Temple

Amazon.com

William Race, a mild-mannered professor, is impressed into the U.S. army on a bizarre mission: to retrieve a centuries-old Incan idol revered by a Peruvian Indian tribe. The idol, carved out of a meteorite, is the missing ingredient in a so-called "planet-killer," a weapon long sought not only by the U.S. government, but also by a neo-Nazi group whose scientists, linguists, and anthropologists seem to be one step ahead of the Americans. Only Race can translate the legendary manuscript that holds the key to the idol's location high in the Andes in a temple guarded by huge, man-eating panthers, on a moat seething with equally carnivorous crocodiles.

It's a preposterous setup of the Crichton/Cook variety, but Matt Reilly, author of Ice Station, takes it to the max, with plenty of improbable feats of physical strength, an arsenal of weapons that would give Tom Clancy pause, and a breathtaking conclusion. There's also a sneaky little internecine war going on among various branches of the American military just to keep the tension ratcheted up. It's not too long on character development, but it's a fast-paced read, with plenty of cliffhangers (literal as well as metaphorical), lots of firepower, and enough villains for a whole other adventure. --Jane Adams

Book Description

Deep in the jungles of Peru, the race of the century is underway.A race to locate a legendary Incan idol - an idol carved out of a strange kind of stone.A stone which in the late 20th century could be used as the basis for a terrifying new weapon. The US Army wants it - at any cost - but they are not alone......The only clue to the idol's final resting place lies in a 400-year-old manuscript. Enter Professor William Race, a brilliant young linguist, who is unwittingly recruited to translate the manuscript and lead the Army team to the idol. And so begins the mission that will lead Race and his companions to a mysterious stone temple hidden in the foothills of the Andes. A temple seething with menace and danger.But it is only when the temple is opened that Race and his team discover that they have broken a golden rule: Some doors are meant to remain unopened.From the author of Ice Station comes a sensational new adventure that will literally leave you gasping for air. AUTHORBIO: MATT REILLY was born in 1974 and studied law at the University of New South Wales.At 26, he has written three novels, several screenplays, and has had several magazine articles published.In 1999, he sold the film rights to his first novel, the action-packed sci-fi extravaganza, Contest.He lives in Sydney, Australia.