Preston usually coauthors with Lincoln Child (Thunderhead, 1999, etc.) but this time solos. Though still into stirring adventures in archaeology, Preston by himself is marginally less of a stylist than when cleaning up paragraphs with Child. Also missing is the mysterious FBI agent known only as Pendergast, whom many fans have come to love. The unlikely premise here is that a billionaire art collector and tomb raider, disappointed in his three sons, decides to take his art collection with him into the grave, much as ancient emperors and pharaohs were buried with their costliest possessions. He calls his scattered sons to his mansion, which they find to be emptied of its half-billion-dollar collection. Instead, a videotape by Maxwell Broadbent, their father, explains what he's done but says that they can rob his tomb and have the treasure if they can find it somewhere on the planet. But they will find it only if they work together. The potentially priciest missing treasure is the Maltese Fal . . . or, rather, the Mayan Codex, an original medical library in one volume reflecting endless years of Mayan research into medicines from herbs, barks, insects, etc. Fully a quarter of all medicines manufactured today have their basis in just such research, and a cure for cancer and many other diseases may well be in the codex. The three sons, Philip, Vernon and Tom, don't seem all that bad, although they've become a religious recluse, an animal vet, and an art historian, vocations inferior to the higher aims Maxwell expected of them. As it happens, although all three sons decide to split up, they nonetheless find themselves gathered together in Honduras, looking for Dad's tomb. Also on hand is an investigator they know nothing about but who has been hired by a failing pharmaceuticals company to come back with the codex whatever the cost. Then the sons discover they have still another brother in the rainforest, who has filed teeth and wears tattoos. A fun dig with just a touch of Indiana Jones. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A fabulously wealthy man summons his three sons to the family mansion, but upon their arrival, they discover that their father is missing, along with all of his prized possessions. The only item remaining is a videotape that contains a cryptic message. Disappointed in the paths his sons have chosen in their adult lives, he challenges them to find him and his treasures. If they work together, they will have a better chance of success, but each decides to search on his own. One son is approached by a woman who wants to help him locate the treasure because of a Mayan medicine book known as the "codex," containing hundreds of herbal cures that will rock the medical and pharmaceutical worlds. It's soon determined that the treasure is hidden somewhere in Honduras, and the chase is on. Scott Brick does another outstanding job in creating real and believable characters by infusing them with distinctive personalities. Preston has come up with a surefire winner in this taut thriller; highly recommended.-Joseph L. Carlson, Allan Hancock Coll., Lompoc, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Half of the writing team responsible for Relic, The Cabinet of Curiosities and other adventure bestsellers takes a solo flight, as Preston's writing partner, Lincoln Child, did in last year's Utopia. Like Child, Preston flies high and fast, turning in a briskly involving science-based thriller. The titular book is a Mayan artifact containing the sum of that people's knowledge about the medical applications of indigenous plants. The information is worth billions to any pharmaceutical company, but the Codex, along with numerous other priceless objects, was taken deep into the Honduran jungle by dying legendary tomb robber Maxwell Broadbent, to be buried along with him in a secret crypt. Max left instructions to his three grown sons that the only way to get their inheritance will be for them to track him and find the tomb. Max, who viewed his progeny as "quasi-failures," reasoned that by accomplishing this daunting task, the three-a veterinarian, a hippie spiritual seeker and a second-rate professor-will have proven themselves as men. What follows is rip-roaring jungle adventure, outfitted with a nasty villain (a sadistic PI who's also after the treasures), a beautiful blonde (partner to the vet), two memorable Indian characters, hosts of wild animals, terrific atmosphere and cliffhangers galore. The novel's main weakness is its lack of a strong central protagonist-the characters work more as an ensemble cast-such as Preston/Child have presented in their wonderful series detective, Special Agent Pendergast. Yet as always, Preston delivers the goods in a first-rate beach novel that most readers will be enjoying-at least in hardcover-while looking at snow rather than sand. Agent, Eric Simonoff. 150,000 first printing; major ad/promo. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved