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Tyrannosaur Canyon | 
 enlarge | Author: Douglas Preston
Publisher: Forge Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  124 reviews
Sales Rank: 41749
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B000PKG9F0
Publication Date: August 23, 2005
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Condition: Good Clean Copy.
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About the Author DOUGLAS PRESTON has worked for the American Museum of Natural History as well as with his frequent collaborator, Lincoln Child. He has authored such bestselling thrillers as Brimstone, The Cabinet of Curiosities, and Relic. His latest solo novel is The Codex. Amazon.com Exclusive Content Rex-ommended Reading
 You won't need to do any research before reading Douglas Preston's exciting novel Tyrannosaur Canyon, but it's easy to see he did plenty. Check out his list of recommended reading to learn more about the mighty T. Rex and the fascinating world of dinosaurs in general.
Product Description
A stunning new archaeological thriller by the New York Times bestselling co-author of Brimstone and Relic.
A moon rock missing for thirty years...
Five buckets of blood-soaked sand found in a New Mexico canyon...
A scientist with ambition enough to kill...
A monk who will redeem the world...
A dark agency with a deadly mission...
The greatest scientific discovery of all time...
What fire bolt from the galactic dark shattered the Earth eons ago, and now hides in that remote cleft in the southwest U.S. known as Tyrannosaur Canyon?
The stunning new novel from the acclaimed bestselling author, recently hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as “better than Crichton.”
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| Customer Reviews: Read 119 more reviews...
 An electrifying race against the odds!!!! August 23, 2005
Colin Patrick Lindsey (Manchester, NH)
95 out of 122 found this review helpful
This new adventure from Douglas Preston, set against the backdrop of the remote American Southwest canyon country, is an enthralling bit of story-telling from a master of the genre. Tyrannosaur Canyon is an odd mix. The story is a little implausible and a bit over the top, but that doesn't detract much from the fact that it is fun and addicitively readable. While it lacks any gritty realism, that's true of most rip-snorting good adventure yarns from Treasure Island on. As with all good adventure novels this one excels in pacing, tension, and accelerating story-line. Frankly, the book grabbed me from the opening page and didn't let go until I had finished. In literary terms this one is a roller-coaster thrill ride at a theme park as opposed to an introspective day of art appreciation at the museum. Gripping and exciting, I believe the book will please most followers of the author and also delight new readers.
In this story we are introduced again to Tom Broadbent (from the Codex) as he stumbles across a dying, gunshot man. Before the man dies, he passes on a dark secret within a notebook of numbers and importunes Broadbent to see the notebook returned to his daughter. This task, difficult because Broadbent does not know who the man is, soon involves great personal peril to both Broadbent and his wife as people begin to try killing them. Lots of people actually. An entire cast of scary bad guys, from crazed ex-cons, soldiers, sociopathic creepy scientists, government agents, and others come crawling out of the woodwork looking to end the Broadbents in various terminally nasty ways, for the notebook itself turns out to be something of a treasure map. The Broadbents find help in some unlikely places and people, and make many improbable escapes as they race to determine what secrets the notebook holds and what to do when the secrets are revealed. This is a lively and fun adventure trip with a writing style that inexorably sucks you from page to page like a verbal riptide. It's tense, action-packed, crammed with scientific research, and really I liked it.
 Entertaining but highly improbable! (3.5 stars) August 24, 2005
Jason Webster (CA United States)
31 out of 33 found this review helpful
First let me say that I enjoy Preston/Childs books, easy thriller/adventure reads usually within an archeological/scientific context. This being said, Preston is not Crichton! I don't say this to demean the author, in my opinion Crichton is the best at writing a story around science and making it believable. However, Preston is still talented, and usually writes an entertaining story (especially when he is teamed with Childs).
Tyrannosaurus Canyon is an extremely improbable story, even for this genre. The plot revolves around Tom Broadbent who is given the Journal of a dying prospector, who was just shot, who he runs into while out riding a horse through a New Mexico Canyon. The old man asks Tom to deliver the Journal to his daughter. The notebook is filled with mysterious numbers, but you realize pretty quickly that they identify the location of a perfectly fossilized Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tom takes on this errand, even though he knows this will make him a target for who ever killed the Prospector-not too smart in my opinion. Tom and his wife are now in big time danger as the killers want the Journal. On top of this, a mysterious Black Ops agent also wants the notebook and has commandeered a special forces unit to help him. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but the agent is trying to hide a secrete discovered by the crew of Apollo 17 crew 30 years ago.
Don't expect a lot of character development (which is typical in this genre), but do expect a taught story line, with plenty of action. Just don't expect to be dealing with reality, the holes in the story are big enough to drive a truck through! My biggest problem is why does Tom put himself and his wife in so much danger? Its never really explained. That being said, fans of Preston will surely be happy with this effort, and those looking for a decent-turn-off-your-brain beach read. I was entertained even though the believability factor was very low.
