Subterranean: A Thriller

Subterranean was James's debut under the Rollins pseudonym (He also writes fantasy under the Clemens pseudonym). It was published in 1999 and was available only in the mass market format. Nearly 11 years after its release it is being republished in the hardcover format. Subterranean is a book which is hard to describe without revealing much of its plot. The book begins with a scene set in some underground caverns and with a typical pattern ends on a note which will compel the reader to read ahead.The book's main protagonists are Ashley Carter, who is an expert in archaeology and Benjamin Brust who is ex-Australian military guy and a Caving expert. Ashley gets an exciting offer to lead an expedition into Antarctica to find out the whereabouts of a recently discovered idol. Ben however gets coerced into joining the group due to his caving skills and because if he doesn't, he will have to face legal consequences for his previous actions. A team of individuals is assembled which includes experts from other nations as well and they plan to go ahead to find out the origins of the idol. The set up is such that they will have to travel to Antarctica and then go below it to mine for the idol origins and other possible treasure which can be salvaged.As per expectations things go haywire for reasons unexpected (I cannot reveal the reasons as that is an integral plot point). The team then due to the circumstances, gets broken up into smaller groups and it is from here on the real fun begins. James Rollins draws us into a subterranean world which is wondrous and deadly at the same time; the world created is almost like an extra dimension/character to this book and this was often a highlight of James earlier standalone books wherein the environment was always a special one and a crucial part of the story as well. The story then takes some rapid twists as the reader is taken deeper into the subterranean world. The plot then totally escalates into a wild adventure ride wherein the background of the earlier teams and the origin and details of the idol are revealed. In the end James packs up an incredible climax involving several of the plot threads bringing the story to a resounding climax.The imagination of Rollins, in making up such a fascinating underworld and the terrific action sequences will keep the readers hooked on to the book. This book is one of my favourites and was the second book I ever read of James Rollins but this was the book which made me a fan of his. This book is a self contained one and the author has also left a very appropriate strand open for a sequel which if he does write, will immediately become a must-read book personally.CONCLUSION: Highly highly recommended for all thriller and adventure fiction fans. This book is quintessential James Rollins fare and possibly one of his best. So pick this up and find out for yourself why James Rollins is considered by many to be a unique combination channeling both Clive Cussler's action plots and Michael Crichton's science-laced ideas to come up with his own brand of thrillers.

I have read several books by James Rollins and enjoyed them very much. So I have to say I wasn't disappointed this time either. When I read any book one of the things I do is visualize who would play this part if it was a movie. This time I was able to see several of the characters being played by some of my favorite actors. Now this is not to say the characterizations are not strong just the opposite the character are strong personalities in their own right. As to story line it is just a good story. I know it said think Jurassic Park, but I thought a whole different view of why are these people doing this underground. I mean nothing good is going to happen deep under the ground and sure enough it does go bad. There are several sub-plots in this book but they all tie in together by end the end of the book. My only problem with this story was there were a few old cliches to be found like the brother looking for his brother, the single mom, who has to be tough for her child, the person with a hidden agenda, and my all time favor the military just waiting for an excuse to take over the whole show. But overall this is a good book because even though it is fiction it does make you think and that what a good book is supposed to do along with entertaining you.

First book I read by JR was Sandstorm and I was hooked. This book is every bit as good! Fast paced, lots of action, and a plot that will stretch your mind.

