A Novel (Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase) - The Hunt for Atlantis

This fast paced adventure is full of twists and turns that keep you wanting more. The relationship that develops between the two main characters adds to the interest.
The details on the discovery of Atlantis make it believable to those of us who can appreciate a little fantasy (or perhaps unproven history) in adventure novels.

all of mcdermott's books have held my imagination...excellent plot lines and characters and recently discovered this author after exhausting all the cussler and clancy novels...really enjoyed, could not put down

I dislike this book. A series of totally implausible action scenes strung together by sophomoric dialogue. Yes it is fiction but the plot is absurd to the point of annoying. Unnecessary vulgarity that seems out of character. Repeated use of "Jesus" and "Christ" in a manner that is offensive. I am done with this author.

Written more in the style of a passed-during-class junior high school note - small sentences! lots of exclamation points!

Premise was good, execution poor.

Stopped reading when only 7% in - resented wasting my time & the Kindle purchase.

Archeologist Nina Wilde is on a quest, a quest she inherited from her parents, who died on the hunt. She's searching for the lost continent of Atlantis. When her own university refuses to fund an expedition to the Gulf of Cádiz, Nina is offered funding from billionaire philanthropist Kristian Frost. Almost immediately, people start trying to kill her. In addition to the funds, equipment, and logistic help for the expedition, Frost gives her two more things--two bodyguards, Eddie Chase and Hugo Castille; and his daughter, Kari Frost, to assist along the way.

Soon the foursome is jumping from continent to continent--Norway, Iran, France, and Brazil being just a few stops along the way. And everywhere they go, they find themselves in mortal danger from a man called Qobras, the leader of a group determined to see that the remains of Atlantis are never discovered. Why do Qobras and his followers want to suppress the greatest archeological discovery of all time? And why is Kristian Frost willing to spend millions to find it?

Sounds good, right? This is an excellent thriller/adventure premise. Sadly, the execution of this debut novel was terribly flawed. For starters, the female protagonist, Nina, is bland and uninteresting. I can't say I really cared about her. Conversely, the male lead, Eddie Chase, is portrayed as a diamond in the rough. Unfortunately, there was not enough diamond and too much rough. Eddie can be vulgar and exhibits an offensively sophomoric sense of humor. (In general, what passes for humor in this novel fails.) Ironically, it was the secondary characters of Hugo and Kari that I found to be more interesting, appealing, and dynamic, but alas, they aren't the focus of what will be a continuing series.

Another thing McDermott does right is action. The book is full of it, and some of the fast-paced action sequences are really enjoyable to read. But the 500+ page novel is overly long, and the pace and storytelling are uneven. My biggest problem, however, is something I complain about a lot in these types of novels... just sheer stupidity. Over and over McDermott puts his characters into or pulls them out of frankly unbelievable situations. He succumbs many times to the cheat of convenient plotting. But most unforgivably, much of what he writes is so purely wrong as to be ridiculous.

I completely lost my ability to suspend disbelief when the characters finally got onto/into the water. Either research isn't Mr. McDermott's strong suit, he thinks his readers are stupid, or he simply doesn't care, but what he wrote displays a complete lack of understanding of the laws of physics, fluid dynamics, and several other sciences. I can't give examples without spoilers, but the dumbness was fairly egregious. And the novel's dénouement was the final nail in the coffin. It was beyond ridiculous.

Debut novels are often tough going, and I do see glimmers of promise here, but not enough to inspire me to read further.

I have been constantly staring at this book for quite some time because I pass it almost everyday at work. Finally I decided I was sick of overlooking it, picked it up and never looked back.

The Hunt for Atlantis is both a mythical, archaeology, history, thriller, mystery and adventure all thrown into one book. It centers around Nina Wilde a genius archaeologist who is following in her late parents footsteps to find the lost city of Atlantis. She finally believes she has found the correct location of the city and when she presents the idea to her school board for funding an expedition she almost immediately gets denied.

In steps the Frost Foundation whose purpose is not entirely clear other than they state they want to fund Nina in whatever way possible to help her find the lost city. One precaution they set in place is hiring her an ex SAS bodyguard, Eddie Chase. Eddie’s job is to protect Nina at all costs from the enemy organization whose sole job is to stop anyone from finding the city and to destroy all evidence of the city if it is ever found, including people who know to much and may be able to lead others to the cities existence.

This book is not some much a literary phenomenon so much as a great and fun read. Once you start reading you never want to put it down. The characters are fantastic in my opinion and I could easily picture all of them clearly. Nina and Chase obviously were my favorites (it is called the Nine Wilde and Eddie Chase series) as it was great fun watching those two interact. Nina is the brain who is obsessed with finding Atlantis to prove its existent to the world and Chase is the muscle with a witty sense of humor who could easily kick anyone’s butt. Watching their interactions was great fun and I loved the chemistry they had which would easily make sense for people who spent so much time together.

