Nothing is more rewarding than reading something so powerful you come to the same conclusions the author does while reading. This book covers so much material and its sources span so much time that I’ll start by saying the most important character in this book is the Amazon itself. But you wouldn’t think that with the lure of the story being about this amazing explorer that disappeared while trying to discover El Dorado, the lost city of gold. The book starts with two main characters the writer himself David Grann & Percy Fawcett one of the greatest explorers in the world. You find yourself in the shoes of David Grann, and he basically writes in a unique style that shares his perspective while accurately reporting as much of the truth as possible from all of the sources he discovers along the way. This book can be a bit of a roller coaster, part mystery, part journalist, part story telling  but I warn you it’s not for the light-hearted.

The Allure for me to pick up this book was that the story about this lost explorer and that sounded too good to be true:  it all sounded too similar to childhood movies and books. Movies like Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark: where Indy stumbles across the corpse of an ancient explorer who actually was based upon Percy Fawcett as Stephen Spielberg hinted at with a note regarding his son’s fate ( Jack Fawcett ). This connection really made me feel the world just got a bit smaller and more believable when finding this out later as a side note in the book.

But what kept me reading was the author’s voice. Without going into greater detail about the book I can say it is a real achievement to write a book that is retells many tale from so many different voices and sources, including the author’s and giving the entire content a proper historical context. The author puts you in the perspective of a believable fairly non athletic writer from NY that is a father and a husband and a bit too sane for this task but someone also caught by this ‘Mystery’ which I actually think is the Amazon itself. But the author plans this journey and journalistic discovery despite his self admitted weaknesses. But where explorers, and Hollywood actors failed a writer from NYC succeeds. And In many ways you realize that only a journalist may have been the only the one who could be able to uncover so many of long lost details about what really happened.

But for me and it seemed the author you open your eyes to the ecological destruction of the Amazon. It really is a raped region, and much like the writer I too Google earthed the region and was struck by the giant gaping holes in the forest that can be seen quite visibly. I found it kind of fun to literally find myself on Google Earth just like David was in the book, you realize you begin to connect with the journalist and wanting to know more. In many ways this book really tells a story about the mystery of the Amazon: its many peoples, and how it has been under constant attack since Europeans visited it. I hope you get the time to enjoy this read too!

5/5: This is a must read for historically accurate fiction fans, and for those interested in trying a new author! Go Visit the Book’s site here!