This book starts well but plunges into a sea of bullcrap after several chapters. He uses 10% realty, like the names of real places in Antarctica, mixed with 90% of lies, propaganda, sick imagination and fantasies. This mixture makes it hard for the reader to distinguish the fiction from the reality, helping the author to keep the readers attention and mind in his hand and exploit it in a very stupid way.There are many inconsistencies from the start to finish of this fish story that blew the author's cover. If I want to mention all of them, this review will be a book by itself but here are some examples:1) the head of the scientific research group has is well connected to Washington and the pentagon and handpicks top scientist, in number of fields, by himself by making a direct contact with them, after a thorough research about them, at their residences escorted by a group of military men. yet for some mindboggling reason he picks an Egyptian as the top Geologists in the world, named Khalid!, which is hard to believe given other reputable geologists better suited for the sensitive job. later on, this character morphs into an Arab terrorist with a backpack full of plastic explosives, killing the military personnel with knife and dumping their bodies into chasm, all for a cause that's not Egyptian but an Israeli, the diamond trade.Author uses this imaginary character to spew out all of his personal prejudices, bigotry and hatred. Author did not explain why the research organizer, Blakely, was fooled by this scheme, that is, the employer of this Egyptian sending Khalid to replace the Egyptian geologist. Didn't he make an aggressive personal contact with him before hand? why was he allowed to carry so much explosives on the top part of his backpack! going to a top-secret place? Why did he put the explosives on the very TOP of his backpack so they could come out and cover the bathroom floor with 2 other group-members in it? why did he take the backpack to the restroom to begin with when it should’ve been in his room at the base like everybody else? Why did the 11-year old kid stuff one of them in his pocket instead of saying, "here sir you dropped this?" This Egyptian character had very little to do with the plot of the story and removing him would not have had any bearing of the plot but he had to be there for propaganda purposes right when the author had the reader's attention.2) another character is an Australian former military man (Ben) who has been picked as a top cave specialists. This guy is very horny and constantly courts the female scientists of the group. He fires a gun and misses a whale-size shark from yards away and by several feet. He refuses to take another shot because the shark was too close to the swimmer. One of the female characters takes the gun and kills the shark. How could a ex- military officer miss by such a big margin? This big fish incident was another bullcrap. Its back fin alone, sticking out of the water in one of the caverns' river, was 3-feet long but happened to swim in a river that was said to be only 3 to 4 feet deep!). Yet, towards the end of the story,he fires a shot from yards away and kills a native named sinjari who was standing next to the female character, Ashley, whom he had impregnated earlier and was in love with, inside a cavern at the night when both of them were scheduled to be executed the next day by the locals, , and blew the Sinjari’s head precisely! Author could not remember that this character was bad shooter several chapters back especially towards the end of the story when he was injured and bleeding, tired, sleepy, etcAt one point the group has to split. The 1st one with the cave expert, Ben, was suppose to return to the base and get help for the 2nd group that had a badly injured person staying behind in the diamond cavern. The 1st group with the cave expert and a military-person with badly hurt ankle spends almost a day going from cavern to cavern, tunnel to tunnel and still could not get to the base but the 2nd group finds its way to the waterfall near the base in minutes! There were only 2 passages to go forward or back, so how could the cave expert miss the rout the 2nd group took?speaking of passages, it was explained to the scientists (who turned into group of Indiana Jones overnight) that the main underground base, alpha base, was completely explored by the previous groups and the job of this new group was to go beyond the main base and explore other caverns and that the only way to go to the next cavern was through a sewage-line size tunnel (2-feet in diameter) that required roller-skates boards to go through, but towards the middle of this boring book, huge herd of some 10-feet tall reptile-looking beasts attack the base and kill or destroy everybody and everything. The question is, WHERE did these beasts come from, if the only access was through either the sewage-line passage or the elevator to the surface?And this attack on the base is the main cause of the stupid excitement the author tries to generate in most of the book.In the middle of the book author starts loosing it and becomes confused about the time, distance and the direction of travel of his characters. His characters use every opportunity to flirt and touch each other when they are supposed to be in a state of horror, shock, exhaustion, eyes wide open, hearts pounding, thirsty, hungry, hearing strange noises and screams and not knowing whether they'll be alive 2 minutes later. very stupid and unrealistic romance which only reveals the author's sexual and personal deficits and problems, expressed through his imaginary characters.At one point the 11-year old character, Jason, swings his gym bag and strikes the 10feet tall reptilian beast on its snouts and saves the group organizer, Blakely. these are the same beast that the military units were running away from in horror.Of all the deaths and injuries caused by these beasts, the only 3 female characters of this book survive, uninjured.Characters also speak unrealistically cool and relax for their given situations. Btw, If you remove the word 'team' from the book, it should reduce to half of its size.Author fails to have its characters use digital cameras, camcorders, etc. "the top scientific team of the world" still has to use pen and paper to documents their findings, draw diagrams or just their memory for descriptions, like the 1930s explorers in novels.On the one side of the underground base was a lake with the navy personnel using boats on it. Later on, this lake becomes a high flowing river with consecutive waterfalls only some 100-yards away from the base. And this fact was unknown to the research-organizer who had spent many months down there. He finds out about it only when he had to flee from the invading beasts causing all kinds of suspense and excitements for some readers.Well, the stupid falking bastard does not stop here. The shetbag creep continues to insults the intelligence of the reader by saying that the help from the surface arrived by the troops parachuting into the big shaft, which was connecting the underground base with the surface (because the elevator was completely destroyed earlier). This shaft was supposed to be as deep as a “600-story building”. It didn’t occur to this stupendously falking asinine author that how the heck the descending troops and the survivors managed to go back UP through the shaft to the surface. Author finally finished the falk up at this point and saved himself the explanation.It could’ve been a good read for the 11-year olds but wait, it uses so much foul language that it won’t be good for them either. You should be able to use it to kindle your fireplace with.