Kari Frost was the other main prominent character and I have to say I was not sure my opinion on her at first. I wanted to like her, I really did , but she just seemed to perfect. Kari was simple too nice, too pretty, and way too accommodating. It was overall too suspicious for me to fathom without thinking something negative was just waiting around the corner.
Spolier below...

So I did truly love reading this book and I am sure it will go on my library shelf for years to come; however, I do have to say, though I did not know exactly what was going to happen, I did believe that Kristian Frost was up to something and did not simply want to find Atlantis. What I didn’t guess was what he planned on doing and also I didn’t think Kari would be involved. I thought she honestly wanted to find Atlantis and not exterminate 85% of the population.

A must read for people who want a fun adventure with great historical and mythical aspects thrown in!

Written more in the style of a passed-during-class junior high school note - small sentences! lots of exclamation points!

Premise was good, execution poor.

Stopped reading when only 7% in - resented wasting my time & the Kindle purchase.

Archeologist Nina Wilde is on a quest, a quest she inherited from her parents, who died on the hunt. She's searching for the lost continent of Atlantis. When her own university refuses to fund an expedition to the Gulf of Cádiz, Nina is offered funding from billionaire philanthropist Kristian Frost. Almost immediately, people start trying to kill her. In addition to the funds, equipment, and logistic help for the expedition, Frost gives her two more things--two bodyguards, Eddie Chase and Hugo Castille; and his daughter, Kari Frost, to assist along the way.

Soon the foursome is jumping from continent to continent--Norway, Iran, France, and Brazil being just a few stops along the way. And everywhere they go, they find themselves in mortal danger from a man called Qobras, the leader of a group determined to see that the remains of Atlantis are never discovered. Why do Qobras and his followers want to suppress the greatest archeological discovery of all time? And why is Kristian Frost willing to spend millions to find it?

Sounds good, right? This is an excellent thriller/adventure premise. Sadly, the execution of this debut novel was terribly flawed. For starters, the female protagonist, Nina, is bland and uninteresting. I can't say I really cared about her. Conversely, the male lead, Eddie Chase, is portrayed as a diamond in the rough. Unfortunately, there was not enough diamond and too much rough. Eddie can be vulgar and exhibits an offensively sophomoric sense of humor. (In general, what passes for humor in this novel fails.) Ironically, it was the secondary characters of Hugo and Kari that I found to be more interesting, appealing, and dynamic, but alas, they aren't the focus of what will be a continuing series.

Another thing McDermott does right is action. The book is full of it, and some of the fast-paced action sequences are really enjoyable to read. But the 500+ page novel is overly long, and the pace and storytelling are uneven. My biggest problem, however, is something I complain about a lot in these types of novels... just sheer stupidity. Over and over McDermott puts his characters into or pulls them out of frankly unbelievable situations. He succumbs many times to the cheat of convenient plotting. But most unforgivably, much of what he writes is so purely wrong as to be ridiculous.

I completely lost my ability to suspend disbelief when the characters finally got onto/into the water. Either research isn't Mr. McDermott's strong suit, he thinks his readers are stupid, or he simply doesn't care, but what he wrote displays a complete lack of understanding of the laws of physics, fluid dynamics, and several other sciences. I can't give examples without spoilers, but the dumbness was fairly egregious. And the novel's dénouement was the final nail in the coffin. It was beyond ridiculous.

Debut novels are often tough going, and I do see glimmers of promise here, but not enough to inspire me to read further.

I have been constantly staring at this book for quite some time because I pass it almost everyday at work. Finally I decided I was sick of overlooking it, picked it up and never looked back.

The Hunt for Atlantis is both a mythical, archaeology, history, thriller, mystery and adventure all thrown into one book. It centers around Nina Wilde a genius archaeologist who is following in her late parents footsteps to find the lost city of Atlantis. She finally believes she has found the correct location of the city and when she presents the idea to her school board for funding an expedition she almost immediately gets denied.

In steps the Frost Foundation whose purpose is not entirely clear other than they state they want to fund Nina in whatever way possible to help her find the lost city. One precaution they set in place is hiring her an ex SAS bodyguard, Eddie Chase. Eddie’s job is to protect Nina at all costs from the enemy organization whose sole job is to stop anyone from finding the city and to destroy all evidence of the city if it is ever found, including people who know to much and may be able to lead others to the cities existence.

