Subterranean

Pre-9/11, pre-recession, pre-Occupy, it was still Good Times, and I was in the green of my youth (hey, everything's relative, Chumley). As did many books back in the day, Rollins's thriller, first published in 1999, exudes a special pre-Bush II/Obama I sense of fun. Despite the high body count, it's a wild adventure with sf overtones and a fantasy aftertaste that doesn't make the fatal mistake of taking itself too seriously (see: The Chalk Girl). After a brief intro in which a soldier disappears in a tunnel two miles under Antarctica's surface, Rollins rolls out some characters who eventually form a team charged with exploring a newly discovered underground world. All have ulterior motives, and all are comfortably familiar tropes, from the fiercely independent, beautiful scientist/mother who can't turn down money to the affable, devil-may-care, but skilled Australian rogue who joins the team to avoid a jail sentence. This familiarity, when paired with the weird Antarctic tunnel circumstance, makes the book (dare I say?) "dude-friendly" (I do dare. I did). There's mystery, adventure, action, romance, guns, ancient civilizations, and fried banana sandwiches all wrapped up in a tale that's twice as enjoyable but only half as "mass market" as your usual Dirk Pitt craptacular, even if it isn't as homegrown as a creepfest like Stephen M. Irwin's The Dead Path. Con: shallow characters. Pro: enough energy to light my nighttime reading and keep me up reaaaal late wrapped up in my bed cocoon a couple nights in a row. - Douglas Lord, "Books for Dudes," LJReviews 1/19/12 (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.