The Reckoning: A Thriller [Mass Market Paperback]

Jeff Long (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2005

Armed with only a camera and iron determination, 30-year-old photojournalist Molly Drake arrives in modern-day Cambodia to cover the U.S. military search for the remains of an American pilot shot down during the Vietnam War. In this eerie wasteland pockmarked with human bones and live land mines, the people hold more secrets than the landscape. When Molly's camera captures a flight helmet buried among Khmer Rouge victims, diplomatic powers force her and her civilian comrades off the dig. But just as a typhoon looms offshore, the outcasts learn of an even bigger find. A mysterious expatriate guides them into the ruins of an ancient city, where they begin a harrowing search for the remains of an entire patrol of GIs that strayed in combat thirty years ago. With storm winds hammering their jungle fortress, Molly discovers that a war she never knew never died. Her survival comes to depend on her journalistic skills to solve a forgotten murder among these warriors left behind. In the end, her only hope for salvation is to redeem the lost souls that surround her. As stylishly written as it is suspenseful, THE RECKONING is a thriller that illuminates the fragile thread between life and death, knowledge and ignorance, hope and horror. Bringing readers ever closer to enemy territory, it is a hair-raising journey into one of modern history's darkest periods and an intense look into the hearts still haunted by it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Long (Year Zero, etc.) delivers a suspenseful, tightly written tale of a nightmarish journey into the dark past—and present—of Cambodia's former killing fields. Molly Drake, a would-be photojournalist, accompanies a U.S. Army-led search for the bones of a pilot shot down during the war. She meets Duncan O'Brian, an archeologist at a local dig, and John Kleat, who has come back to the country repeatedly, seeking his brother's remains. When bones unexpectedly turn up, Molly photographs them, breaking her agreement with the army not to take pictures of bodies. The captain in charge dismisses her along with O'Brian and Kleat, and the trio make their way to an ancient, fog-enshrouded Angkor-like city where they have evidence an army patrol went missing years ago. They soon find themselves lost in a labyrinth of ancient stone, in circumstances that quickly grow as dire as those in which the patrol evidently found itself. Long's considerable knowledge of Cambodian folklore and history is put to good use as he superbly depicts the war-scarred country, its people and its beautiful, hazardous landscape—lush, verdant, strewn with land mines, studded by bones. Although the inner lives of the characters are not as detailed as they could have been, the author's use of supernatural elements is subtle and effective, and adds an extra dimension to this solid, coolly told, smoothly paced narrative.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Long's new book is in some ways a "choose-your-own-adventure" novel. It may--or it may not--be a ghost story. It may--or it may not--have a happy ending. Some readers might be confounded by the ambiguity, but the majority will go with the flow and be thoroughly entertained. The book centers on Molly Drake, a photojournalist who takes an assignment as liaison with an American team of MIA investigators in Cambodia. At this point, it's no longer a search for the living, just the bones of the dead. Long invokes a powerful sense of nightmarish^B existence in a place where one's next footstep could land on an unexploded landmine. Molly and the rest of the party fight their personal wars with fever and injury during a relentless quest for the MIAs, spurred on by the oncoming monsoon season and also by rumors of a legendary city hidden deep in the jungle. Perceptions of reality blur, commingling the modern world with the sinister beauty of a civilization that has its roots in the dawn of recorded history. Elliott Swanson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (April 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743463013
• ISBN-13: 978-0743463010
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,270,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Old-Fashioned Thrills, August 29, 2006

By 

Tamara Thorne (California, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Reckoning: A Thriller (Mass Market Paperback)

When I read The Reckoning, I was impressed. Jeff Long is always to my taste, but with this book he hits a stride. There are fewer story threads than usual (usual for the detail-oriented Long, that is)and the result is a very readable, taut book that still contains plenty of plot. His characters are likable and the adventure into jungle ruins is eerie and fascinating.