This book is not some much a literary phenomenon so much as a great and fun read. Once you start reading you never want to put it down. The characters are fantastic in my opinion and I could easily picture all of them clearly. Nina and Chase obviously were my favorites (it is called the Nine Wilde and Eddie Chase series) as it was great fun watching those two interact. Nina is the brain who is obsessed with finding Atlantis to prove its existent to the world and Chase is the muscle with a witty sense of humor who could easily kick anyone’s butt. Watching their interactions was great fun and I loved the chemistry they had which would easily make sense for people who spent so much time together.

Kari Frost was the other main prominent character and I have to say I was not sure my opinion on her at first. I wanted to like her, I really did , but she just seemed to perfect. Kari was simple too nice, too pretty, and way too accommodating. It was overall too suspicious for me to fathom without thinking something negative was just waiting around the corner.
Spolier below...

So I did truly love reading this book and I am sure it will go on my library shelf for years to come; however, I do have to say, though I did not know exactly what was going to happen, I did believe that Kristian Frost was up to something and did not simply want to find Atlantis. What I didn’t guess was what he planned on doing and also I didn’t think Kari would be involved. I thought she honestly wanted to find Atlantis and not exterminate 85% of the population.

A must read for people who want a fun adventure with great historical and mythical aspects thrown in!

Wow! I'm still reeling from turning the final page of this fast-paced thriller. As exciting as a shrieking descent on a roller coaster, as cold and calculating as a whale chasing a school of fish in a frigid Norwegian fjord, The Hunt for Atlantis will deep you riveted to its pages until the momentous conclusion.

Archaeologist Nina Wilde is intrigued by the mysterious symbols on the orichalcum pendant retrieved from the rough sands of Morocco. Could this be the key to Atlantis? Nina's parents fought and died in search for the great city. Now, Nina is apparently the recipient of assistance from the great Frost Foundation, a huge humanitarian organization founded by reclusive Kristian Frost.

However, suddenly Nina finds herself fighting for her life! The Brotherhood, an ancient group bent on preserving the secrets of Atlantis, believes she poses a threat and attempts to kill her. Luckily, Eddie Chase, a former SAS bodyguard, rescues Nina and accompanies her to the humid the store jungle, where an ancient ruin hints at the secrets of Atlantis.

Frost and his lovely and talented daughter, Kari, seem to be stellar citizens. Not only do they hold wealth and power, but they wield both in a seemingly genuine interest to help mankind. How could Nina not be impressed by them?

The Frost expedition searches for the location of the fabled city of Atlantis, all the while being trailed by Starkman and his team of mercenaries. Who keeps leaking information to Starkman's team? Is there a saboteur in their midst?

The hunt for Atlantis leads the team from the scorching desert hideaway in the Middle East and the secrets beneath the Gulf of Cadiz to the underwater city itself and the immense temple of Poseidon. Gold and precious stones glint from the sides of the great temple, the very center of power for these ancient people. Starkman is not about to allow them to carry away the secrets of this great people. He will apparently do everything in his power to lead them to a watery grave!

Time and again, Eddie Chase rescues Nina from death, proving his skill as a trained bodyguard and trusted friend. His methods and acquaintances may seem a little strange at times, but Nina can't help appreciating his numerous talents.

Kari is also an unexpected friend. Trained as a skilled fighter, she resembles a Nordic princess of old. Regal and slender, Kari is every inch the daughter of a billionaire philanthropist. Over the course of the story, she also becomes Nina's friend and mentor.

At last, the search for Atlantis takes the team to the chilly Himalayas, where a former expedition led by Nina's parents, met their fateful end. Here, Kristian Frost locates the mausoleum of the last king and queen of Atlantis. Taking samples of their pure DNA concludes his life long search for those bearing the true Atlantean strain. Now, it is time to eliminate the witnesses.

In a splendid plot twist, Nina is caught in a battle between opposing factions and finds her friendship with Kari tested to the limits. Will Kari be able to resist her father's cruel decree or blindly follow him in his insane desire to eliminate three-quarters of the world's population by dispersing a deadly virus and return true Atlanteans to power?

Throughout mad chases in expensive Ferraris, bloody gun battles, pounding explosives and thrilling danger, Andy McDermott leads the reader on a hair raising expedition. Hatred and suspense, excitement and danger, love and friendship, avarice and kindness - this book has it all. No wonder it became a bestseller. If you have an afternoon to devote to a teeth jarring, heart pounding ride into the depths of an ancient civilization and the heights of humanity in all its aspects, then this is the book for you!

