Review: The Anomaly

4 stars. This was a really, really good time. Pure adventure archaeology horror, which is apparently a genre I can’t turn down. Honestly, what in the world was that premise?? Like, what even happened here? And do I care, when the journey was so fucking fun? This is a campy, blockbuster beach read of a book and I would love it if everyone lightened up a bit and went for it.

The story follows Nolan Moore, archaeologist-turned-web series host, and his team as they investigate a sort of unsolved mystery / conspiracy theory about a hidden cave of wonders in the Grand Canyon. Having thus far in his content career focused on the journey, rather than the destination, no one is more surprised when they actually find it. But the deeper they venture into caves, the darker and more dangerous things get, and the quest becomes about way more than the truth: it becomes about their survival.

And there you have it - it’s REALLY awesome! At first I was kind of put off by the rogue lads and their sometimes cringey banter, and it took me a minute to wrap my head around Nolan as a character. But once things got rolling (ahem), I was hooked. And I fully embraced the cheesiness of it all. (I loved Ken. Loved him. Is that basic? Don’t care.) Throw in a couple of good twists, some heart pounding action, and genuine souls to root for and you’ve got a great reading experience.

But seriously though - what exactly happened, like, plot-wise? I think I get what they discovered and all of its crazy implications, but… I’m a little fuzzy on the specifics. You can tell the author is a screenwriter - it’s a cinematic book - but I question whether this could actually be adapted because… yikes, the antagonistic situation our heroes stumble into is… unique. (Whispers: silly.) I’ll take a page from Nolan and say it’s more about the journey here. The moments that entertain us along the way. It gets a lot of points for being unique, I’ll say that.

For further reading, I highly recommend The Ruins (much darker - bleak survival horror at its best) and Thunderhead (an adventure masterpiece that combines a lot of similar aspects). The Anomaly is like their wacky, ridiculous younger brother. Still, I would call this the trifecta of dark archaeology books, among those I’ve read so far. I look forward to reading more.

The Anomaly on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads