Surprisingly, in view of its rather bizarre title, this book spins a terrific yarn. I don’t know if traditional fans of science fiction will initially feel at home with The Tomb of the Devils, although the story does revolve around lost rocket ships, mechanical monstrosities, unrecognizable technology, with a setting definitely in the future, and yet all of it plays dated, as if somehow we are reading another version of Robison Crusoe, except that in this instance there are three space wrecked astronauts.

Continuing with that comparison: what might we have thought if master Crusoe had been searching the high seas for a legendary “lost ship,” and it so happened that the very vessel for which he had been searching had come aground upon the island he now inhabited. And there is much evidence that the crew of that last vessel had survived brilliantly, creating a paradisiacal refuge. However, and here in lies the beginning of the mysteries, all of these sailors had suddenly and completely disappeared as if they had all simply walked off the island, en masse, even while this, of course, is impossible. One may begin at this point to imagine the flavor of The Tomb of the Devils.

From the above I might also suggest emphatically that the readers of traditional mysteries would be remiss in not feasting on this novel. Not to despoil anything, I will mention that every effort made by the three protagonists, to solve the mysteries within this place they are forced to call home, fail miserably, and yet the truth will inexorably be thrust upon them.

As a possible further enticement I will be a bit more explicit and confide that as the mysteries of the ninth planet are opened, the characters find that there is a reciprocal “opening” made of each one of them, and that the time they will spend as castaways produces three largely different astronauts from those who originally arrived on Pluto.

I called The Tomb of the Devils a great yarn to begin. Now I will add further that it is a “page burner”. I am not sure you’ll be “able to put it down”. I ask your forgiveness for the clichés, however, in this instance they are the veritable truth. By the way, you Science Fiction

Aficionados; once you have given the book a fair chance, you will be immensely grateful that you did.

--- Howard Bartillini

I liked this book very much, especially as a mystery. I hated to put it down and stop reading in the evening when there just was not any more time. I would grab it again the next day when I got home from work. I also liked the fact that the main person in the story is a girl, or a young woman, which doesn’t mean that the other main people were not also interesting.

There were some parts that I didn’t quite understand. Not that I really couldn’t understand what was going on but I did not see how a couple of these things fit into the story, but, like I say, I was so interested in what was going to happen next that the few parts I didn’t care for do not matter.

I think that the giant Robot started out, at the beginning of the story as a sort of “goofy” idea, but as the one computer expert kept working on it to try and bring it to life, and the girl learned more about what it really was, I had the feeling that something great and very scary was going to happen. Even though I was watching the Robot during all of time I was reading the book, I was probably the most anxious to know what really happened to the people who had crashed on the Planet in the Pacifica. And then even when Adrienne, the main person, found out, I, as the reader, couldn’t be sure that what she had found out in a very strange and interesting way, was the truth, which in the end, it actually was not.

I don’t want to give the ending away, but I will say that the way everything turned out on Pluto was not what you could ever expect. The surprises, turns and twists in the story are just great, and even if they are a surprise, the were still very believable.

I recommend the book to readers who like both Science Fiction stories and Mystery stories, combined. This was a great one!

---Holli McAffree

This is a great new novel for those interested in literary fiction. It melds genres of science fiction and mystery into an very interesting tale of three astronauts who find themselves on the planet of Pluto, with everything they need to survive. Interestingly woven into this novel are subtheme, which cause the reader to continuously dig for the deeper meaning of the novel, and there is a deeper meaning! (It reminds me of reading Lord of the Rings in 11th grade, and we had to analyze the book afterwards. I remember one individual commenting that there is no way an author write a book to have all of these different meanings. Now, after reading Tomb of the Devils, I am convinced that authors write in that way.) While the book moves slowly during the first three chapters, don't put it down, because once you become hooked, you will be wondering "What is going to happen next". I highly recommend this book, The Tomb of the Devils by Michael D. Christensen, for your reading pleasure.