Customer Reviews

Mount Dragon

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just finished Mount Dragon (now into Thunderhead) and could not put it down.

These guys are good, I mean really good. They know how to create fully realized characters, in a believable setting, and then let all hell break loose.

Ever since I read Relic, I have been devouring their other stuff.

It's not there best work, but even so, it's better than probably 95% of what's out in the genre and in general. Preston and Child do a great job with plot and character. I thought the "bad guy" was great, and I thought the climax was very, very good.

These guys write damn good novels.

Oh boy, I just love it when the scientists play around with things
they do not know enough about. Someone always gets hurt when
this happens, not always the supposed 'bad guys'. In this case,
a genome outfit is playing with a 'super flu' (sounds like SARS),
and most of the people working on it think it is for a good cause.
Of course, the boss is willing to sell it to the military and to the
highest bidder. He lost his moral code a long time ago, and he's out
to make as much money of off his work as he can. Actually, he isn't
the person working on this, so he doesn't realize there seem to
be a few problems with even working with this flu type.

Isn't it obvious that anyone working in the boondocks, i.e. Nevada,
is usually up to no good. It's bad enough that anyone living downwind
of the atomic testing in Nevada during the 50s and 60s, have either gotten
cancer or hypothyroidism. You would think by now, that anything
being done so secretly would ring a bell, wave a red flag, draw some
type of regulation, right? Those of us who work in bioethics know better...
Internal Review Boards are just that, people internally (of the
business are regulating themselves). Doesn't happen very well...

In this novel which is more along the line of a Tom Clancy novel, one of the
newer scientists starts to notice irrational behavior on the part of other
scientists who were more or less forced into using the vaccine on themselves.
They get very paranoid for one thing, and scientists are paranoid
anyway, that someone is out to steal 'their' idea. It's apparent that this idea
of scientists working on morally-wrong projects is not new...I am seeing
it more and more in the books I read for enjoyment. Unfortunately, all
too often the public is willing to remain ignorant and allow the few to
control the technological businesses, such as gene cloning, etc. What
you don't know CAN all to often kill you.

A pretty good story and plot line...

Karen Sadler

This is the second novel by the talented team of Preston and Child, and it is quite exciting. Following the initial success of Relic, they've brought forth a new cast of characters including Guy Carson, a scientist who is transferred to GeneDyne's top-secret genetic engineering research facility, Mount Dragon, in the New Mexico desert. He's not there long when an emergency situation makes him reassess the desirability of engineering the human genome, but by then things seem to have gotten rather out of hand. As usual, this adventure is filled with research, lots of tense situations and interesting characters. The one sex scene seems aimed to get a movie made, and does not ring true, but otherwise I enjoyed this novel, as I've enjoyed a number of other books by this very talented writing team.

Preston/Child have fallen into a rut with mad scientists. As in Cabinet of Curiosities we are confronted with brilliant evil scientists who may cause the total extinction of mankind. All this to prevent the flu! The premise is absurd. The science is bad and boring. Why did they leave the supernatural themes of Relic and Reliquary where we could willingly suspend our skepticism for the sake of a good story. This is a very average work which could easily have been written by Robin Cook. If you want a medical genetics thriller try Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio.

The biggest problem facing readers of popular fiction is that they can read faster than Clancy, Crichton, et al, can write. So they must turn to the second-team writers to fill in the gaps.
After reading this book, I'd say Preston and Child are adequate second-teamers. The story is a good techno-thriller and the characterization isn't bad. I plan to give other Preston/Child novels a try.
[For what it's worth, here's one thought that has occurred to me many times, and again on reading this book; is it possible to write a novel where the protagonist is male, and his co-worker or partner or person he runs into in the course of the story is female -- but she's NOT a babe? In other words, if I were to write a decent story, but I made the protagonist's partner a not-so-attractive woman with whom he doesn't develop a relationship -- would the story get published? Just wondering. The female partner in Mount Dragon is indeed a babe, so we don't find out the answer to my question here].

I was given MOUNT DRAGON as a gift. I read it because I thought CABINET OF CURIOSITIES (another novel by Preston and Child) was such a great reading experience. Although MOUNT DRAGON lacks many of the qualities of CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, it is also an intense novel. One initial thought: I don't understand how two authors can coordinate their skills and compose such a great stories. In my experience, coauthoring is an extremely difficult task and often times the final product lacks lucidity.

The most artful characteristic of MOUNT DRAGON is the lifelike manner in which the authors are able to portray good and evil. In real life, good and evil are not discrete entities, but rather they are a paradox existing within the shell of all of us. Thus, Preston and Child portray good and evil as gray - neither black nor white. Thus, we see redeeming qualities in all of the evil characters with the possible exception of one - Nye, the security director. In addition, we see flaws within the "good" characters. It is much easier to create characters who are obviously good or evil and extremely difficult to create realistic personalities that embrace both characteristics. This complex writing task makes the novel suspenseful. The reader doesn't have a clear view of the direction of at least two subplots (particularly after reading CABINET OF CURIOSITIES). For example, the Scopes character is paradoxical, complex - thus, much less predictable, more interesting. On the other hand, the actions of Nye were clear cut. Readers will immediate catch his inherent evil and will be able to accurately predict his actions.

The best praise I can offer a novelist is that I will read his/her other work. I was given a copy of Preston and Child's RELIQUARY to read. However, when I read the cover, I realized it was the sequel to THE RELIC. I'm looking forward to reading these novels.

I am a man with few words and all I have to say about this book is that it is very good. You WILL enjoy it very much.

Short and sweet - Great book. Interesting start to finish without any slow spots. And the ending was not a letdown as so many books seem to be anymore. I will buy some of their others based on this example.

Mount Dragon is the first book I have read by Preston & Child. And the first 2/3 of the book is excellent. It has great mystery and plot that builds to a climax. I have to admit it was hard to put down. Then in the third act the book goes on a needless chase scene that lacks the focus of the first part of the book. It started like Andromida Strain or Outbreak and ended like a boring desert adventure...