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Jan 09, 2019IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Creepy and compelling short SF novel, first of a series. If the movie *Alien* could be described as a “haunted house in space”, perhaps this book could be described as an “ecological haunted house” story. Area X has been cut off from the rest of the Earth for decades. Eventually the government (we are not told *which* government) found an entryway, so they sent an expedition to explore it. Then more expeditions. Disasters occurred: sometimes no one came back; sometimes the expedition members killed each other; sometimes they came back but strangely blank or dying. The 12th expedition is composed of only four women – a biologist (our focal character), an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist. On the first day in base camp they discover an odd tunnel, which the biologist insists should be called a tower. As bad decisions are made and the biologist gets deeper into Area X, the reader is filled with dread. Very well written but not a good book to be read late at night.