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dialakeil26's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I still think Preston and Child are at their best when their characters are investigating a mystery, and weaken when action or sci-fi focused. The mystery in this one is intriguing, but the final section presents no real twist and is basically exactly what we were expecting. The romance didn’t feel natural, and the final action sequences felt unrealistic and full of plot armor. Still, I enjoyed the ride.
minxy's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
willrefuge's review against another edition
3.0
3.0 - 3.5 / 5 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/diablo-mesa-by-preston-child-review/
Yeah, there’s a reason I couldn’t land on an exact rating for this one. Read on to find out why.
—
Nora Kelly has a job to do—it’s just not the one she ever expected.
Former lead archaeologist at the esteemed Santa Fe Archaeological Institute, she is approached by Luccas Tappan, a wealthy and eccentric billionaire and incidentally the reason that she is “formerly” at the Institute at all. See, only hours before Nora was asked to lead a dig at the Roswell Site—perhaps the site of the single greatest conspiracy in American history. Unwilling to be mocked for the rest of her probably short career as “that alien archaeologist”, she refused. But then, the Institute wasn’t really asking at all. And Nora wasn’t backing down.
Enter Lucas Tappan, handsome and persuasive billionaire who’s ready to write Nora a blank check in return for her services. Yeah, a blank check. From a billionaire. And even for a successful archaeologist like Nora Kelly, it’s really, really hard to say no to that.
And so she leads the dig to uncover what really happened at Roswell. But she’s going to need some help.
After her initial excavations uncover a couple of murder victims, Special Agent Corrie Swanson is asked to investigate. But what she finds only begets more questions than answers. And after carrying on with her own excavation, Nora’s path does as well. But just what exactly is going on in Roswell? And is it really aliens? And is there really a government conspiracy that will threaten the lives of the entire team, or will the desert—and the little grey beings—claim them first?
—
What makes a good series? After starring as a mainstay in Preston & Child’s Pendergast series for several of the first ten books, Nora Kelly was granted her own spinoff, and given her own co-star, Corrie Swanson, who played second fiddle to Pendergast in several more. The premier, Old Bones, was pretty good, but far from captivating, falling especially flat in its last third. A few leaps in logic really ruined what could have been a great debut.
Three-quarters of the followup, Scorpion’s Tail, wowed me. But again, the final hundred or so pages were quite a letdown. It makes some rather large leaps of faith with little or no evidence or justification beyond gut-feeling behind them. It was still an interesting read—just not a great one.
Which brings us to Diablo Mesa.
This one started out interesting. An excavation of the Roswell crash site? A possible government conspiracy? A bit of danger, adventure, and romance thrown in? Yeah, sounds like a pretty great read!
Which it very much was—for the first 75%.
Then it crashed and burned. Much like the alien spacecraft—I mean, “weather balloon”. And also like the rest of the series before it; all failing at the same point in each book.
So what can I really say about it? As it turns out, not a whole lot. Until that three-quarters mark, I was pretty much captivated. It was a great read; despite the obvious government conspiracy, despite the alien buildup, despite the kinda ridiculous romance(s), despite all the technical terms and archaeological process (take it from a former archaeologist: it ain’t interesting. Archaeology is a bit like war—99% of it is incredibly boring).
And so when it failed—at the 75% mark, like I KNEW it would—it was a disappointment. And so much of one that that’s most of what I remember about it, nearly two weeks later. Not the plot, not the thrill, not the conclusion (that really tried to turn that failure around)—but the failure itself. This one collapsed for the same reasons as those before it: gut-instincts and ridiculous leaps of faith. The resulting chaos was a mixture of bad plans and terrible logic, and the resulting fallout almost unbelievable chance working up to a happy ending. Happy, so long as your favorite character wasn’t any of the bit parts. In other reviews I might clock these as spoilers, but they’ve been done time and again in this series (and the Pendergast before it, at that), so I’ve pretty much come to expect them. So when I say that Diablo Mesa is a solid 3 to 3.5 star book, believe me that no one is more disappointed by this than I am.
TL;DR
75% of Diablo Mesa was gripping, thrilling, and a middle-finger to those two books before it. Or to most of the last half-dozen of Preston & Child thrillers. It was going to succeed where they could not. Not make the same mistakes, not falter in the final stretch, turn the entire series around and finish out an amazing story. But then. A leap of faith. Impossible logic. Another ridiculous, underdog story and a plan that would never work on paper but somehow ends up doing just that.
I mean… it’s really frustrating. This one fails in the exact same spot as the two before it. And even though the ending is actually, legitimately good—it’s not chilling in the way it should have been. Upon finishing Diablo Mesa I had the same reaction that I have writing this review nearly two weeks later: disappointment. Because it could have been great. But it was ruined for the same reasons, at the same time as those before it.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/diablo-mesa-by-preston-child-review/
Yeah, there’s a reason I couldn’t land on an exact rating for this one. Read on to find out why.
—
Nora Kelly has a job to do—it’s just not the one she ever expected.
Former lead archaeologist at the esteemed Santa Fe Archaeological Institute, she is approached by Luccas Tappan, a wealthy and eccentric billionaire and incidentally the reason that she is “formerly” at the Institute at all. See, only hours before Nora was asked to lead a dig at the Roswell Site—perhaps the site of the single greatest conspiracy in American history. Unwilling to be mocked for the rest of her probably short career as “that alien archaeologist”, she refused. But then, the Institute wasn’t really asking at all. And Nora wasn’t backing down.
Enter Lucas Tappan, handsome and persuasive billionaire who’s ready to write Nora a blank check in return for her services. Yeah, a blank check. From a billionaire. And even for a successful archaeologist like Nora Kelly, it’s really, really hard to say no to that.
