Inca's Death Cave by Bradford Wheler

By Carrie Anne

Adventure, archaeology, technology,and mystery mix to form a breathtaking action-packed tale. A 500-year-old puzzle catapults an archaeology professor and his brilliant grad student into the adventure of a lifetime.  What happened to a band of Inca rebels who journeyed north in Peru to seek the fabled cave of the true gods-and escape the disease and destruction brought by Spanish conquistadors?  They were never heard from again.  Did they just melt back into their villages or was something more sinister involved?  What trace or treasure did they leave behind?  The ingenious plot of this thriller is full of twists and turns, excitement and adventure, archaeology and technology.  Readers will meet fascinating characters they'll never forget:  a high-tech billionaire, a quick-witted professor, his beautiful young student, and her still-tough grandfather, a retired Marine gunny sergeant. Cornell University professor Robert Johnson and his star PhD student are hired by a billionaire entrepreneur to solve a 500-year-old archaeology mystery in norther Peru.  But first, they will have to survive corporate skullduggery and drug-lord thuggery.  And why, 6,700 miles away in Vatican City, is the old guard so upset?  What dark secrets could centuries-old manuscripts hold?  This assiduously researched, fast-paced novel brings the Incas and their ancestors to life against the backdrop of the Peruvian Andes. (taken from Amazon description)

I really wanted to like this book, after having enjoyed such titles as The DaVinci code.  I love historical fiction, learning more about the past in an interesting way.  Add in a mystery and some action, and I'm there!  Unfortunately, this book brings back all the feelings of history classes in school:  boring, boring, boring.

I will agree it was thoroughly researched and I can tell the author has a love for what he was doing, going so far as to include pictures to further illustrate his ideas.  The problem is, the book gets so bogged down in the technical details, the characters are never really developed and the plot feels secondary to the author showing off his knowledge.  There are some humorous lines along the way, but, again, not enough to keep my interest.  At one point, the main character comments that his eyes glassed over during a presentation by another character.  I have to say, I know exactly how he felt!