I was introduced to James Rollins through Amazonia and became a superfan. I don't know how many times I've read Subterranean it's one of my favorites. You just can't read it fast enough. Superior story and non-stop action even a romance. Fantastic characters. You won't find a better author or book if you like action, thrillers, and a new spin on historical/religious/scientific facts.

I actually really enjoyed this fast paced adventure thriller, and surprised myself in doing so. It certainly isn't my usual kind of novel and yet Rollins has a way with words that draws you into this strange and yet somehow remarkably scientific world. Out of everything, his characterisation is probably the weakest aspect of the novel, but this is carried by a quick pace, lots of twists and turns and the detail and imagination of this underground world. It's an easy read that I tore through in the better part of a day and neatly combines science fiction and adventure into one very smart read.In a way it reminded me a lot of Jurassic Park in the way it used science and evolution as the basis for the ecosystem that has evolved over millions of years in complete isolation to the rest of the world. Because whilst this isn't a prehistoric ecosystem, it is an ecosystem untouched by technology and mankind. The evolutionary lines have taken completely different turns and have led to series of life forms that have developed and evolved down the marsupial and monotreme evolutionary pathways. It's cleverly done, for Rollins himself notes that these evolutionary pathways are more or less dead ends within our own world and there aren't a vast amount of extant species to compare with. This gives him a huge scope for his imagination to run wild, there are no existing boundaries created by existing evolutionary knowledge.James Rollins also does a fantastic job at building up tension within the novel. Between the intricacy of the unknown within the caverns and the threats both within the group and from the creatures surrounding them, the level of stress cracks and fractures the relationships. All in all, a solid read. More could have been done with the characters, but perhaps that would have slowed the pace down and made it far less of a tightly written and paced read. I've never read anything by James Rollins before, but I am certainly interested in looking for more of his works and giving them a try.

This novel should be a big screen movie. It is a fantastic story of adventure and action. With Alien creatures to lost civilisation, heroes and of course—?. As the story proceeds each chapter ends in suspense, pulling the reader on to the next and next chapter.For someone who likes a non stop thrill a minute read, this is a book for you.

I really enjoyed the book, the first one I've read by this author. I love stories about other, hidden worlds and creatures who have evolved very differently than what we are used to. I will definitely try another!

What a read ,thougly enjoyed it from start to finish,reads in many ways like Crichton ,but a Jurassic park under the ice

Adventure, beasts, treasure and treachery, should have been a rip roaring yarn, right up my street but I struggled to enjoy it. Whether it was so predictable, hun drum formula or just boring I don't know. I finished it, but from a third of the way through i was looking for another book. Next.