Decipher - Softcover

Pavlou, Stel

3.81

2,096 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312996438 ISBN 13: 9780312996437

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 2005

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In a scientific thriller taking place ten years in the future, the armies of America and China prepare to fight for control of secret codes retrieved from the sunken city of Atlantis while ancient monuments all over the world begin reacting to an unknown force from outer space. Reprint.

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Review:

From its opening disaster in the oilfields of Antarctica through its escalating scenes of destruction and discovery, Stel Pavlou's novel Decipher keeps the tension mounting. Inevitably, readers care quite a lot about thrillers involving the entire destruction of the world in which we live, but Pavlou also makes us care for his characters, living through gravity waves and solar flares and trying to do something about them. Many of the ideas in his plot will be familiar to those of us who have read the alternative archaeology of writers such as Graham Hancock--the lost civilisation before the dawn of history, the uncannily accurate archaic maps, the secret chambers below famous religious monuments. However, there is considerably more to Pavlou than just wide reading effectively recycled--his evocation of the chillingly cold or the deeply strange, for example, and his understanding of both the human drive to greedy evil and the human capacity for self-sacrifice. Scott, passionate student of ancient languages, and Sarah, brilliant young geologist, are uncomplicatedly virtuous characters and rather refreshingly so; Pavlou's sense of the dangerousness of a universe with which humans greedily tinker without understanding it is balanced by a sense of the other things of which humans are capable. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"A rocketing adventure...Stel Pavlou's debut novel burst with marvels of scientific chitchat and towers above most recent science fiction."-The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Few debuts are as ambitious as Decipher. Exhilaratingly imaginative."-Sunday Times (UK)

"A wide-screen special-effects Technicolor blast; perfect for a Hollywood blockbuster."
-The Times (London)

"Deep, smart, and well-researched."-SFX

"A fascinating blend of science, mythology, language, and much more."
-The Independent (London)

"If Michael Crichton isn't nervous, he should be. Not only has Stel Pavlou written a scientific thriller that's as tautly plotted a roller-coaster ride as anything Crichton's ever written, but he's done so using intelligent characters, and a clever, synergistic premise. The weaving of scientific detail with imagination is superb and unparalleled."--Zentertainment.com

A rocketing adventure...Stel Pavlou's debut novel burst with marvels of scientific chitchat and towers above most recent science fiction. "The Philadelphia Inquirer"

Few debuts are as ambitious as Decipher. Exhilaratingly imaginative. "Sunday Times (UK)"

A wide-screen special-effects Technicolor blast; perfect for a Hollywood blockbuster. "The Times (London)"

Deep, smart, and well-researched. "SFX"

A fascinating blend of science, mythology, language, and much more. "The Independent (London)"

If Michael Crichton isn't nervous, he should be. Not only has Stel Pavlou written a scientific thriller that's as tautly plotted a roller-coaster ride as anything Crichton's ever written, but he's done so using intelligent characters, and a clever, synergistic premise. The weaving of scientific detail with imagination is superb and unparalleled. "Zentertainment.com""

"A rocketing adventure...Stel Pavlou's debut novel burst with marvels of scientific chitchat and towers above most recent science fiction." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Few debuts are as ambitious as Decipher. Exhilaratingly imaginative." --Sunday Times (UK)

"A wide-screen special-effects Technicolor blast; perfect for a Hollywood blockbuster." --The Times (London)

"Deep, smart, and well-researched." --SFX

"A fascinating blend of science, mythology, language, and much more." --The Independent (London)

"If Michael Crichton isn't nervous, he should be. Not only has Stel Pavlou written a scientific thriller that's as tautly plotted a roller-coaster ride as anything Crichton's ever written, but he's done so using intelligent characters, and a clever, synergistic premise. The weaving of scientific detail with imagination is superb and unparalleled." --Zentertainment.com

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