Attention, people who like fun! This remarkable debut has everything you could need: Action, science, adventure, romance, and intrigue - it's like reading a summer blockbuster! The history of the Earth as mankind knows it is about to be shaken to the core in this wildly imaginative sci-fi thriller.

Seventeen Years Ago: A young girl takes her new birthday bike out for a ride. When she fails to return, a search team is sent out and they find her eventually, way down the bottom of a large hole... sitting in the palm of a giant silver' hand. (Yikes!)

Present day: Humans have been unable to figure out where the giant hand came from, and its existence is still kept a secret from the general population. But a team of scientists in a secret underground research facility is about to make a breakthrough that will change everything, and a few military officers are about to boldly go where no man - or woman - has gone before.

The story is told through transcripts of interviews led by a mysterious unnamed person from a shady government agency. (The technique provides a reading experience loosely similar to the fictional oral history that Max Brooks uses in World War Z.) Whoever the mystery interviewer is, they seem to have more knowledge and access than anyone else who is working on the project, and as the book goes along, a hidden agenda will emerge.

Holy cats, what fun! Neuvel delivers an action-packed adventure full of heroes, antiheroes, humor and love. One my favorite things about this book is that it's so wonderfully realized and detailed, it was easy to find myself imagining something like this actually happening. There are no guarantees that mankind actually knows everything about our existence here on Earth. Like The Martian, this is a fun, fast-paced novel about man's hopes for the future. I had a blast reading it - I hope you enjoy the journey, too.