Lost Ark or something like that. It was neither. I was hoping for a fast paced, traveling adventure all over the globe, as the descriptions lead me to believe - but it wasn't. I was hoping for exciting tomb adventures with traps and puzzles and such.

Once we take away all the excitement and adventures what do we have left? "The Codex." This story is a tale of stereotypical brothers who are not even well crafted characters for their stereotyped personalities. I guess it can be hard to create original characters from completely unoriginal molds. A failed love story, unbelievable character interactions, and the longest (and most uneventful) jungle adventure ever! I cannot count how many times the characters were turning back and heading for home, or talking endlessly about a panther attack that was going to happen in a few chapters, or the relative lack of adventure throughout this harrowing land of Hondurus. Besides a couple of lame actions sequences randomly thrown in, this book had nothing on the "Raiders of the lost Ark." Didn't even come close.

With a somewhat interesting premise this book had a lot of potential. However, to me it was dissappointing in all aspects because the story was forced along at a insanely slow pace. I could see a book like this being 300 pages or 350, but 400?! I love longer books, but only if they need to be long. I can't even remember what made this book so long, it must have been the endless mumbling about the travel in the swamps and the jungle.

My advice? Skip this one.

Take an unconvincing plot, mix it with characters whose depth is fingerscratch deep, add an obligatory sex scene while hero and heroine are facing death and toss in a few cliches and, presto, you have "The Codex."
A recluse billionaire with perhaps three sons keeps a half-billion dollar collection of antiquities and art in his home. He summons his three sons to come at a specific time - and they find dying daddy and the collection gone.
A talented writer could have made something of that. Douglas Preston does not. Instead each of the three sons is a cardboard cutout, patched together of literary Lego blocks: pipes, tweed jackets, cowboy boots and so on.
The adventure tries to be adventurous, but for me reading this attempted thriller reminded me of waiting for a weather-delayed flight. You have to do something, even if its mildly unpleasant and very boring.
Clive Cussler has the remarkable ability to take bizarre circumstancs, characters and plot twists and render them enjoyably exciting. Douglas Preston lacks that talent. You can pass "The Codex" by and miss nothing.

Jerry

Together Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written --- in my opinion --- some of the best thrillers of our time. Preston's solo effort THE CODEX earns that same praise. And if you are a fan of quest stories, you will enjoy this unique twist on a popular theme.

Aging and ill, Maxwell Broadbent has devised a highly unusual plan for the distribution of his impressive estate. An archaeologist-tomb robber, Broadbent has spent his life amassing an unparalleled collection of art and artifacts. His three grown sons are disappointments to him, but he can change that by sending them on the greatest adventure of their lives.

When the boys arrive at Broadbent's mansion to find it ransacked and virtually emptied out, they think their father has not only been robbed but kidnapped as well --- until they find the tape that begins with Broadbent himself saying, "Greetings from the dead." The eccentric millionaire has taken all his prized possessions and buried them in a crypt in Central America, and left instructions that the son (or sons) who find the treasure will inherit it. Oh, and Broadbent has buried himself with the goods!

The adventure begins. Vernon, the hippie spiritualist in the group, enlists his questionable guru for help. Philip, a professor, tracks down his father's former expedition partner, now a P.I., thinking who better to find Broadbent than the man who knew his past quests best. And Tom, a vet, declines to search until a beautiful young doctor convinces him that amongst the treasures is an item vital to the future of medicine and the future of mankind: the Codex.

The Codex is a Mayan book that contains the medical applications of the indigenous plants of Central America. When a failing pharmaceutical company learns of its existence, the race to feed greed and find Broadbent is on.

Thrilling, fast-paced and chock full of unexpected surprises --- including one Honduran who has claims on the inheritance as well --- THE CODEX is all that and more.

--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara

You are going to LOVE this book. It's exciting, but it's also really funny. I laughed out loud the whole way through. Not as much focus on the historical clues, etc. Excellent plot.

This book was quite a disappointment. After reading other books by Preston and Preston & Child, I expected a much better story. The Codex reads like it was the first book he ever wrote.