12.21, Dustin Thomason
12.21, Dustin Thomason
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List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
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12.21

Author: Dustin Thomason

Narrator: Fred Sanders, Noel R. Bearheart, Dustin Thomason

Unabridged: 10 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/07/2012


Synopsis

From the co-author of the two-million copy mega-bestseller The Rule of Four comes a riveting thriller with a brilliant premise based on the 2012 apocalypse phenomenon—perfect for readers of Steve Berry, Preston and Child, and Dan Brown.
 
For decades, December 21, 2012, has been a touchstone for doomsayers worldwide. It is the date, they claim, when the ancient Maya calendar predicts the world will end.
 
In Los Angeles, two weeks before, all is calm. Dr. Gabriel Stanton takes his usual morning bike ride, drops off the dog with his ex-wife, and heads to the lab where he studies incurable prion diseases for the CDC. His first phone call is from a hospital resident who has an urgent case she thinks he needs to see. Meanwhile, Chel Manu, a Guatemalan American researcher at the Getty Museum, is interrupted by a desperate, unwelcome visitor from the black market antiquities trade who thrusts a duffel bag into her hands.
 
By the end of the day, Stanton, the foremost expert on some of the rarest infections in the world, is grappling with a patient whose every symptom confounds and terrifies him. And Chel, the brightest young star in the field of Maya studies, has possession of an illegal artifact that has miraculously survived the centuries intact: a priceless codex from a lost city of her ancestors. This extraordinary record, written in secret by a royal scribe, seems to hold the answer to her life’s work and to one of history’s great riddles: why the Maya kingdoms vanished overnight. Suddenly it seems that our own civilization might suffer this same fate.
 
With only days remaining until December 21, 2012, Stanton and Chel must join forces before time runs out.
 
Advance praise for 12.21
 
“Dustin Thomason, M.D., will invariably be compared to Michael Crichton, M.D., and 12.21 will be favorably compared to The Andromeda Strain. Both authors have written first-rate medical thrillers, the kind of fact-based fiction that is very scary but also very entertaining. Thomason knows his stuff, and it shows on every page. I truly could not put this book down.”—Nelson DeMille

“The most exciting novel of its kind since the days of Michael Crichton, 12.21 takes us from the frontiers of modern neuroscience to the riddles of ancient Maya texts, with nothing less than the future of our civilization at stake.”—Vince Flynn

“A fast-moving tale . . . Thomason displays an impressive depth of knowledge of both science and the ancient Mayan way of life. Along the way, he skillfully ramps up the action, one notch at a time. A winning book.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Fascinating, terrifying for its potential realism. I loved how tightly everything fit together. I had to keep reading.”—Taylor Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of The Informationist

“Fast, suspenseful . . . Michael Crichton fans will find a lot to like.”—Publishers Weekly

About The Author

Dustin Thomason is co-author of The Rule of Four. He was the co-creator of the ABC television series The Evidence and an executive producer on Fox’s Lie to Me. He received his M.D. from Columbia University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on April 09, 2024

A deadly epidemic threatens Los Angeles - and the entire world - if the illness isn't contained immediately. That's the issue at the core of this compelling novel. ***** It's early December 2012, and a number of doomsday cults believe the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world on December 21, 20......more

Goodreads review by Belinda on June 03, 2022

4,25 sterren- Nederlandse Paperback 21-12, de nieuwe roman van Dustin Thomason, kreeg zelfs voor hij in de handel kwam al lovende recensies. Ik kan alleen maar zeggen: het was terecht. Het boek is razendsnel en meeslepend, en zeker het lezen waard. Het boek gaat over viroloog Gabriel Stanton, die pl......more

Goodreads review by Mike (the Paladin) on November 05, 2012

Well....I know if you've read many of my reviews you've seen that opening before, and you probably know what it means. Well, this one escapes a 2 rating barely. I like the main plot line. It's one I've seen elsewhere and so close to the real world that it's not really a strain to accept it (or someth......more

Goodreads review by Richard on August 28, 2012

The vast majority of fictional entertainment (and lots of psuedo-science masquerading as unassailable fact) addressing the Mayan Long Count calendar's ancient imputed prediction that civilization as we know it will end on December 21, 2012, pivots on the fantastic. If humanity's impending annihilati......more

Goodreads review by Bonnie on July 29, 2016

12.21: A Novel was kindly provided to me by Edelweiss for Random House Publishing Group. Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog! This is actually the first '2012' type story I've ever read and it truly blew me away. Look up the definition of 'page-turner' and you should see a picture of this......more


Quotes

Advance praise for 12.21

“Dustin Thomason, M.D., will invariably be compared to Michael Crichton, M.D., and 12.21 will be favorably compared to The Andromeda Strain. Both authors have written first-rate medical thrillers, the kind of fact-based fiction that is very scary but also very entertaining. Thomason knows his stuff, and it shows on every page. I truly could not put this book down.”—Nelson DeMille

“The most exciting novel of its kind since the days of Michael Crichton, 12.21 takes us from the frontiers of modern neuroscience to the riddles of ancient Maya texts, with nothing less than the future of our civilization at stake.”—Vince Flynn

12.21 is a brilliantly complex, outstanding, high-level thriller that mixes cutting-edge science with ancient prophecy to deliver a novel that will keep you turning the pages all night long.”—Douglas Preston, #1 bestselling author of The Monster of Florence
 
“A fast-moving tale . . . Thomason displays an impressive depth of knowledge of both science and the ancient Mayan way of life. Along the way, he skillfully ramps up the action, one notch at a time. A winning book.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“Fascinating, terrifying for its potential realism. I loved how tightly everything fit together. I had to keep reading.”—Taylor Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of The Informationist
 
“Fast, suspenseful . . . Michael Crichton fans will find a lot to like.”—Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Rule of Four
 
“Ingenious . . . The real treat here is the process of discovery.”—The New York Times
 
“Compulsively readable.”—People (4 stars)
 
“If Scott Fitzgerald, Umberto Eco, and Dan Brown teamed up to write a novel, the result would be The Rule of Four.”—Nelson DeMille
 
“The ultimate puzzle-book.”—The New York Times Book Review