Another great novel from half of the writing duo of "Relic" January 15, 2006
Brian Reaves (Anniston, AL USA)
25 out of 35 found this review helpful
What really killed the dinosaurs? Theories have abounded for years, with recent discoveries making for some interesting reading. Douglas Preston (who, with Lincoln Child, has written novels like Relic, Still Life with Crows, and this year's Dance of Death) attempts to promote his own theory in Tyrannosaur Canyon.
Tom Broadbent is out horseback riding one night and hears gunshots. As he investigates, he finds a dying old man clutching a weathered leather notebook. With his dying breath, the old man tells Broadbent to take the notebook and "Give it to Ronnie. She'll know what to do with the treasure," along with an admonition to avoid the police and any other interested parties. Broadbent discovers the notebook contains nothing but a series of numbers. Obviously a code, but what "treasure" was the old man trying to protect? The answer stretches all the way back to one of the Apollo missions years ago, and is a secret many people are willing to kill for.
Preston's previous solo novel, The Codex, was a real treat. The characters were rich and the story detailed, with plot twists galore coming left and right. The story progressed well and seemed to build on each previous page. It was obvious he was having a good time writing it. Tyrannosaur Canyon, on the other hand, seems to fall a little flat in many places. It's obvious he did a ton of research in preparing for this novel. Preston had a theory about the way the dinosaurs died, and he wanted to present it in an interesting way. Unfortunately, it seems he had little more than that theory in mind when he wrote this story.
I can't really give you many plot details without spoiling something for you. The numerous characters are two-dimensional for the most part. For some reason, there never really seems to be a climax to the story-just a lot of scenes of people chasing each other through the whole thing. What serves as the end of the book really feels like it should have been one of the earlier chapters with a lot more plot to go. The most jarring part of the story is the death of a major character and sudden introduction of a new villain when the whole thing is almost over. It's an odd thing when you consider how many consistently good novels he's turned out with Child over the past few years.
While The Codex was a five-star novel, this one would have to rank as half that. It's worth a read just because of the fascinating theories presented here, but we've seen him write better. Hopefully his next book will pick up with the same excitement we found in his first.
Pushes Credibility September 19, 2005
Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States)
19 out of 37 found this review helpful
To be honest, I picked up this book by accident thinking it was by an author whose book I had read before. It turns out, I had read a book by a different author with the same title as one of Mr. Preston's books. See what happens when you read too much and browse too often? Anyway, I got a chance to check out an author I had never read before and I had a reasonably good time doing it.
The premise is kind of fun: a fossil hunter finds the holy grail of fossils--a complete T. Rex skeleton. Before he can take advantage of his find, he is killed. Then, it becomes a race to see who among the competitors is going to decode the prospectors notes and locate the T. Rex, all of whom are seeking it for a different reason.
The problem with the book is that it really pushes credibility beyond the limit. It's like a mishmash of genres--science fiction, CIA thriller, psycho killer story, conspiracy theory, etc. which adds up to beyond believability. And some of the characters!--A multi-millionaire hiding as a veterinarian, a CIA agent turned monk, a killer who runs an Internet site for dating convicts. And that doesn't even touch the surface of the parade of crazies that run through this far-fetched tale. And the plot twists!--where is the T. Rex? Where else? Tyrannosaur Canyon. And a "extra secret" division of the CIA formed in response to a moon rock? Too much. I'm also not a big fan of prose that lingers over the names and details of firearms, which seems to happen a lot in this novel.
Still, I don't want to judge a story to harshly that I take to be meant as nothing more than a thrill ride. Mysteries are played out and there are plenty of twists and turns. And many of the characters are fun to spend time with though I have a fondness for those that don't push it too far into the impossible, like Melodie Crookshank, the geeky scientist who analyzes the fossil. And then there's the happy ending, which I liked despite its complete ridiculousness. To sum up, if you're looking for a bit of thrilling fluff, then this may be the book for you; otherwise, look elsewhere.
 Big fan of Preston, but not of this book December 8, 2005
C. Elgin (Palo Alto CA)
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
My thoughts on this book are not very keen as you can tell from my 2 star review. However, this is a very readable and jauntily written thriller that will pass the time with only a little pain. So if you want something that fits said criteria, this might be the book for you. If you have not read the Preston/Childs books, you are in for a treat. I would start with Relic, the first in the series and work forwards from there.
Why I disliked this book so much mainly lies in the fact that this was pure churned out formula. It has the same plot structure as a Hardy Boys mystery and might be written for an age group only slightly above that. I read the previous book, 'Codex' I think it was, and for the life of me I couldn't remember a thing about it when I picked up Tyrannosaur Canyon. I expect that a year from now I wont remember a thing about this one either. Its the kind of book that you will find yourself mussing over how familiar it all feels. And it does feel that way. The main plot is kind of engrossing none the less and only falls apart towards the end when it gets to the out of control fantasy peramiters. I really don't know why Preston had to put in this aspect. I would have been much more interested in a simpler tale that fleshed out the characters much more broadly. I would like to see Preston read Delillo and Russo, take a little of these authors prose capabilities and meld them with his knack for finding a mainstream Phillip K Dick output.
Go ahead and give me a negative help mark if you must. But can you really live with yourself for doing so? This is no five star or even a four star classic. Its pure pap. Plain and simple
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