Archaeologist Nina Wilde has a theory, a theory that could finally prove the existence of the legendary city, Atlantis. But that¡¯s not all¡ªif Nina¡¯s theory is right, she will be able to pinpoint the city¡¯s actual location. Here¡¯s the catch¡ªsomebody knows about Atlantis, a certain brotherhood that doesn¡¯t want its location to ever be found. With the help of an ex-SAS bodyguard and a billionaire heiress, Nina and her team set out on an action-packed roller-coaster ride to find the lost city. It¡¯s a race around the world and against time as they fight for their lives and for eachother. From the streets of New York to jungles of Brasil to the mountains of Tibet, the hunt for Atlantis leads them to an 11,000 year old secret that could destroy all of mankind as they know it. Professional pride is on the line but so are their lives. Who lives? Who dies? And moreover, who can be trusted?

Andy McDermott is one of those authors that I go to time and time again and The Hunt for Atlantis is one of my favourite books. I¡¯ve read it, like, a lot. So much so that my paperback copy runs the risk of disintegrating at any moment. It¡¯s that good. Now let me preface my review by saying, this isn¡¯t one of those books with a lot of deep, philosophical musings. This wasn¡¯t crafted by an otherworldly literary prowess. No. It won¡¯t be on high school reading lists anytime soon, that I can promise you. The Hunt for Atlantis is without a doubt, none of those things. What it is, though, is an explosive, in-your-face adventure novel. It¡¯s what I like to refer to as ¡°awesomely bad.¡± As in, it¡¯s so bad it¡¯s amazing. I tend to save this classification for those special books/movies that don¡¯t tend to take themselves too seriously. You know the ones¡ªthey won¡¯t be winning the Oscar or Pulitzer anytime soon. They sit back, relax and suddenly punch-you-in-the-face with how amazingly, unexpectedly great they are. Yeah. They¡¯re my favourite kind.

What I love most about McDermott¡¯s writing style is that it¡¯s high impact and cinematic. When I read his stories I can picture the scenes exactly as if I were watching them on the big screen. I can safely compare it to one of those big-budget summer blockbuster hits, like Transformers, only not sucky. The Hunt for Atlantis is a fast-paced thrill ride with non-stop exploits and insurmountable intrigue. McDermott does a great job of contrasting the action against the mystery behind the search for Atlantis. He¡¯s woven enough historical fact into the narrative to provide wonder without letting the story become a dull history lesson, though it is important to note, his main focus is on the adventurous parts. If I had to put a classification to it, it would be something like Indiana Jones meets director, John McTiernan. And yes, while some of the more gratuitous action is a tad unbelievable (i.e.- a motorcycle driving out of the back of an airplane), the book¡¯s quick pacing makes it easy to overlook the cheese-factor. I find it hard to be too critical so long as you pick it up and know exactly what¡¯s in store for you.

And then there are the characters. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I love me a strong heroine but that¡¯s not Nina Wilde. Don¡¯t worry! I¡¯m okay with this. Sometimes I want to see a normal archaeologist who doesn¡¯t know how to wield a whip for a change. Sometimes there¡¯s a need for a damsel in distress. It happens. It¡¯s perfect because this is where my favourite character, ex-SAS bodyguard Edward Chase comes in. Oh god, I love me some Eddie. He¡¯s bullish, he¡¯s tough, he¡¯s crude and he¡¯s English. That¡¯s my kinda man. I¡¯d cast a very strapping Jason Statham to play Chase. The man delivers god-awful puns (are there any better kind?) for god¡¯s sake! He¡¯s sooooo amazing. And the tension between him and Nina is so palpable it had me stopping to fan myself like a dainty Southern belle in heat. Oh, let¡¯s be honest here. That¡¯s exactly what I was sans the adorable Southern drawl. Eddie Chase melts me into a tingly puddle of not-so-ladylike-thoughts all the time and I just love him. And Nina too. Hugs all around!

I could seriously go on and on about how crazy this book is but I¡¯ll spare you all and sum it up in a few words: The action. Nonstop. The characters. Amazeballs. The story. Gut-punching. In short, this is like the Die Hard of the book world¡ªutterly ridiculous but explosively fun! End scene.

Food for Thought: While The Hunt for Atlantis isn¡¯t scholarly writing by any means, it¡¯s got enough energy to overlook that fact. If you want a quick read that¡¯s full of action, adventure and unbelievably cinematic scenes, I guarantee you; this is the right book for you. It¡¯s a gut-busting-explosive-moments kind of story and I totally dig that.

