The canyon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Canyon (original title: Tyrannosaur Canyon ) is a thriller by Douglas Preston from 2005 and is about a mysterious find in the desert of New Mexico .

content

The prologue of the novel depicts an incident during the Apollo 17 lunar mission. In the course of this, the astronauts make a rock find on the moon, which is later carefully kept under lock and key, without knowing the reason for the secrecy at this point.

Then there is a change of scene in the desert of New Mexico in the 21st century:

Tom Broadbent hears shots from the direction of the so-called tyrannosaur canyon while riding in the desert. He rides in that direction and finds an old man, a so-called prospector, who, hit by gunfire, is dying. Before his death, the prospector gives him a notebook and makes him promise to send the book to his daughter Robbie.

When Jimson Maddox, the murderer, arrives at the corpse a little later and notices that the book is missing, he is furious because he has been instructed to obtain it at any cost. After all, he finds an interesting rock sample in the dead man's possession, which he takes.

When Tom and the police arrive at the place where the body was found the next day, it has disappeared without a trace ...

The notebook contains columns of numbers carefully handwritten. Tom thinks the numbers are some code, but is unable to decipher it. He brings the book to Wyman Ford, a former CIA cryptologist who is just about to be accepted into the religious community as a novice in a monastery. After a while, Ford succeeds in discovering that the numbers are not a code, but rather data, namely those of a ground penetrating radar device. An evaluation gives the picture of a completely preserved skeleton of a tyrannosaurus.

Maddox's principal, Iain Corvus, is a research fellow at the American Museum of Natural History. He secretly has the rock sample examined by Melodie Crookshank, a laboratory assistant. Melody finds out that it is part of a tyrannosaurus bone.

Corvus has so far unsuccessfully sought a position as a curator. He was denied the promotion he had hoped for, mainly because the number of his scientific publications so far left a lot to be desired. Corvus intends to steal Melody's research to obtain an excavation permit for the T. rex. As a result of his machinations, he hopes for fame and honor as well as the long-awaited position as a curator.

Melody discovers that the sample contains tiny particles that she calls "Venus particles". The phone call with Corvus, in which Melody informs him of these results, is monitored by the NSA . A secret commando is brought into being under the direction of JG Masago with the aim of keeping the evidence of the existence of the particles under lock and key, killing all witnesses and gaining possession of the sample.

In the meantime, Ford heads out into the desert to look for the skeleton. At the same time, Maddox kidnaps Sally, Tom Broadbent's wife, in order to blackmail him into handing over the notebook.

Maddox holds Sally trapped in an abandoned mine tunnel and forces Tom to give him the notebook. Now that he has the book, he wants to kill Sally. However, she manages to break out, with Tom helping her. The two are then on foot on the run from Maddox, who is armed with a rifle on their heels.

Masago lets an agent break into the museum, who kills Corvus and steals the samples along with the results. Melody, who distrusts Corvus, has made copies of all works, which she keeps hidden along with sample material. When Melody becomes aware of Corvus' assassination and notices the disappearance of the works, she realizes that she will likely be the next victim.

She suspects that someone is trying to keep the find and everything related to it a secret, and realizes that her only chance is to complete the investigation and publish the results on the Internet.

The final examination of the samples shows that the Venus particles are still viable after 65 million years. Apparently it is a kind of virus that destroyed the reptile's cell structure. It puts the results on the web and makes them available worldwide.

The command units are now hot on Ford's heels in the desert using the latest technology. Maddox is also about to shoot Tom and Sally. However, with luck, the two manage to overpower Maddox and kill him. You pick up the notebook and catch up with Ford. Ford leads them out of the canyon on the run from the agents of the secret service. Their escape ends in an old Anasazi cave; here you are trapped. The T. rex fossil is located in the cave and it can still be seen that centuries ago the Indians practiced cultic acts in the cave that were apparently related to the skeleton.

Ford succeeds in persuading Masago's team after his entry into the cave to go over to him and refrain from killing the three. Masago reports on the Venus particles and that they were also found on the moon. So it is clear that they are of extraterrestrial origin. At this point it becomes clear what the mysterious rock find in the prologue is all about.

Everyone leaves the cave with the captured Masago, and a helicopter takes them back to the base. Masago tries to free himself. The scuffle leads to the helicopter crashing. The majority of the inmates are killed. However, Tom, Sally, Ford, and Masago's former right-hand man escape alive.

Meanwhile, Melody's sensational release has spread over the internet. Everyone involved becomes famous, including Robbie Weathers, the daughter of the prospector from the beginning of the novel. The Smithsonian Institution sets up a foundation to research the Venus particles and the dinosaur find. It is speculated that the Venus particles were deliberately brought to Earth by aliens in order to exterminate the dinosaurs and thus enable the development of humans.

universe

  • Tom Broadbent already played the main role in The Codex (2004), so there are always allusions
  • The last chapter alludes to the novel "Mount Dragon" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child , which has in common with this book the numerous equestrian and horse-related topics as well as the idea of ​​a treasure map. However, the representation in "Mount Dragon" is contradicted that the laboratory exploded, because in "The Canyon" only a simple fire is reported.

expenditure

The Canyon page 3

Web links

Review on www.sehen-und-gelesen.de