Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Description: A page-turning debut in the tradition of Michael Crichton, World War Z, and The Martian,Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by an earthshaking mystery—and a fight to control a gargantuan power.

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

Sleeping Giants is science fiction at its best. Original, exciting and thought-provoking. The story is told through journal entries and interviews. Rather than distancing you from the story, it draws you in and makes it more personal.

The premise is fantastic. Part of an alien artifact literally beneath our feet. Who put it there? How does it work? Are they coming back? Were we meant to find it? Why now? The involvement of the military, shadowy operatives inside and outside of government, scientists, all pulling in different directions. One hundred different motives and one singular purpose. To find and control the alien artifact. Was this device left here to protect us or doom us? And if to protect us, from what? Each other, or is there another threat we’re not aware of.

Sylvain Neuvel has written a gem and an incredibly accomplished first novel. An outstanding science fiction thriller with characters you really come to care about. This is a book that poses a lot of questions and not all the answers are comforting ones. Get your hands on a copy of this book. People are going to talk about this book and you are definitely going to want to be part of the conversation. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book.