The Codex, published by Douglas Preston in 2004, is described in a cover blurb as “Raiders of the Lost Ark meets The Amazing Race”. That about sums it up. An eccentric billionaire who is dying of cancer sets one last challenge for his three sons – he has packed up his fabulous collection of art and ancient artifacts and is taking it all with him to an undisclosed burial site. If his sons want their inheritance, they will first have to find it.
The brothers are less than thrilled by the idea of going along with their overbearing dad’s last demand, but take up the challenge, each for his own reason and independently of each other. The oldest brother, an art lover, doesn’t want to give up his favorite painting and is short of money. The youngest brother confides in his sham guru, expecting to be told that he is right not to want to chase money, and is surprised to find that the guru wants them to set off on the quest immediately. The middle son has decided to do nothing, until a beautiful young woman with an interest in an item in his father’s collection, a Mayan codex of medicinal plants, seeks him out for help in acquiring the treasure for the good of humanity. Then he realizes that his brothers, who have already left, are probably in great danger and don’t know it.
The plot has more twists than an anaconda (who is one of the many and varied characters to appear), and left me in awe of the imagination of Douglas Preston.
janethannah 