“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.
The bestselling coauthor of such page-turning thrillers as Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities, Douglas Preston now spins an unforgettable tale of greed, adventure, and betrayal in The Codex.
The Codex by Douglas Preston. Audiobook by Books on Tape, narrated by Scott Brick. Run time is 12 hours.
*Trigger warning: Animal deaths.
I just love this book. It sure has a lot of negative reviews… I just find it fun! It’s an action adventure book, not rocket science. This is the second time I’ve read The Codex. The first was when it came out years ago. This time around I wanted to listen to the audiobook.
Overall, yeah… this is a fun story. I had an entertaining adventure. I thought the premise to be interesting and I looked forward to seeing how the brothers were going work out together. Yeah, we’ve seen jerky dads like this before, and the brothers aren’t that likeable at first, but I don’t know… I’m always a sucker for a fun treasure adventure. We had big snakes, killer cats, corrupt government, sketchy businessmen, a little bit of romance, mandatory fun time for some brothers if they want their inheritance, and much more… I wanted to be on this adventure! Minus the bugs, the starvation, the injuries, and literally everything and everyone trying to kill you. It’s a quick 12 hours. It starts off a little bit slow but ramps up the action after the plot is revealed. The villain is obvious, but there are still plenty of surprises to be had by the time the end rolls around. I really didn’t have any big complaints about The Codex.
Except the Narrator… I’m not going to dwell on it, because I often do on past reviews. Scott Brick is just not one of my favorite narrators. In my opinion, he is just too monotone for action adventure stories. Everyone sounds too similar and laid back. He just doesn’t do a lot of variety or amped up excitment. I enjoyed reading the physical book more then I did listening to it.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 