Diablo Mesa - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

    2022; 385 pages.  Book 3 (out of 5) in the “Nora Kelly” series.  New Author(s)? : No, and No.  Genres : Archaeology; Thriller; Police Procedural.   Overall Rating: 9/10.

 

    Roswell, New Mexico.  Isn't that where Extraterrestrials crashed their spaceship back in 1947?  Everybody knows that.  And everybody knows the US government covered up the evidence.  Called it a weather balloon.  Or a Russian spy plane.

 

    Meet Lucas Tappan.  He’s got lots of money, and a permit to re-excavate the Roswell crash site. It’s been more than a half-century since “the incident” and that means the technology available for excavations has made some significant advancements.  All he needs to do now is hire a skilled archaeologist to lead the team of diggers.

 

    He wants Nora Kelly for the job, but she’s already turned him down.  Twice.  Apparently, she doesn’t believe any ETs ever crashed their UFO at Roswell.  She thinks digging there for little green corpses is a waste of time.

 

    If only there was some way for Lucas to convince her to change her mind.

 

What’s To Like...

    There are two main storylines in Diablo Mesa. One follows Nora Kelly the archaeologist; the other follows Corrie Swanson, an FBI agent who gets brought in when a pair of out-of-place-&-time bodies are discovered.  Both are recurring characters borrowed from Preston & Child’s Agent Pendergast series.  The main bad guy is revealed early on to the reader but not to our heroes.  I liked that he is a suitably resourceful foe.

 

    The storyline rapidly becomes more complex.  Some characters disappear; others turn up dead.  Lucas Tappan suspects there is a mole operating among the excavation team.  And there is a “is it Terrestrial or Extraterrestrial?” motif running throughout the tale, which the authors handle most superbly.

 

    Nora is stationed at the excavation site in Roswell, while Corrie spends time both at FBI Headquarters in Washington DC and other regional FBI offices.  The storyline alternates between their plot threads, which nicely eliminates any slow spots.  I loved that the Fermi Paradox gets worked into the tale, and chuckled at the discovery of a “Element 126”, a new atom never detected before on Earth.  Also, at one point ethanol is used to make explosive Molotov Cocktails.  Better living, and dying, through Chemistry!

 

    The ending is suitably exciting, over-the-top, and unexpectedly more logical than twisty.  There are understandable reasons for the baddies doing what they’re doing; and I was impressed by how deftly Preston & Child handled that.  Things close with a three-months-later Epilogue wherein all the surviving Good Guys are properly rewarded.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 11,616 ratings and 464 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.06*/5, based on 17,824 ratings and 1,356 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Why haven’t we heard from aliens?”

    Tappan gave her a dazzling smile.  “That is the question, isn’t it?  Dozens of answers have been advanced.  I favor the zoo hypothesis.”

    “You mean, we’re in a monkey house and don’t know it?”

    Tappan laughed.  “That’s not far off.  It’s similar to what Noam was telling your brother the other day.  The galaxy, the idea goes, is governed by an alliance of highly advanced civilizations, but we’re not yet ready to join them.  We’re either too primitive or too dangerous, or perhaps too dumb.  Contact would disrupt or even destroy us.  So we’re kept in a sort of nature preserve, where we’re being observed but contact isn’t allowed.”  (pg. 84)

 

    She reared back, cocked one fist, then hit him on the arm.

    “Whoa!” he cried as he sat up, massaging his arm.  “What was that for?”

    “You were lost in thought.  I needed to get your attention.”

    He glowered at her, one half of his visage crusted with dried blood, looking as two-faced as Janus.  “Well, you didn’t need to give me a hematoma in the process.”

    “You can fire me later.”  (pg. 319)

 

 

Kindle Details…

    Diablo Mesa costs $9.99 at Amazon right now.  The other four books in the series will run you anywhere from $9.99 to $14.99.  Preston & Child’s most popular Agent Pendergast series, wherein Nora and Corrie first appear, is now up to 22 e-books; all in the $7.99-$12.99 price range.

 

“As Einstein said: most assumptions are wrong.”  (pg. 307)

    The profanity level in Diablo Mesa is moderate and about normal for Preston & Child novels.  I counted 19 instances in the first 20% of the book; plus one or two rolls-in-the-hay later on.  I didn’t spot and typos.

 

    My only quibble was with several characters who go missing and are presumed dead.  I kept waiting for confirmation of their demises, or their happy reappearances, but that never happened.  Oh well, maybe that means they come back in one of the sequels.

 

    Diablo Mesa is a fast-paced, well-researched Archaeological Thriller that’s every bit as good as a Preston & Child Agent Pendergast novel.  Regardless of what your personal opinion is of the “Are we alone in the Universe?” debate, this book will resonate with you.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  At one point an FBI agent visits a dental office seeking dental records of a deceased person.  The request is refused due to violating HIPPA rules, which I can personally attest to being proper and realistic.  I was impressed by that.  I was equally impressed by the steps then taken by that FBI agent to circumvent those HIPPA regulations.