Rating: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï

My action/adventure bookclub picked this title for us to read for May 2013. This series is brand new to me, but I am a fan of Cussler, Rollins, and De Brul (among others), so I figured I would give this title a shot. I am glad I did. Tons of over the top action and I enjoyed every minute of it. Despite what some reviewers have said, I think there is a lot more to Eddie Chase then we know about. Deep down he is a very professional soldier and a pretty darn good one at that. Not sure about Nina yet, at times it seemed as if she took a back seat to some of the other characters in this story (Kari Frost for one). Plenty of nods to Laura Croft and Indiana Jones (and rightfully so). The author did his job on this first novel: he got me interested in his characters and I plan to continue reading stories in this series.

I loved this book. I like the "Indiana Jones" "National Treasuree" esque reads. This author, to me, did do his research and made characters I could definitely get invested in. I cannot wait to read book 2, and the rest of the series!

I've read several books regarding Atlantis, and while some come closer to hitting the mark than others, I gotta say that right out of the chute Andy McDermott has struck Gold with this tale. Using a sometimes over-written topic, he has managed to inject a healthy dose of creativity into the legend of Atlantis adding a pretty large dose of action to boot. While not quite as loaded with pure adrenaline as your average Matthew Reilly novel, I have to say this story came respectably close.

Did Atlantis actually exist? I think the majority of the world would say, 'no'. But thankfully Nina Wilde isn't one of them. Her parents were lost years before on their life-long quest to prove the legend true, and now Nina picks up the scattered pieces and with the help from a reclusive billionaire, sets out to prove her theory. Unfortunately there seems to be others who are aware of Atlantis and works equally as hard to keep it from the rest of the world (honestly, isn't there ALWAYS some kind of shadow group bent on stopping people from finding these types of things?). Lucky for Nina, super stud Eddie Chase has been hired to keep an eye out for her safety--and his rather extensive talents DO come in handy as our secret 'shadow group' pulls out all the stops in order to stop the greatest historical discovery of all-time from seeing the light of day.

If you like chase scenes--and I mean adventurous and entirely original chase scenes, a creative story involving a mytholgical location, than 'The Hunt for Atlantis' really ought to be on your list of 'Must Reads'. I discovered Mr. McDermott's books while surfing around the store one day, and went to purchase them only to discover they weren't commercially available yet in the states--even though he had written at least 4 books already (with a 5th coming very soon). How could so many reviews be available for books that weren't? Turns out the store has been selling copies that were printed elsewhere...but fortunately Andy's books have received new life in America as they now have a stateside publisher. The book is available NOW all over (I even saw one at Walmart last week) and book 2 is scheduled to be released next month, and books 3 & 4 early next year.

Andy McDermott is now on my increasingly growing Must Read List--and having pulled that off after just one book says something if you ask me. I caution those who pick up this book: remember to suspend your belief as you begin and enjoy it for the mindless brain candy its meant to be and you will come away VERY satisfied. I am now counting the days before the next book comes out--let alone for the other novels which have already been finished but unavailable everywhere yet.

Kudos to Andy McDermott. Action/Adventure tales rarely get such fun treatment.

Now I loved this one! I've always been interested in anything to do with Atlantis. I also like a good action story and this has both. It has the trusted family friend that turns traitor. It has two forces opposed to each other, the typical good guy vs bad guy. One is trying to find Atlantis while the other is trying to destroy it and prevent it from being found at any cost. They chaise each other from the mountains of Tibet to the the store Rain Forest and places in between. Its a non stop race of murder and mayhem from beginning to end.

There are a lot of things that I like about this book. The author doesn't use a lot of unusual words that you just don't hear in day to day life. I cant stand those writers that write like they have swallowed a thesaurus and try to see how many unusual words they can use. He doesn't over do the descriptions of the scenery and other parts of the story like some writers do, like taking up a whole page, or 2, to describe what the trees on a hillside looks like, trying to build up the word count. I hate it when writers do that. Koontz is often bad about doing it. The names of the character's are simple and easy to remember who's who and its not over flowing with details about character's that only play a small part in the story. This helps it to keep flowing and the action going. I always have a problem with stories where the characters have weird names that look a lot alike and odd spellings a mile long that I cant pronounce. I hate it when they do that cause it makes it hard to remember who's what and who's who.

While a lot of the story is very unlikely at least its still in the realm of possible, most of the time. It doesn't have a lot of parts that are flat out impossible like another Atlantis book I tried to read. That one started out with a guy doing a free dive in the Mediterranean going down over 300 feet deep on a tether and air hose. Gets in a fight with some other divers and his airline gets cut. Then without any air he blacks out for while, wakes up, swims around a little, gets caught in an explosion and rides it to the serface, from 300 feet deep and with no air. He's just fine but there's a dozen or so Dolphins that got cooked in the same explosion floating all around him. That's just a few of the high lights of the opening of that other story. So compared to that kind of story this one is very realistic and very possible. Maybe not very probable but at least possible.

