by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Fiction – Adventure, Thriller, Mystery, with a splash of Horror
For generations, treasure hunters have searched for the key to the Water Pit, the labyrinth of shafts and tunnels that honeycombs Ragged Island. But the Pit is reluctant to give up its treasure, and many will die before its secret is revealed. 
The Book opens with a flashback to the discovery of a tunnel leading to a pirate’s treasure on the mysterious island off the coast of Maine know as “Ragged Island.” This prologue describes how generation after generation poured their riches down in to the tunnel of the island, seeking the treasure and failing until finally, the interest waned.
Flash forward to 1971. We meet our main character, a child at this point, Malin Hatch and his big brother Johnny. They’re bored and unsupervised on a hot summer day and decide to go explore ragged island, despite it being an adventure expressly forbidden by their father. While on the island they unwitting get closer to the treasure than anyone else in history, when tragedy strikes. Ruining and permanently altering their existence forever afterwards.
Flash forward to present day and we again join Malin Hatch as the island calls to him, this time through a professional treasure hunter, with a rock solid plan, a lot of funding, and proof that the treasure does exist on the island.
The treasure hunt commences, but as the group digs deeper and deeper into the island, only more mysteries are unearthed. Mass graves of pirates and a mysterious illness that is over-taking the crew, just to name a few.
I freakin’ loved this book!
This book kept up an incredibly addicting pace. First the heart wrenching opening, then the treasure hunt begins. A love story blossoms between Malin and the stunningly intelligent and badass archaeologist, Bonterre. As the dig for the treasure and more and more clues as to how dangerous it is are revealed you get more and more addicted to finding out what items could possibly be at the root of all this mystery.
The island, in all of its natural viciousness, is my favorite character by far, but the human ones really capture your interest as well. In particular, Captain Neidelman, who is the man heading the treasure hunt. He has that wild glint of obsession to him the same way Captain Ahab does in Moby Dick. It is great how you see the progression of his fevered ferocity grow until you reach the end.
There’s a whole cast of interesting characters that pull you in and you fall in love with enough so that when things start to go wrong you feel the danger.
When I finished reading this book, it left me breathless. It was so action-packed and the suspense (especially in this last couple chapters) was nail-bittingly thick.
This was an amazing, exciting book, and a really fast read. If you enjoy a fast paced mystery, or something that will bring images of Indiana Jones and The Goonies to mind, you will love this book. 5 our of 5 blood spattered stars.
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