A review by vineela0705
The Anomaly by Michael Rutger

3.0

I see X-Files, I read the book.

The protagonist Nolan Moore is an arrogant and smug bastard, albeit knowledgeable and level-headed in the face of danger. So, nailed the Indiana Jones vibe. The goodreads blurb did justice to the plot. The story delivered all that was promised in the blurb. The plot picked pace after an uneventful first 200 pages.

The novel has its ups. The discussions between Nolan and Gemma on the history of Grand Canyon and epistemology were, in my opinion, the high point of the story. The legend of the Hopi prophecy inspiring the story, was very interesting. I found more info on the same - https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-americas/hopi-prophecy-and-end-fourth-world-part-1-002280.

The author took the Lovecraftian route with the ancient creatures trope. But his narration did not do justice to the plot. I couldn't feel the danger or gravity of the situation at any point. Yes, it does remind me of the movie Cabin In the Woods, but it is nowhere as chilling and thrilling as the movie. The climax was bland and disappointing. But that could be the author's plan to make the reader anticipate for the second book, in hopes that Moore will bounce back and give the world a grand expose we were waiting for.

One thing I just couldn't get over was that we have no clue of the Moore's physical personality, other than that he's 43 years old.

PS: For some reason, I kept imagining Ken as Danny DeVito with the grumpy behavior and the paunch. With the English accent, it was so bloody funny.