Hunt for Atlantis [Hardcover]

Andy Mcdermott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

Following in the tradition of Clive Cussler and Matthew Reilly, Andy McDermott takes us a roller-coaster ride in search of the legendary Atlantis. Archaeologist Nina Wilde believes she has found the location of the lost city of Atlantis and now she wants the opportunity to prove her theory. Someone else though wants her dead! With the help of ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase and beautiful heiress Kari Frost, Nina faces a breakneck race against time around the world, pursued at every step by agents of the mysterious -- and murderous -- Brotherhood of Selasphoros. From the jungles of Brazil to the mountains of Tibet, from the streets of Manhattan to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, the hunt for Atlantis leads to a secret hidden for 11,000 years -- which in the wrong hands could destroy civilization as we know it...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. McDermott's debut, already an international bestseller, raises the bar to please adventure junkies who prefer to mainline their action. Ten years after learning that her parents had perished in an avalanche while tracking the fabled lost city of Atlantis, archeologist Nina Wilde decides to pick up where they left off. A man claiming to represent philanthropist Kristian Frost phones to invite Nina to meet him and discuss financing her quest, but he's up to no good. Fortunately, British bodyguard Eddie Chase really does work for Frost—who really does want to finance her mission—and he rescues Nina and gets the ball rolling. Distinguishing good guys from bad guys proves harder than finding Atlantis, but that won't stop readers from enjoying the adrenalin rush as Nina and Eddie tag-team their way through nonstop high-octane action scenes. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Review

'Adventure stories don't get much more epic than this' -- Mirror --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Headline Hardbacks (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755339118
• ISBN-13: 978-0755339112
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,511,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andy McDermott is the New York Times bestselling author of the Nina Wilde/Eddie Chase series of adventure thrillers, which have been sold in over 30 countries and 20 languages. To date, he has had seven hit novels published in his native UK, with an eighth due out in 2012. His first novel, The Hunt For Atlantis, was published in the US in September 2009, where it became his first of several New York Times bestsellers. It was followed by The Tomb Of Hercules, The Secret Of Excalibur and The Covenant Of Genesis. The Pyramid Of Doom (published internationally under the title The Cult Of Osiris) went on sale in the US and Canada in October 2010, followed by The Sacred Vault in 2011. His next book, Empire Of Gold, will be published in North America in September 2011.

Andy's novels have received critical acclaim for their epic globetrotting scope and non-stop thrills, described as "pulse-racing adventure" (Northern Echo) with action scenes that "explode off the page" (Daily Express), while Andy himself has been called "a new master of the genre" (Le Figaro) and "a writer of rare cinematic talent" (Daily Express).

A former journalist and movie critic, Andy was the editor of respected UK magazines like DVD Review and the iconoclastic film publication Hotdog. He is now a full-time author. Born in Halifax, England, he now lives in Bournemouth, England, where he is working on his ninth novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ultimately, too dumb to recommend, January 3, 2010

By 

Susan Tunis (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hunt for Atlantis: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Archeologist Nina Wilde is on a quest, a quest she inherited from her parents, who died on the hunt. She's searching for the lost continent of Atlantis. When her own university refuses to fund an expedition to the Gulf of Cádiz, Nina is offered funding from billionaire philanthropist Kristian Frost. Almost immediately, people start trying to kill her. In addition to the funds, equipment, and logistic help for the expedition, Frost gives her two more things--two bodyguards, Eddie Chase and Hugo Castille; and his daughter, Kari Frost, to assist along the way.

Soon the foursome is jumping from continent to continent--Norway, Iran, France, and Brazil being just a few stops along the way. And everywhere they go, they find themselves in mortal danger from a man called Qobras, the leader of a group determined to see that the remains of Atlantis are never discovered. Why do Qobras and his followers want to suppress the greatest archeological discovery of all time? And why is Kristian Frost willing to spend millions to find it?

Sounds good, right? This is an excellent thriller/adventure premise. Sadly, the execution of this debut novel was terribly flawed. For starters, the female protagonist, Nina, is bland and uninteresting. I can't say I really cared about her. Conversely, the male lead, Eddie Chase, is portrayed as a diamond in the rough. Unfortunately, there was not enough diamond and too much rough. Eddie can be vulgar and exhibits an offensively sophomoric sense of humor. (In general, what passes for humor in this novel fails.) Ironically, it was the secondary characters of Hugo and Kari that I found to be more interesting, appealing, and dynamic, but alas, they aren't the focus of what will be a continuing series.

Another thing McDermott does right is action. The book is full of it, and some of the fast-paced action sequences are really enjoyable to read. But the 500+ page novel is overly long, and the pace and storytelling are uneven. My biggest problem, however, is something I complain about a lot in these types of novels... just sheer stupidity. Over and over McDermott puts his characters into or pulls them out of frankly unbelievable situations. He succumbs many times to the cheat of convenient plotting. But most unforgivably, much of what he writes is so purely wrong as to be ridiculous.

I completely lost my ability to suspend disbelief when the characters finally got onto/into the water. Either research isn't Mr. McDermott's strong suit, he thinks his readers are stupid, or he simply doesn't care, but what he wrote displays a complete lack of understanding of the laws of physics, fluid dynamics, and several other sciences. I can't give examples without spoilers, but the dumbness was fairly egregious. And the novel's dénouement was the final nail in the coffin. It was beyond ridiculous.

Debut novels are often tough going, and I do see glimmers of promise here, but not enough to inspire me to read further.

68 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast Paced and Exciting, December 17, 2007

By 

J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunt for Atlantis (Hardcover)

This is another new author to me and that is because this is his first novel. You would think that a storyline which involved searching for the lost city of Atlantis would have been done to death by now, but this is a very good first novel for the author. The author is very adept at generating excitement and the book is fast paced. Like some of the previous reviewers I found it very difficult to put down.

A young female archaeologist believes that she has found the location of the lost city of Atlantis. She obviously would like to be able to prove this fact. The problem she has is that someone wants her dead. The main character Nina Wilde, the said archaeologist is a believable and likeable person and the reader can relate to her character and her race against time to find lost secret . . .

The book was very enjoyable and I was sorry when it ended. I believe the author has another book in the pipeline called The Tomb of Hercules and I shall certainly be looking out for it when it is published.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars All action, no plot, September 19, 2010

By 

Susan C. Mcclure (Indio, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hunt for Atlantis: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is full of action sequences. There are 2 antagonists against one protagonists. The heroine, Nina, vacillates between standing up to the bad guys, ready to sacrifice her life and being a total wimp, no gray areas. There is no plot to speak of. It's just Nina's body guard single handedly battling it out with untold numbers of bad guys and always winning regardless of his injuries. There is no time spent on the discoveries and all of them are always completely destroyed with no one upset that all the archeology is destroyed as the search continues.