Badlands, Douglas Preston
Badlands, Douglas Preston
16 Rating(s)
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

Badlands

Bestseller

Author: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Series: Nora Kelly

Narrator: Cynthia Farrell

Unabridged: 10 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/03/2025


Synopsis

The #1 New York Times bestselling authors Preston & Child return with a thrilling tale in which archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson, while investigating bizarre deaths in the desert, awaken an ancient evil more terrifying than anything they’ve faced before.

In the New Mexico badlands, the skeleton of a woman is found—and the case is assigned to FBI Agent Corrie Swanson. The victim walked into the desert, shedding clothes as she went, and died in agony of heatstroke and thirst. Two rare artifacts are found clutched in her bony hands—lightning stones used by the ancient Chaco people to summon the gods. 

Is it suicide or… sacrifice? 

Agent Swanson brings in archaeologist Nora Kelly to investigate. When a second body is found—exactly like the other—the two realize the case runs deeper than they imagined. As Corrie and Nora pursue their investigation into remote canyons, haunted ruins, and long-lost rituals, they find themselves confronting a dark power that, disturbed from its long slumber, threatens to exact an unspeakable price. 
 

About Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston is the author of more than thirty books, both fiction and nonfiction, more than twenty of which have been New York Times bestsellers. He has worked as an editor at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and taught nonfiction writing at Princeton University. His first novel, Relic, coauthored with Lincoln Child, was made into a movie, and launched the famed Pendergast series of novels. His recent nonfiction book, The Monster of Florence, is also being made into a film. In addition to books, Preston writes about archaeology and paleontology for the New Yorker, National Geographic, and Smithsonian.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John (JC) on June 23, 2025

Suspense, mysticism, murder, supernatural occurrences, hope, fear, greed, carelessness, brainwashing, cults …. Who could ask for more in a book? Preston & Child handles all this with the dynamic simplicity ascribed to the task. At times it seemed a slower pace than desired was present. The myster......more

Goodreads review by Bill on June 09, 2025

Preston & Child have crafted another riveting novel. A mystery focused on the American Southwest and the Ancestral Puebloan culture. They are experts at blending factual history with arcane knowledge and mysticism to create a story where you’re not sure where fact ends and fiction begins.......more

Goodreads review by Teju on June 08, 2025

Stumbled on this series and not bad, but didn't wow wow me and didn't look forward to going back to it. Intrigued so will give another book in the series a go!!! Solid 3 stars !!!......more

Goodreads review by Judy on June 04, 2025

I am definitely a fan of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child so I was very happy to see this book and grabbed it a quickly as I could. I have read many of their books and always enjoy them. I loved this one! Description: In the New Mexico badlands, the skeleton of a woman is found—and the case is assign......more

Goodreads review by Sue on May 31, 2025

Badlands is the latest of Preston & Child’s Nora Kelly novels and FBI agent Corrie Swanson, a forensics specialist, has become a fixture in these mysteries set in New Mexico. As this novel unfolds, the skeletal remains of a woman are discovered in the badlands area in the desert outside of Albuquerq......more