Graham Hancock is british journalist who writes non-fiction books about ancient mysteries, new age and forgotten history - not only I love the subjects he covers but his writing is very engaged & passionate, therefore I actually buy his books without reservations. In the past, I have read "Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization", " The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant" and "Supernatural: Meeting with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind" (the last one was my absolute favorite and could read it again) - now recently I stumbled upon his first fiction novel "Entangled". Actually I should have been more careful when I'm buying books, because, you see, I was not even aware it was fiction - had I knew it, maybe I wouldn't bother.
Hancock's name was the best possible recommendation so I bought the book without realizing (until much,much later) it is not his usual non-fiction work about ancient civilizations/aliens/mysteries. It is actually a fiction work, a novel. My disappointment was so big that I left the books aside for months until I finally decided to check it out. Several things are recognizable Hancock, namely the way he connects ancient civilizations, mysterious Amazon potions and human unconscious mind - he wrote about this in his previous work but here he uses it as a part of his fictional plot. It is a adventure story that connects two characters who live in completely different eras, namely 21 century girl and her stone age counterpart - the only way they can be connected and fight together against mutual enemy is trough drugs or magic potions that alter mind (during these sessions they are both guided by angelic presence but its clear this is just one of the many faces of spiritual being). Since he tries to follow two parallel stories sets in different time zones, Hancock juggles between two different centuries which is a bit annoying as reader is never allowed to relax in one time and simply enjoy the story - just when you start really getting into it, another chapter brings you back to present time and so on. Stone age story (reminiscent of "Clan of Cave Bear") was actually gripping enough to make me skip the other story completely and just read the chapters about Neanderthals. Another thing I disliked was - the language. In his non-fiction work Hancock is very passionate, convincing, energetic and enthusiastic, very well informed and obviously stands behind his words. Here, creating a complete fictional world, he writes very much like script for an action movie - for example, his characters would say "What the fuck?" - a lot of swearing - where non fiction work had a sense of wisdom and adventure, his fiction novel feels a bit adolescent, with swearing, sex and graphic violence. I shouldn't really complain as I read the novel in a few days and couldn't put it down (he leaves the end open for possibility of sequel) but still it wasn't what I expected from Hancock and I wish he continues writing non fiction instead.
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