So like I said at the start. Depending on your taste and what you like to read. If you like the action thriller stories with a little mystery thrown in you should like this one. If your more into reading things about the meaning of life and that stirs deep thoughts in the middle of the night, then this isn't for you.

Warning! Some might consider the next part to be a spoiler! (I don't, but some people might)
Overall its a very quick read with lots of action that keeps the pages turning. The girl gets to find Atlantis, the guy gets the girl, together they save the world and the bad guy gets killed. You cant ask for more than that can you?

This book reminded me heavily of something off of the SciFi channel, sort of like a movie of the week. Not in a bad way- if this book had been a SciFi movie it would've been one of the better ones- possibly even a pilot episode to a series. After I finished the book & read the short blip about the author, the comparison made a lot of sense. Andy McDermott used to be a movie critic, so it would be reasonable to think that he'd write with movies in mind.

Nina has had a zest for Atlantis all of her life. After all, it was her parents' fondest myth- something they spent their whole lives pursuing... and died trying to find it while Nina was still a young girl. Years later Nina is given the opportunity to follow in their footsteps & prove that her theories are more than wild speculation, thanks to Kari Frost & her charismatic father. Unfortunately for her, Nina's not the only person focused on Atlantis- just as she's dying to find the lost city, someone else is hoping for the same thing- minus her finding the city!

To read this book, you have to go into it with a certain mindset. This isn't a book you should take overly seriously. It's never going to be an assigned read for a college course, but it is something I'd recommend reading at the beach, over the holidays or just during some down time. The book is just pure fun.

True, the plot twists can be seen coming from a mile away, but most of the fun comes from knowing these things & anticipating them. I enjoyed the fast moving plotlines, although I do wish that some parts of the plot could've been fleshed out a little more, the Atlantis scenes in particular. I enjoyed the explosions & intense chases for the most part, but I would've liked to have learned a bit more about the archaeological parts of the book! (I'd gladly have swapped out a few pages of chase scenes in order to get a few more of Atlantis scenes!)

The only other thing I'd say derailed the book a bit is that I never really got a good sense of the romance brewing between Nina & her bodyguard Eddie. It's there, but between all of the chase scenes it just didn't get all that well fleshed out. I guess that in the end the one thing that held this book back was that the author spent far too long describing the overly long chase & explosion scenes to really give the other parts of the book the detail they deserved. While that would work well in a movie, in a book it just doesn't translate as well.

Like I said, this isn't going to be winning any literary awards any time soon, but there will always be a spot in my library for books such as this. It's not the greatest thing I've read, but it's still entertaining enough that I'll pick the next book in the series up.

Love this series of books! Andy McDermott knows how to write action packed books with great characters, and I don't mean just the people as the places become so vivid. Each book is a roller coaster ride of events that always keep me glued to the page anticipating the next move for Nina & Eddie. Plus, the rapport of these two is so entertaining! I own the paperback copies and I'm looking forward to adding the ebooks to my mobile library. Yes! I'm one of those who will reread several times if the book(s) is worthy and trust me…this series is worthy! Be ready to be enthralled, intrigued, and thoroughly entertained! Happy Reading!

A fun, action-packed read with touches of humour and romance. It's light and easy to read. The main characters are easy to relate to, and one can get lost in the fantasy and action and ignore the somewhat one dimensional characterization of the "bad guys". I have not found a list, in the 4 books of the series I have read so far, that contain a list of the books in the order in which they were written - it really does flow better to read them in the correct order.

Fantastic book to an exciting series. If you are a fan of Indiana Jones or the PlayStation game Uncharted, then this book is for you. Strong male and female lead characters. This is a very exciting and fast paced book that will keep your interest the entire time.

many unusual and creative turns in the plot. well researched , sprinkled with a little charm, characters who are and deal with real life situations you can relate to. Add a sprinkle dusting of mythology from ancient times and you get modern people poolin resources to solving puzzles to uncover the story. good guy/bad guy situations - some very surprising.

Similar to steve berry's works, and maybe a bit dan brown (lighty so).

cant put the book down. no boring parts - relentlessly action packed.

If you are looking for a fast paced action packed hollywood film in a book version then this is your type of book. I really liked this book and couldn't wait for the bad guys to get their just dues. This is a fresh look at the legend of Atlantis and why someone would want to search for it. My only complaint would be is that Mr. McDermott spent a little too much time on the action scenes and not enough time giving us a sense of the lost civilization of Atlantis. This book is a great escape and I think that you will be entertained. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Thrillers are not usually my type of books, I pick up thriller when I want to relax after a difficult long book, but when I pick up one I expect a good read with a realistic background.

