[Hard Case Crime 26] • Grave Descend

The Barnes Noble ReviewFans of Michael Crichton who are certain that they've read every single one of the prolific writer's masterworks (The Great Train Robbery, Sphere, Jurassic Park, Disclosure, et al.) may have overlooked one: Grave Descend. Written while Crichton was attending Harvard Medical School and published in 1970 under the pseudonym John Lange, this brilliant deep-sea thriller is back in print for the first time in more than three decades!

James McGregor is a 39-year-old professional diver who, after suffering through numerous unsavory salvage jobs in New York and Miami, has relocated to sunny Jamaica. When a relatively straightforward and highly lucrative assignment -- to explore a luxury yacht that has inexplicably sank off the coast of Jamaica -- practically falls in his lap, McGregor readily accepts. But as he learns more about the mysterious sinking -- and about the yacht's enigmatic owner -- he begins to realize that he's being set up in an elaborate con that involves the Sicilian Mafia, exotic femme fatales, and hungry hammerhead sharks.

Regardless of whose name is on the cover, Grave Descend is a masterfully written adventure/thriller replete with wily scams, sunken treasure, intriguing villains, and more than a few jaw-dropping plot twists. The additional narrative threads involving English literary icon Samuel Johnson -- the title refers to a line in a Johnson poem, as does the name of a prominent character -- make this not only an obvious collector's item for Crichton fans but also a must-read for anyone who enjoys top-notch cerebral thrillers. Paul Goat Allen