Friday 9 October 2020

The Hammer of Eden

  

 

So, here's a slight curveball in my reading pattern. 

Do you remember that mystery book I found whilst exploring my bookshelves? Turned out to be a copy of Ken Follet's The Hammer of Eden.


 

So, I thought I might as well read it so that I could give it away. I actually got the audiobook, because that's my thing nowadays - the only time I have time to read is in the shower, whilst cooking or just before falling asleep, so audiobooks are fantastic for that.

I don't know why I was so apprehensive. It's by Ken Follett, and he wrote The Pillars of the Earth, which is one of the greatest historical fictions of all time. Certainly gave Eddie Redmayne's career a boost. But then, I think it's natural when you love an author for one particular work to feel apprehensive about reading their other work. Especially as contemporary crime thrillers aren't a genre I often delve into. The missing dust cover might also have had something to do with it.

The FBI doesn’t believe it. The Governor wants the problem to disappear. But agent Judy Maddox knows the threat is real: An extreme group of eco-terrorists has the means and the know-how to set off a massive earthquake of epic proportions. For California, time is running out.
 
Now Maddox is scrambling to hunt down a petty criminal turned cult leader turned homicidal mastermind. Because she knows that the dying has already begun. And things will only get worse when the earth violently shifts, bolts, and shakes down to its very core.

It was actually pretty good.

I particularly liked the fact that it was read by a woman, as this genre is often considered to be a male-dominated domain and I'd say the majority of audiobooks with either a single male POV or a majority male POV opt for male narrators. This is split between male and female POV, but kicks off with male, so it was great they went with a female narrator and January LaVoy was excellent. 

There was one scene in there which was the literary equivalent of Glen's exit in The Walking Dead. Succeeded in making me a little queasy, which is something I very rarely get as I love horror stories. That weirdly puts Ken Follet in the same category as Shaun Hutson for 'books that make me uncomfortable.' Something I would never have expected.

So, all in all, good fun. If you're into FBI cat-and-mouse chases, you might enjoy it.

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