Ararat by Christopher Golden

Ararat starts on the mountain of the same name, the fabled resting place of Noah’s Ark. When an avalanche reveals a new cave, the race is on to be the first to explore the site. Getting there first is not the dangerous part though. What lurks inside is.

Adam Holzer and his fiancee Meryam Karga are adventurers, authors and documentary makers. When they win the race to the cave and the right to explore the ark, the mysteries begin. When they discover a sarcophagus with an ancient creature inside, one with horns, things get decidedly worse.

Christopher Golden does a wonderful job of creating a slow-building tension that invades you as you read. The kind that will have you jumping at sudden noises and seeing faces in shadows. One of the clever things Golden does is have a multinational and multi religious crew exploring the ark. Many are scholars in different disciplines and some are native guides. This mixture fuels the discord that would naturally occur in a discovery of this magnitude. The sense of unease is magnified in the face of a blizzard which traps the crew inside the ark with no hope of escape even if there wasn’t an evil presence trapped with them. When people begin to go missing, natural paranoia ratchets up, in some cases into blind panic.

Golden’s use of shifting first person narratives helps you get to know a large and interesting cast of characters. Along with Adam and Meryam, there is Ben Walker from the National Science Foundation accompanied by linguist Father Cornelius Hughes and U.N. observer Kim Seong as well as native mountain guides Feyiz and Hakan. These, as well as other characters, each have their own agendas and fears which fuel the conflicts. The sense of foreboding present at all times leads to a lot of self-examination especially as they are increasingly unsure of who or what they can trust.

Ararat is an entertaining thriller with steadily mounting tension and horror. It also manages to be thoughtful in its exploration of how different cultures and religions inform both our faith and our fears. Highly recommended read.

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

Description: Christopher Golden’s Ararat is the heart-pounding tale of an adventure that goes wrong…on a biblical scale. When an earthquake reveals a secret cave hidden inside Mount Ararat in Turkey, a daring, newly-engaged couple are determined to be the first ones inside…and what they discover will change everything.

The cave is actually an ancient, buried ship that many quickly come to believe is really Noah’s Ark. When a team of scholars, archaeologists, and filmmakers make it inside the ark, they discover an elaborate coffin in its recesses. Inside the coffin they find an ugly, misshapen cadaver―not the holy man they expected, but a hideous creature with horns. Shock and fear turn to horror when a massive blizzard blows in, trapping them thousands of meters up the side of a remote mountain. All they can do is pray for safety. But something wicked is listening to their prayers…and it wants to answer.