This book is not, it is simply a bad Hollywood movie with all the mistakes that Hollywood can produce.

* The heroine started as inexperienced scared academic worker - screaming whenever someone moves, and suddenly we got her shooting straight and taking lead in action
* Our heroes manage to get into trouble with everything around them exploding, and the next scene they are in different location. How did they got out from the train?
* One character get upset when he is called French while he is from Belgium, the second got upset when as English is considered American. What about the poor Iranians who are talking Arabic, wearing traditional Arabic dresses? Funnily Belgium are much closer to French and English to Americans than Iranians to Arabs: they are different race, culture, language - to be precise Iranians are Euro Indian same as French, Belgium, English. What happened to research and editing?

In short, poor plot, shallow characters, never mind the fact that they are running after legend - at least if general facts were correct.

Definitely not going to look for another book from this author.

The description of the book brings you in, the prolog gets you hooked and then from there it is basically an Indiana Jones wanna-be. Keeping that in mind it is a somewhat enjoyable book but not one I would recommend someone buy to read. Check it out at the library. I received the first 3 of the series as a Christmas gift. I'm glad to have received them and read the books but would not recommend purchasing the books; save a buck or two and check the books out at the library.

The concept of the book is great and a fresh look at the myth of Atlantis. However, there were WAY, WAY too many action scenes and most were unbelievable; more likely written in the hopes of this being picked up by Hollywood to turn into a film. I would have to agree with one reviewer who wrote that "Either research isn't Mr. McDermott's strong suit, he thinks his readers are stupid, or he simply doesn't care, but what he wrote displays a complete lack of understanding of the laws of physics, fluid dynamics, and several other sciences."

By the end of the book you find yourself so tired of the ridiculous action scenes that you want to just give up and toss the book out the window. I found myself just skipping over most of those by the end; looking for the meat of what the writer was attempting to write. The last action scene with the motorcycle and the plane... *sigh* perhaps it would work in the movies but not so much reading it and trying to picture it in your imagination; no matter how much of an imagination you have. I like action but this was just too much and too farfetched. Most action scenes were so poorly written that it was more confusing than anything. There was no breathing room between the action scenes to catch your breath and get to know the characters better.

This could have been a great book if the writer would have cut out some of the action scenes, added more dialogue and did her research better. Due to the concept of the story line I kept reading the book hoping for more on the myth verses focusing on the action.

So much potential that falls short due to wasting time on the action scenes verses developing the story and characters.

While I read the first chapters about Nina's parents, I thought this book might be good. I hoped it would be. But as I got into the story more, I just wanted to throw up my hands and say, "What???" Why would you make the lead male character goofy at best? He acts like a teen-ager. Nina is not much better. And the action scenes-- save me. They are ridiculous.

Spellbinding adventure mixed with believable archeology. This book would make a great movie if the script followed the plot. The sequel is also a great read. Adventure action novels are not a genre I normally read, but this one grabbed me from the first.

My guilty pleasure is a good action/adventure novel. This one delivers fun, fast paced adventure. Although somewhat predictable it's still an easy and entertaining read. Adventure novels don't leave a lot of time for getting to know the characters, so I felt like some of the big 'reveals' about their personalities (particularly Eddie) seemed sort of odd in context, but not distracting enough for me not to like it. Took me no time at all to finish, I enjoyed it!

Though this book started off strong it ended in a vortex of frustration...The story starts with the Wildes, two doctors on a quest to find Atlantis. During their quest they are murdered in an attempt to hide the fact that Atlantis may be on the verge of discovery. After their deaths about ten years later, their daughter Nina who I believe the author modeled off of Amy Adams reopens the quest.
From the beginning there is nothing but action, so much action that I had a headache by the middle of the book. In addition the fact that frail beautiful Nina, all of sudden learns to poke the eye out of her attackers...come on now!!
Not to mention all the destruction of the artifacts and remains from Atlantis, its like why try to find anything if you know there is someone following you just to destroy it. I get that the author is trying to make us think that is why we never heard about these findings, but COME ON! Every time I thought OK this is it, boom bam boom, here we go again. Even previous reviewers said the same thing about the action. The other items aside, the physical torture that these people take, my god clone them for the US and UK Marines, after all the marines mentioned in the epilogue were made to look like they could not shoot themselves out of a paper bag!!. The fact that all these mercenaries and hired commandos existed in the book, let alone the Nigerian commandos at the end just made me cringe. The US Green Beret's trained the Nigerians, and now they are over taking US Marines!! My 17 year old son writes better stories then this book.