And so she leads the dig to uncover what really happened at Roswell. But she’s going to need some help.
After her initial excavations uncover a couple of murder victims, Special Agent Corrie Swanson is asked to investigate. But what she finds only begets more questions than answers. And after carrying on with her own excavation, Nora’s path does as well. But just what exactly is going on in Roswell? And is it really aliens? And is there really a government conspiracy that will threaten the lives of the entire team, or will the desert—and the little grey beings—claim them first?
—
What makes a good series? After starring as a mainstay in Preston & Child’s Pendergast series for several of the first ten books, Nora Kelly was granted her own spinoff, and given her own co-star, Corrie Swanson, who played second fiddle to Pendergast in several more. The premier, Old Bones, was pretty good, but far from captivating, falling especially flat in its last third. A few leaps in logic really ruined what could have been a great debut.
Three-quarters of the followup, Scorpion’s Tail, wowed me. But again, the final hundred or so pages were quite a letdown. It makes some rather large leaps of faith with little or no evidence or justification beyond gut-feeling behind them. It was still an interesting read—just not a great one.
Which brings us to Diablo Mesa.
This one started out interesting. An excavation of the Roswell crash site? A possible government conspiracy? A bit of danger, adventure, and romance thrown in? Yeah, sounds like a pretty great read!
Which it very much was—for the first 75%.
Then it crashed and burned. Much like the alien spacecraft—I mean, “weather balloon”. And also like the rest of the series before it; all failing at the same point in each book.
So what can I really say about it? As it turns out, not a whole lot. Until that three-quarters mark, I was pretty much captivated. It was a great read; despite the obvious government conspiracy, despite the alien buildup, despite the kinda ridiculous romance(s), despite all the technical terms and archaeological process (take it from a former archaeologist: it ain’t interesting. Archaeology is a bit like war—99% of it is incredibly boring).
And so when it failed—at the 75% mark, like I KNEW it would—it was a disappointment. And so much of one that that’s most of what I remember about it, nearly two weeks later. Not the plot, not the thrill, not the conclusion (that really tried to turn that failure around)—but the failure itself. This one collapsed for the same reasons as those before it: gut-instincts and ridiculous leaps of faith. The resulting chaos was a mixture of bad plans and terrible logic, and the resulting fallout almost unbelievable chance working up to a happy ending. Happy, so long as your favorite character wasn’t any of the bit parts. In other reviews I might clock these as spoilers, but they’ve been done time and again in this series (and the Pendergast before it, at that), so I’ve pretty much come to expect them. So when I say that Diablo Mesa is a solid 3 to 3.5 star book, believe me that no one is more disappointed by this than I am.
TL;DR
75% of Diablo Mesa was gripping, thrilling, and a middle-finger to those two books before it. Or to most of the last half-dozen of Preston & Child thrillers. It was going to succeed where they could not. Not make the same mistakes, not falter in the final stretch, turn the entire series around and finish out an amazing story. But then. A leap of faith. Impossible logic. Another ridiculous, underdog story and a plan that would never work on paper but somehow ends up doing just that.
I mean… it’s really frustrating. This one fails in the exact same spot as the two before it. And even though the ending is actually, legitimately good—it’s not chilling in the way it should have been. Upon finishing Diablo Mesa I had the same reaction that I have writing this review nearly two weeks later: disappointment. Because it could have been great. But it was ruined for the same reasons, at the same time as those before it.
envy4's review against another edition
3.0
I fell into this book with as much ease as falling into the hands of a lover. However, I was not excited about the subject. Not my favorite of the series. I’m assuming this is the last one.
lazwright's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
shelliu13's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.25
blessedjess's review against another edition
4.0
In this newest addition to the Nora Kelly and Corrie Swanson series, we see our leading ladies making personal changes that have been needed for a while. What helps spark these changes, why the Roswell UFO incident of course! Preston and Child continue to use real life historical incidents to pull together a great mystery/action filled story that keeps the reader entertained and wanting more. I eagerly look forward to see what historical incident they'll tackle next and how Nora and Corrie continue to evolve. I am hooked to this series!
luciearan's review against another edition
3.0
Krajina pouštních stolových hor a náhorních plošin, protkaných vyschlými řečišti a kaňony. Nebo též oblast Roswellu.
Přiznám se, že Ďáblův stůl, mě svým dějem příliš nezaujal. Nepatřím mezi zastánce různých teorií, a ani mezi čtenáře sci-fi, jako žánru. I tak jsem si řekla, že vzhledem k tomu, že mám knihy dua Preston & Child ráda, dám šanci i tomuto dílu Nory.
I přes to, že se mi kniha četla dobře, příběh na mě příliš nezapůsobil. Ano, čekala jsem jisté teorie i odhalení, ale i tak mi dějově kniha příliš neseděla, a přečetla jsem ji hlavně proto, že mě zajímalo, kam bude příběh směřovat a jak ho autoři pojmou.
Bohužel, tohle nebyl úplně můj šálek kávy.
Přiznám se, že Ďáblův stůl, mě svým dějem příliš nezaujal. Nepatřím mezi zastánce různých teorií, a ani mezi čtenáře sci-fi, jako žánru. I tak jsem si řekla, že vzhledem k tomu, že mám knihy dua Preston & Child ráda, dám šanci i tomuto dílu Nory.
I přes to, že se mi kniha četla dobře, příběh na mě příliš nezapůsobil. Ano, čekala jsem jisté teorie i odhalení, ale i tak mi dějově kniha příliš neseděla, a přečetla jsem ji hlavně proto, že mě zajímalo, kam bude příběh směřovat a jak ho autoři pojmou.
Bohužel, tohle nebyl úplně můj šálek kávy.