The Mayan Conspiracy

Graham Brown

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Former CIA-agent Hawker has been black flagged by his own government and Interpol and the State department have issued a warrant for his arrest. All Hawker wants to do is find a way back home that doesn’t involve a prison sentence or a body bag.

Government operative Danielle Laidlaw is his way out. She needs a pilot and a security consultant for her mission to discover the lost Mayan city of Tulan Zuyu. In return for his services, she promises Hawker his life back.

But as an unseen enemy stalks the rainforests, leaving battered corpses in its wake, they are about to discover that they are not the first – and they are not the only people looking for Tulan Zuyu and the secrets it may hold.

About the Author:
Graham Brown was born in Chicago. He is a pilot and an attorney. He lives with his wife, Tracey, in Tucson, Arizona, where he is currently at work on a new novel.

Review by Chrissi (310711) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
This is not so much a conspiracy as a good old fashioned adventure with a couple of double crosses thrown in, making for a nice exciting read. I must say that there was a moment fairly early on where I had a bit of a guffaw at the suspense of reality asked of me, but thankfully that did not detract from the overall plot.

There are a few obvious red herrings and a couple not so obvious, but the story is neatly plotted and the characterisation is well done. It does have a little Mission Impossible in it but that is a good thing in a thriller-slash-adventure story such as this.

Hawker is a good bloke who followed orders rather too unquestioningly and then for some unknown reason he was banished. He now flies a helicopter in South America and is approached by Danielle to work for her on an expedition, unfortunately she has not told him everything, but then again, he does not give much away either and he finds himself coming to her aid when a meeting goes wrong. For supposedly intelligent people that might have been a clue but surprisingly not.

Once into the jungle it seems that there have been a few secrets kept from him and then she discovers that she was not told everything either, leaving them all in a pretty vulnerable position. The back story is present but not intrusive, making the whole plot line very current and all the more immediate, it is entertaining and clever and whilst the premise may be a little farfetched, it is not to the detriment of the story.

This is a book to be picked up at an airport and read in one sitting by a pool on your holidays, much in the manner of Matthew Reilly or Steve Berry, and seeing as how I liked the characters I would go so far as to suggest that they might feature in another story given a chance as they worked well and are sufficiently likeable to have more adventures... in which case I would happily read them.
Chrissi (31st July 2011)