Rating: 
Summary: another great read
Review: I was a little leary of this book at first. i love preston and child's books...and I recently read Utopia by lincoln child and I was a little disappointed. So I was worried that this being only one half of the team would give the book the same fate as utopia..not so! from start to finish the book sucked me in with an interesting situation, great characters and a very vivid setting.. if you've read any james rollins books (subteranean, amazonia) and liked them, this book will be right up your alley.
Rating: 
Summary: mildly entertaining, but still disappointing
Review: I really like Preston's collaborations with Lincoln Child. Their stories are relatively original and have an intriguing blend of history and the supernatural. However, it seems whenever these authors venture out on their own, the result is lackluster at best. Lincoln Child's solo work titled "Utopia" was also very disappointing to me. In this effort, Preston fails to constuct an original or entertaining plot and then compounds this misstep with shallow characters and clumsy dialog. This is a typical jungle treasure hunt story with greedy a CEO, a sadistic mercenary, hapless (and greedy) sons competing with each other, wise old jungle native, and of course the [attractive] female scientist/horse rider/marksman. This story lacks the spark of the supernatural, the historical intrigue, and the polish of the Preston/Child collaborations and sadly fails to rise above the noise level of other similar stories by people like James Patterson. I would try hard to avoid this book and wait for the next effort by Preston and Child.
Rating:
Summary: At least I'm encouraged about my own writing...
Review: Like other reviewers, I, too, am a huge fan of the Lincoln-Child collaboration (or, as they are known overseas, the individual Preston Child). I have thoroughly enjoyed all of their books, even the less-than-stellar "Still Life With Crows," mostly because these guys are such masters of atmosphere. Last year, I hungrily bought "Utopia," anticipating it to be another Preston-Child book until the next Preston-Child book arrived. Sadly, I found it lacking the great touches that made all the previous team books so fun- suspense, foreshadowing, creepy settings, etc. What I found instead was a "Die Hard" rehash with cardboard cutout characters and no compulsion to actually finish the novel, which I did, not without a certain sense of accomplishment. My thought was, (and my apologies to Mr. Child) "Now we know who the REAL writer of the team is!" So, with a silly grin, I dove into "The Codex" and was happily rewarded for my insight-- for about a hundred pages. It didn't take long, though, for my enthusiasm to wane as I met the same kind of cardboard characters and repetitive phrases. (Has anyone else noticed that these guys always have a favorite phrase that keeps getting repeated in their books? In RIPTIDE it was "a shocking glimpse of thigh..." , in THE CODEX everything is "the color of rich mahogany..." Just a thought.) But, I kept going, and going, and going... Maybe I was MEANT to be as tired of reading about the discomforts of jungle trudging as the characters in the book were supposed to be. I UNDERSTAND that there are biting, stinging insects in the jungle. I don't need to read it on 80 of 100 pages. The most irritating moment, though, came when Sally (how's THAT for a great name?)is relaxing in a hammock reading-- that's right-- UTOPIA. Tom asks her if it's a good book, and she replies that it's a GREAT book! Not only is that a blatant exaggeration, but that little bit of literary nepotism merly succeeded in yanking me right out of whatever little bit of immersion in the fictional world I had actually allowed myself to enter. (By the way, I feel the same about Clive Cussler's self-indulgent little "cameos" in the Dirk Pitt novels.) Okay, 'nuff said. Let's just say that in comparison to the Preston-Child novels I was embarrassed at my own attepmts at a novel. Now I think I'll work on it some more. I mean, if "The Codex" can be published...
Rating: 
Summary: Adventure...I couldn't stop reading!
Review: An true classic adventure book that keeps you coming back for more until you finish. From extreme luxury of the rich to the jungles of Honduras your catapulted through lives, challanges, defeats and successes. A great and worthy read.
Rating:
Summary: The DaVinci code it is not!
Review: First and foremost, please don't believe the reviewer who claimed that this was another "DaVinci Code!" There are absolutely no riddles in this book! I hate to give away any big plot devices, but the great quest to find their father's hidden tomb was solved by just picking up a phone and finding out where he last flew to! That said, this is a mildly entertaining adventure romp through the jungle. It would be fun beach reading (especially on a trip to Central America), but hardly qualifies as one for your permanent colletion.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick Read, Predictable Plot, Yawn.............
