Mount Dragon

“MOUNT DRAGON IS AS MARVELOUSLY COMPLEX

AS ANY THRILLER I’VE EVER READ. ...

IT IS NOTHING LESS THAN A TOUR DE FORCE!”

—Stuart Woods, author of Choke

“A delightfully gruesome yarn and an apt mirror of our love-hate relationship with science.”

—Business Week

Mount Dragon: an enigmatic research complex hidden in the vast desert of New Mexico. Guy Carson and Susana Cabeza de Vaca have come to Mount Dragon to work shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest scientific minds on the planet. Led by visionary genius Brent Scopes, their secret goal is a medical breakthrough that promises to bring incalculable benefits to the human race. But while Scopes believes he is leading the way to a new world order, he may in fact be opening the door to mass human extinction. And when Guy and Susana attempt to stop him they find themselves locked in a frightening battle with Scopes, his henchmen, and the apocalyptic nightmare that science has unleashed. ...

“The writing team that scared the willies out of readers with The Relic returns with a second, equally gripping novel of techno-terror. ... It’s a grand and scary story, with just enough grisly detail to stimulate real-life fears and characters full enough to engage the attention.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Dynamic duo Preston and Child once again demonstrate their mastery of the genre. ... The thrillfest runs full force to the very last page.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Read this and you’ll be panting for Preston and Child’s next yarn.”

—Booklist

The most dangerous place on Earth. ... “A slam-hang medical thriller, swift, gruesome, and wickedly clever.”

—Richard Preston. New York Times

best-selling author of The Hot Zone

“The Hot Zone meets The Stand. ... Explosive.”

Jack Anderson. Pulitzer Prize- winning columnist

“When you finish this book you’ll want to storm a genetic engineering firm and destroy their projects. ... Mount Dragon is a powerful, fast-paced story, with a cast of interesting characters. ... It will probably be made into a motion picture in no time.”

—San Francisco Examiner

“Like a fictionalized rock-’em, sock-’em version of Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone.”

—Library Journal

“A chilling, fabulous trip through cyberspace, flight and survival on the searing desert, high-tech wonders that defy belief—all these elements and more combine for an evening’s worth of heart-stopping excitement. A year ago, it seemed difficult, if not impossible, for these two guys to top their first novel. After I finished flipping the pages of this one and my near cardiac arrest had been averted, one clear impression lingered. Brother, was I mistaken.”

—The Tampa Tribune-Times

(Reviews)

“First rate entertainment. ... Imagine a Michael Crichton-style thriller with immensely more detail paid to the level of writing. ... And yes, Preston and Child weave in plenty of soberly provocative discussion of the ethics of screwing around with human genetics. ... First class storytellers and stimulating entertainers.”

—Locus

“The Relic is a straight thriller. That’s like saying, however, that Die Hard was just another action adventure flick or that Gone With the Wind was just another Civil War film. Each stands as a superlative example of its type.”

—Orlando Sentinel on The Relic

“Better than anything the theoretically recombinant team of Michael Crichton and Peter Benchley could ever hope to achieve.”

—Albuquerque Journal on The Relic

“The Relic satisfies the primal desire to be scared out of one’s wits. ... The ending is a real bone-chilling shocker.”

—Express Books on The Relic

Forge Books by

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Relic

Mount Dragon

Reliquary

Douglas Preston

& Lincoln Child

Copyright © 1996 by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

To Jerome Preston, Senior

—D. P.

To Luchie; my parents; and Nina Soller

—L C.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, we want to thank our agents, Harvey Klinger and CAA’s Matthew Snyder. Gentlemen, we lift our tumblers of single-malt Highland scotch in your honors: this project would never have been started were it not for