Sometimes one finds an exceptional piece of work even from the most unexpected people.
Well, to be very specific, I would like to talk about a book which I read recently and was stunned by it. I hadn't heard of James Rollins much and since he isn't really the most popular author around, I never really expected to hear about any of his books. While searching for some "readable stuff" on Amazon.com, I bumped into "Amazonia" which had a really cool cover. Let's face it, the cover of a book does make a difference.
Read the reviews of the book and thought it might have something interesting, so maybe I could give Rollins a try. James Rollins is a pseudonym of Jim Czajkowski. (He has one more pen name. Its James Clemens)
To be frank, after reading novels by Sheldon, Ludlum, Dan Brown and others, I never really expected a certified scuba diver and an ex vet to impress me with his work. After all, Robin Cook (who is incidentally a doctor by profession) had been a big disappointment, according to me. Coma, his most famous work till date was truly a blockbuster plot going haywire! How could a best-seller be so...so...well, ill-crafted! After reading Coma, I firmy believe that authors are born, they aren't really made.
Anyway, coming back to Rollins, he turned out to be quite a big surprise! Given the really impressive cover of the book and some rave reviews about it, I wanted to give Amazonia a try. So I got down to the business of reading it closely from cover to cover.
I was pleasantly surprised.
Not only is his writing style free of technical jargon and look-up-the-dictionary words, but he has this amazing knack of having complete control over the reader's attention. Not even once did I feel like putting the novel aside and doing something else. It was a 12 hour non-stop read for me, and when I had finished reading it, I realised, that this man really is an awesome writer. Mr. Dan Brown has some competition.
After that I checked out the authors website www.jamesrollins.com
Just wanted to see what's up there. It was a really well built site for author who is just 10 novels old. I read about the other novels by him Subterranean (1999), Excavation (2000), Deep Fathom (2001), Ice Hunt (2003), Sandstorm (2004), Map of Bones (2005), Black Order (2006), The Judas Strain (2007), and The Last Oracle (2008). Most of his novels had one thing in common though. The setting... Most of his novels were written about places which are less travelled, less known and has loads mysteries associated with it. That was what had initially got me hooked to his novels. The cover of Amazonia, the Amazon rain forests and all...typical of a real action packed thriller.
I just hope Mr. Jim Czajkowski (aka James Rollins) gets the recognition he deserves. I don't think many people have read his work, because his books are not really the best selling novels of the year or something.
I can't wait to read his latest novel, The Last Oracle. Hope it won't disappoint!
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