Cuando la policía encuentra dos esqueletos unidos en un abrazo en un río de Manhattan, Margo Green, conservadora del Museo de Historia Natural, es invitada a colaborar en la investigación, no solo por sus conocimientos antropológicos sino por su experiencia el año anterior cuando se enfrentó con una horrenda bestia que andaba suelta por los sótanos del museo. Los esqueletos presentan señales de violencia y unas grotescas anormalidades que apuntan a una sola cosa: el despertar de una pesadilla dormida.

Al misterio de los esqueletos se suma una serie de brutales crímenes. Con la ayuda de un teniente de policía, un enigmático agente del FBI y un eminente científico, Margo indaga el origen de los asesinatos. La investigación los llevará a un pavoroso laberinto de túneles, cloacas y galerías horadado bajo Manhattan, donde se revela por fin el verdadero secreto de la Bestia del Museo.

This installment takes our hero to the underground world of Manhattan. ( )

As Thrillers go, I have to say this was above average, as there were fewer of the 'plot errors for the sake of higher action and drama' than your average thriller. That is, until we get to the combat scenes near the end. Maybe passable for someone who has not seen combat, but any veteran could tell you they're ridiculous.

As SF goes, which this story could qualify as, it's a fair story, though somewhat weak on the science and thus on the plot.
One example: the new virus supossedly causes those infected to have a violent reaction to vitamin D. Aside from that these folks also display massive skeletal changes (which aren't possible without vitamin D, which binds calcium), that wouldn't turn vitamin D into a virulent acid that would melt someone into smoking goo when you squirt it on their skin!
Then there's a bunch of amateurs (with explosives that is) successfully placing demo charges in NY tunnels sufficient to block tens of millions of gallons of floodwaters from outflows to the Hudson. Ever seen massive amounts of water in motion? I live near a power generation dam, and have seen many outflows float and move stones and chunks of broken concrete the size of a large man. Unless you collapse a huge section of tunnels, INCLUDING all the stuff above them (such as the city buildings) you're not going to succeed in blocking a big surge like they have planned. ( )

Not nearly as good as Relic but not bad enough to turn me off of Preston & Child. ( )

http://pro-libertate.net/node/8 ( )