There is one part where Nina and her bodyguard (who she has obviously fallen in lust for), crash into the water from 100 feet. Her bodyguard who is one step below Batman, winces and contorts in pain from hitting the water, but Nina, oh, she is perfectly OK. Not to mention the fact that there actually is a part of the Brazilian Rain forest that has been hidden all these years, but the Nazi's in 1944 were able to find it!
My last thought here is that by about the time of the destruction of the Brazilian Temple, I pretty much figured out the plot, the real evil, the ending, which character was going to die etc...When I bought this book I also bought two more, guess what I just donated all three to my local nursing home, problem is I think most of the Veterans there will hate me after they read this stuff.

I am going back to my Clive Cussler novels, they are just so much better. I would suggest you do the same...

Spellbinding adventure mixed with believable archeology. This book would make a great movie if the script followed the plot. The sequel is also a great read. Adventure action novels are not a genre I normally read, but this one grabbed me from the first.

My guilty pleasure is a good action/adventure novel. This one delivers fun, fast paced adventure. Although somewhat predictable it's still an easy and entertaining read. Adventure novels don't leave a lot of time for getting to know the characters, so I felt like some of the big 'reveals' about their personalities (particularly Eddie) seemed sort of odd in context, but not distracting enough for me not to like it. Took me no time at all to finish, I enjoyed it!

Though this book started off strong it ended in a vortex of frustration...The story starts with the Wildes, two doctors on a quest to find Atlantis. During their quest they are murdered in an attempt to hide the fact that Atlantis may be on the verge of discovery. After their deaths about ten years later, their daughter Nina who I believe the author modeled off of Amy Adams reopens the quest.
From the beginning there is nothing but action, so much action that I had a headache by the middle of the book. In addition the fact that frail beautiful Nina, all of sudden learns to poke the eye out of her attackers...come on now!!
Not to mention all the destruction of the artifacts and remains from Atlantis, its like why try to find anything if you know there is someone following you just to destroy it. I get that the author is trying to make us think that is why we never heard about these findings, but COME ON! Every time I thought OK this is it, boom bam boom, here we go again. Even previous reviewers said the same thing about the action. The other items aside, the physical torture that these people take, my god clone them for the US and UK Marines, after all the marines mentioned in the epilogue were made to look like they could not shoot themselves out of a paper bag!!. The fact that all these mercenaries and hired commandos existed in the book, let alone the Nigerian commandos at the end just made me cringe. The US Green Beret's trained the Nigerians, and now they are over taking US Marines!! My 17 year old son writes better stories then this book.

There is one part where Nina and her bodyguard (who she has obviously fallen in lust for), crash into the water from 100 feet. Her bodyguard who is one step below Batman, winces and contorts in pain from hitting the water, but Nina, oh, she is perfectly OK. Not to mention the fact that there actually is a part of the Brazilian Rain forest that has been hidden all these years, but the Nazi's in 1944 were able to find it!
My last thought here is that by about the time of the destruction of the Brazilian Temple, I pretty much figured out the plot, the real evil, the ending, which character was going to die etc...When I bought this book I also bought two more, guess what I just donated all three to my local nursing home, problem is I think most of the Veterans there will hate me after they read this stuff.

I am going back to my Clive Cussler novels, they are just so much better. I would suggest you do the same...

I really enjoyed reading The Hunt for Atlantis. Yes it is true that a lot of the action scenes are unrealistic, but I don't read action thrillers for realism. What the book delivers is a steady stream of action and lots of fun. I compare Andy McDermott writing style to the creativity of James Rollins mixed with the action of Matthew Reilly, although McDermott's action is not as over the top as Reilly's typically is.

Mr. McDermott does to literature what his protagonists do to Atlantis---again, and again, and again! Very little about Atlantis, but there are lots of cardboard characters, hackneyed "action" sequences, and impossible "feats of strength".

I had purchased the audio version, where the same inept reader attempted to be, by turn, an elderly Norwegian magnate, a middle-aged SAS veteran from Yorkshire (who sounds as if he is really from Manchester---quite different accents), a German security chief, a Texan CIA operative, and countless others, all voices rendered by her in variations of "middle-America teeny-bopper".

The only silver lining I can see is that, if THIS is a best-seller, then ANY of us can write a best-seller!

Plot was interesting overall. I think the way the story began was a good way to hook the reader into reading the book.

I can classify the action and adventure as one of the better ones in terms of imagination and heroism.

The way the story was told though was a disappointment. You can actually take out all the action in the middle of the book and still not miss out on anything important other than a lot of people getting killed in a violent way.

It would have also been more interesting to reveal some more "legends" about atlantis.