The Codex FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Greetings from the dead," declares Maxwell Broadbent on the videotape he left behind after his mysterious disappearance. A notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber, Broadbent accumulated over a half a billion dollars' worth of priceless art, gems, and artifacts before vanishing - along with his entire collection - from his mansion in New Mexico.
At first, robbery is suspected, but the truth proves far stranger: As a final challenge to his three sons, Broadbent has buried himself and his treasure somewhere in the world, hidden away like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. If the sons wish to claim their fabulous inheritance, they must find their father's carefully concealed tomb.
The race is on, but the three brothers are not the only ones competing for the treasure. This secret is so astounding it cannot be kept quiet for long. With half a billion dollars at stake, as well as an ancient Mayan codex that may hold a cure for cancer and other deadly diseases, others soon join the hunt - and some of them will stop at nothing to claim the grave goods.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
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.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Preston, who has written several best sellers (e.g., The Cabinet of Curiosities; The Ice Limit) with Lincoln Child, goes it alone with this thriller. A treasure hunter and tomb raider, Maxwell Broadbent is one of the wealthiest men on the planet owing to his extensive art collection. Dying of cancer, he decides to force his three estranged sons to work together for their inheritance. Leaving them a videotape of his plan, Max takes everything of value and buries himself and the goods somewhere in the world. To claim their inheritance, his sons have to find the tomb. Others are watching and rooting them on so that they can claim the rewards for themselves. One item of significance is a Mayan codex that contains the secret instructions to create medicine from the native jungle plants. This discovery would revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry. Fascinating characters, exotic jungle scenery, and surprising twists make this nonstop thrill ride well worth deciphering. For all fiction collections.-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
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 aninvestigator 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. First printing of 150,000; film rights to Paramount. Agent: Eric Simonoff/Janklow & Nesbit
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