Long creates compelling imagery, beautiful or horrifying, and, as always, there's an impending sense of the paranormal to his words, an air of more surrounding the characters than they can see or fathom. This author understands that what we don't see is more frightening than what we do. . . And whether or not something anomalous exists within any Long book is irrelevant. His style haunts.

For me, The Reckoning is the most satisfying of his books. It gave me what I crave most and I didn't even see it coming. When that happens, it's time to eat that cake, not just have it.

But wait, there's more! The cherry on top: I finished The Reckoning and immediately read Scott Smith's much-touted The Ruins. Essentially, it's the same story, but The Reckoning absolutely blows The Ruins out of the water. While The Ruins is a page-turner, it doesn't satisfy and it's difficult to care if the characters live or die. The Reckoning is a good old-fashioned science/adventure thriller with three-dimensional characters to care about. That's what works for me.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These Bones Are Made For The Reckoning, August 20, 2004

By 

Richard King (Star, Idaho United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Reckoning

After reading Jeff Long's last book, "Year Zero", I ordered this book right away. Jeff Long has the ability to fuse the natural and supernatural without going over the top, but still capture the reader's imagination. Once again he has successfully pulled off another exciting book in "The Reckoning"!

At first, I was a little leery about this book. The subject matter of recovering soldier remains in Cambodia, didn't seem all that interesting to me, until I started reading futher in the book. I was so engaged in the book during my night time reading, I wouldn't get to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning.

This was an excellent book to read. The last few chapters of the book kind of reminded me of the movie, "Sixth Sense", if you enjoyed that movie, you will enjoy this book.

Thanks Again Mr. Long!

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark and surreal trip into the timeless heart of Cambodia, February 4, 2005

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Reckoning

Jeff Long has a talent for not just painting a location with his words, but painting the actual feeling of the surroundings, drawing out in literary fashion the overwhelming mysticism and dread that permeate the very fabric of his physical realms.

Free lance journalist Molly Drake, on assignment for her big break with the Times, travels to modern day Cambodia to photograph and report on the U.S. Military's efforts to excavate the site of a plane crash back in the 1970's, hoping to find the remains of the pilot.

She joins the team, along with two other civilians, an archeologist named Duncan O'Brian who specializes in temple restorations, and John Kleat, a development contractor who makes annual pilgrimages to Cambodia in hopes of finding the remains of his long lost brother. She also meets an old, one-legged Khmer named Samnang who is the work boss on the excavation site.

She spends a month with the RE-1 unit, enchanted by the strange morning people who wander through the early mists, and by an odd gypsy boy who skirts the site like a feral dog. But when she finds American remains in a deep well, she and the other civilians are evicted from the site and sent home. While having dinner at a local restaurant with Duncan and Kleat, the gypsy boy shows up with American dog tags and says he can lead them to the burial site. Taking Samnang and three local brothers, the three set off to find out if what the gypsy boy promised was true.

A long drive through the night, past a strange rain of tiny frogs, they discover ancient ruins buried deep inside the Cambodian forest, primitive and eerie, dating far before any of the ruins Duncan has studied. Conflict begins immediately, with Kleat insisting their focus be on uncovering the missing men, Duncan wanting to explore the strange city, and the locals hired by Samnang wanting to plunder the relics.

It doesn't take long to discover that there is something strangely alive about this ancient place, and Molly is determined to find out what it is, in spite of the rising tensions and the threat from both a typhoon and the upcoming monsoons. She will uncover more than her story here, finding answers to her quest for her real parents and to the strange behaviors of her companions.

Just as Long did with his previous work, `The Descent', he is able to paint a mystical atmosphere that literally comes alive with its creeping mists, sultry humidity, aggressive growth, and mystical ruins that crouch under the canopy of the lush jungles. I could feel the atmosphere, the sense of urgency, the dread, and the excitement that pulls Molly deep into mysterious puzzle of the missing soldiers and the city itself.

Jeff Long is proving himself to be one of my favorite authors, someone I can compare to Michael Crichton with his ability to make me grab up a hardcopy the minute it is released. Enjoy!