I heard a cry, looked up and there in a ray of sunshine, a bird spread its wings in a stretched arc above its head. He had his red crest completely fanned out and it radiated in the sunlight. The tips of the feathers, both in the wings and the fanned tail were aglow, the colors iridescent in the morning light. My heart lifted at the sight. It appeared the bird was about to ignite and burst into flame like the legendary phoenix being reborn.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Montoya whispered behind me.

“Stunning,” I replied softly not wanting to break the magic.

“It is a moment like that when an Mayan priest realizes the fullness of communing with the creatures of the forest. You and I are of the modern world, the one filled with hustle and bustle, steel and concrete; but if you allow yourself to drift back a thousand years and know nothing but nature, what would you think?” Montoya asked.

It was an instantaneous thought. “The bird is an omen,” I whispered, knowing full well it was the answer he was searching for.

“It is still an omen today,” he said.

Bob Nailor (2010-09-10T04:00:00+00:00). 2012: Timeline Apocalypse (Kindle Locations 1037-1046). 23 House. Kindle Edition.

You would almost have to live in a cave not to have heard about the impending end of the world as predicated by the Mayan long calendar. Of course how the world will end or what the end really means is up for a lot of interpretation, but most tend toward apocalyptic natural disasters that end with the extinction of mankind. It might just be coincidence, but a string of disasters, both natural and manmade, are plaguing the planet when Detective Barry Hargrove gets a new case, one that promises to put him in the black for a while, assuming that the world doesn’t end nine days later. He pursues the perpetrator of a clever museum heist to Mexico, in the heart of ancient Mayan territory, where he learns that there may be something to the prophecies after all and he’ll have a front row seat for the end of the world.

 2012: Timeline Apocalypse is a creative look at Mayan Mythology and the predictions surrounding the Mayan calendar and the end of the world. The author, Bob Nailor, doesn’t take the easy road of writing an end of the world story along the lines of the movie 2012, but explores the events leading up to the end through the eyes of a private investigator who gets caught up in the mythology of a culture older than Christianity. The storytelling is fast paced and the author spends little time getting to the meat of the story. Though the names are often unpronounceable, unless you speak Mayan I suppose, the characters are distinct and easily recognizable when it would have been easy for them to get lost amongst the complex names. The story itself is very original and turns what could have been just another entry in the apocalypse feeding frenzy into something a bit more substantial and enjoyable.

The one thing I struggled with in the book was the way the main character seemed to just go along with everything that was happening. He was a ship being pushed around in turbulent waters to be sure, but there was no captain at the helm. He did little to take charge of his own life through most of the book other than to react when neccesity required it. I understand that sometimes the story pulls characters around by their nose, but with Detective Hargrove I was disappointed by his minimal attempts to take control.

All in all I found this to be a good book. I enjoyed the read and the take on the Mayan Prophecy. I would definitely recommend this, especially if you like the supernatural.

Links:

Bob Nailor’s Website