The second book, The Himalayan Codex, was, at the time, still in hardcover, so I wanted to wait to get it. And forgot about it. Since then, not only is the second book out in paperback but a third was published and is also out in paperback, so I’ll cover both.
This series is more “science thriller” than techno-thriller, making use of wonky science like James Rollins or Michael Crichton did. In all the books, the authors provide a section at the end giving the basis for some of the elements of their story, both historical, scientific, and speculative science, which is interesting. They’ve even added in some historical characters, as well as others based on real people. One thing different is they also included a two- to three-page list of references, which I’ve not seen with other authors.
MacCready is a captain in the U.S. Army in the first book, as well as a zoologist. The first book was set in 1944, and the second is set two years later in 1946. At this point, MacCready is working for the Metropolitan Museum of Natural Science in New York and seems to still have some ties to the Army enough that they call him in for a mission. He is joined by Yanni Thorne, who appeared in the first book as well. She was the Brazilian wife of his old friend Bob Thorne, who didn’t survive the events of the first book. She works for the Central Park Zoo and will be working with him in both books.
So the second is The Himalayan Codex (2017). It starts when MacCready’s Army contact brings him some bones that appear to be an elephant. When examined by another expert, they figure out that they are not fossils but of a recently alive pygmy mammoth. The search for this will be the cover story for MacCready and Yanni’s trip to Tibet. What they are really after is a newly found codex by Pliny the Elder that hints at something that might speed up evolution. And the Communists might be after it as well. Overlooked is that Pliny also hinted at a lost race of humans that may be the basis for the legends of the yeti.
We actually get several storylines running with MacCready and Yanni’s journey along with their associates back at the museum translating the codex and we see Pliny’s journey to Tibet. In Tibet, Mac and Yanni discover (or are found) by yeti, called Cerae. They are then taken into an underground realm of bizarre lifeforms. We will learn more about this wild world of yeti, the pygmy mammoths, and the wild biology of their world.
As this is post WWII, we also mix in the Russians and the Chinese, particularly a Chinese scientist also looking into the yeti. Things get tricky when not just the Chinese show up, but the Russians and a rescue group from the U.S. military.
The third book is The Darwin Strain (2019) is set a couple of years later and is centered around the Greek island of Santorini, an island made from an ancient exploded volcano. Strange things are going on, and MacCready and Yanni are sent there, along with some of the secondary characters from the previous novel.
In addition to the “return” of the strange red microbe from the last novel, there is also a mysterious, highly intelligent aquatic species. The red microbe is coming up near the island and is seen by some as a miracle cure. Others think otherwise. And the aquatic species, dubbed “kraken,” is dangerous, killing several. But will they be able to communicate with it? We even have a storyline — set over five-million years in the past when the Mediterranean Sea was a desert — that shows the beginning of the kraken and their encounters with early hominids, and how one such group would become the ancestors of the Cerae (yeti) that appeared in the previous novel.
There are various groups involved, which makes things complex. We have Mac’s group, but then another group led by a character from the last novel who answers to someone else. As it’s the start of the Cold War, we have various Russian elements involved, both on the island and elsewhere. And then you have the local Greek Orthodox bishop as well. Where does he fit in all of this?
Things come to a head, but I was disappointed that matters weren’t resolved with all the characters, considering there aren’t any plans for further works. If this was a movie, you’d see this as a setup for the sequel. But they never planned to do one. I find this frustrating.
Now two authors are unusual. Schutt is a vertebrate zoologist and college professor. He has written a few popular science books and is apparently working on a new solo novel, a WWII-era thriller.
However, “J.R. Finch” is more mysterious. Little is said about him in the first two books, which just indicate the name is a pseudonym. The third book gives more information on him, indicating he’s written several books and that there is a movie based on a scientific paper he wrote. But who knows how much of that is true? At this point, who his is hasn’t been revealed.
But it seems we won’t get any more works with R.J. MacCready. The third seems to be the final one.
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