Review: I am a big fan when Preston & Child collaberate (except Still Life with Crows, booooring). However, what's with this Codex book. It has about every thriller cliche out there and just seems like someone's mediocre first novel. Come on Preston we expect great original stuff. Leave this rubbish to the other guys!
Rating:
Summary: Fun read
Review: I enjoyed this more than I did the recent Preston/Child collobaration 'Still Life with Crows'. In fact, it's the first thriller I've actually finished in recent months. Like another reviewer pointed out earlier, all these authors -- Matt Reilly, James Rollins, Steven Alten, Child/Preston -- are all blending together. If memory serves, the cover of this book and the hardcover of Reilly's 'Temple' are almost identical. I honestly couldn't even finish 'Temple' or Rollin's 'Amazonia' -- those authors always write outlandishly ridiculous stories and stupid characters that yank me out of the book from the very beginning. Preston fares better here. That's not to say this storyline is exactly believeable or the characters dynamite, because they're not. However, it is FUN and I think the central concept is very imaginative and had me hooked. Unlike Rollins or Reilly, Preston doesn't blow a good idea with poor execution and I happily read this way past midnight. I can't imagine fans of Preston/Childs not enjoying this. That said, I do hope this spells the end of Crichtonesque books about adventure in South/Central America chasing some priceless Aztec/Mayan/and or Incan ruin. I'll give kudos to Preston for doing it with more imagination and originality than most, but it's time to find some new terriroty.
Rating: 
Summary: Preston's Bungle in the Jungle
Review: I'm a big Preston/Childs fan. But after successive reads of Lincoln Child's "Utopia", and Douglas Preston's "The Codex", it's becoming clear that these two do much better as a team than when going solo. While "Utopia" had its moments (and even gets a cameo in "Codex"!), Preston's implausible "Codex" falls short on virtually all counts. In a nutshell, "Codex" is the story of an eccentric father, who, dying of cancer, decides to bury with him a fortune in rare art he has collected over a lifetime. The catch is that his choice of a burial spot in his secret, leaving it to his three insufferable sons to locate and claim their inheritance. It goes downhill from there. The brothers are chronically whining about the injustice of "father's" scheme, while reminding the reader every page or so what a rotten childhood they had. About the time this banal sibling chatter becomes unbearable, Preston subjects the reader to a steady stream pidgin English from one of the natives in the jungle in which the boys inevitably end up ("Thankee, brother. We talkee later". I'm not making this up). Preston throws in the standard love interest - blond, brainy, handy with a horse and rifle, and initially while hard to get, there are no surprises to where this "Laura Croft" will end up. Stashed away with "father's" treasure is the lost Mayan Codex, the document that will unlock the mysteries behind all diseases human. Right. So while the boys and girl are running around the Central American jungles looking for the lost tomb and its Codex, the stereotypical evil CEO - in the case from a pharmaceutical giant - has his even more evil henchman chasing them through the swamps. In summary, a silly plot, cardboard characters that still manage to annoy, and lame dialogue, and a predictable ending add up to a pretty disappointing read. Skip this one, and save your time and money for (hopefully) a rebound when Preston and Childs team up again for this summer's "Brimstone".
Rating:
Summary: mediocre
Review: This book was interesting and intriguing, but not at all well-written. A good airplane read, but nothing literary or profound here. And the ending was a bit disappointing
Rating:
Summary: As much fun as eating cardboard.
Review: Take an unconvincing plot, mix it with characters whose depth is fingerscratch deep, add an obligatory sex scene while hero and heroine are facing death and toss in a few cliches and, presto, you have "The Codex."
A recluse billionaire with perhaps three sons keeps a half-billion dollar collection of antiquities and art in his home. He summons his three sons to come at a specific time - and they find dying daddy and the collection gone.
A talented writer could have made something of that. Douglas Preston does not. Instead each of the three sons is a cardboard cutout, patched together of literary Lego blocks: pipes, tweed jackets, cowboy boots and so on.
The adventure tries to be adventurous, but for me reading this attempted thriller reminded me of waiting for a weather-delayed flight. You have to do something, even if its mildly unpleasant and very boring.
Clive Cussler has the remarkable ability to take bizarre circumstancs, characters and plot twists and render them enjoyably exciting. Douglas Preston lacks that talent. You can pass "The Codex" by and miss nothing. Jerry
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