Long has a gift for creating a cinematic experience using nothing but words. You can feel the rain pelting your face, hear the typhoon howling through the treetops, and see the many grotesque visions as they emerge from the jungle. A haunted forest tale whose suspense builds slowly but steadily towards a resolution as heartbreaking as it is horrifying. ( )

Nuori journalisti Molly Drake tutkii Kambodzan viidakkoa matkassaan digikamera ja valtaisa annos päättäväisyyttä. Hänen on löydettävä Vietnamin sodassa kadonneiden amerikkalaissotilaiden jäännöksiä, ja Times-lehden sensaatiojuttu on valmis. Mollya avustavat arkeologi Duncan O’Brian ja outo, veljeään etsivä maanikko, John Kleat.
Pian Molly tekee löydön: punakhmerien joukkohaudassa onkin jotain, mikä ei sinne kuulu, ja poliittinen skandaali on syntynyt. Mollyn on lähdettävä maasta – tai siirryttävä syvemmälle viidakkoon.
Kuuman ja kostean metsän uumenissa uinuvat muinaisen temppelikaupungin mahtavat rauniot. Etsijöiden läpimurto alkaa olla lähellä… Mutta väkivaltaisen menneisyyden henget ovat tulleet kertomaan, että tilinteon hetki on koittamassa. Eikä sota olekaan ohi. (Kustantaja)

Review: The Reckoning by Jeff long.

The book starts out as a thriller and transfigures into a mystical paranormal story. A reporter from The New York Times went on a travel assignment to Cambodia to take pictures and report on the US Military’s efforts of excavating the site of a Military plane crash that took place in the 1970’s and the remains of the pilot.

She joined up with two men in Cambodia. One was an archeologist who specialized in temple restoration and a development contractor who was making once a year trips to Cambodia over a long period of time in hopes of finding the remains of his long lost brother. There was also five other men who joined their team.

With the monsoon about to begin and a possible typhoon stirring the mission was moved beyond the excavation site. Their travels took them on a very long drive through the night, past a strange rain of tiny frogs, a place deep within the confines of the jungle where legions and myths are closer than most people ever experienced working its mystic powers.

Buried deep within the Cambodian forest, primitive and creepy, through the early dense fog they discovered the ruins of an ancient city. Should they go on? This brought on turmoil within the team because of their reasons. One wanted to move on and look for the skeletons of men missing during the war others wanted to move on to take relics in the old city, greed getting the best of them, two wanted to relish in the ruins to captivate the essence of another world and only one wanted to turn back…. But why go back…?

The author knows how to create mystical surroundings that literally come alive with its creeping mists, shapely wandering shadows, sweltering humidity, aggressive abundance of growth, and the sense of urgency, the dread, and the excitement that pulls each and everyone of the characters and entices the reader into the mysterious puzzle of the missing soldiers and the city itself. I thought it was a great read…..Haunting….
( )

Parts were OK, but there was just too much sluggishness in between to keep up a sharp pace, e.g., descriptions of ruins and jungle foliage. I stopped about 1/4 from the end. ( )

A reporter joins archaeologists in Cambodia as they attempt to unearth the remains of American soldiers from the Vietnam War. There was a skirting of supernatural elements but not enough to intrigue me. It was an okay read for me but not as good as Year Zero or The Descent.