Golden has been red hot lately and his latest ARARAT is hotter than them all. An adventure tale about an engaged couple of explorers who learn Noah's Ark may have been discovered atop Mount Ararat. But among their findings is an ancient casket containing what appears to be the skeleton of a demon.

ARARAT then becomes a suspense-filled thriller full of possessions, intrigue, and soul searching that will have you captivated until the very last word.

I received a free copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story opens with an earthquake in Turkey that reveals a hidden cave inside Mount Ararat. The cave turns out to be an ancient ship that has been long buried. When news of this find gets out, many believe the ship to be Noah’s Ark. A newly engaged couple, Adam Holzer & Meryam Karga, is notified by a friend of theirs, Feyiz, a local guide, about the find. They want to be the first ones inside to lay claim to the find before another team, headed by Armando Olivieri, does. Adam and Meryam are adventurers who write books and make videos “to help ordinary people overcome their fear of taking risks”. The couple is accompanied by guides, Hakan & Feyiz. To beat Olivieri’s team, they decide to take an alternate, more dangerous route up Mount Ararat. After a long, treacherous climb, they reach the entrance to the ship. Inside, they find a sarcophagus with a deformed corpse. A few weeks later, Adam and Meryam are joined by Father Cornelius Hughes, a linguist and historian, Ben Walker, a DARPA agent traveling under the guise as a researcher for the National Science Foundation, a representative from the UN, Kim Seong, and additional archaeologists and filmmakers to record their findings.


I really enjoyed this book. The idea that this ship could be Noah’s Ark was definitely something that fascinated me. It was nice that the author touched on some of the religious implications but didn’t dwell or hit you over the head with their religious viewpoint. I liked the characters and there was enough of a back story for each to be able to relate to them but not be tedious. I thought the story was cohesive and there were no loose ends with the character story lines. The author did a good job with the pacing of the book. It captured my interest from the first chapter when the cave/ship was revealed, to the hairy ascent made by Adam & Meryam’s team, and the finding of the corpse. As the team(s) continues to investigate the corpse and speculate as to its origins, people start to disappear. But are they leaving of their own accord or is something else responsible? To make matters worse, an enormous blizzard sets in. As the story progresses, tensions rise and the violence escalates. I found the story compelling, a page turner, and couldn’t wait to see how it ended! And I was not disappointed! Anyone looking for an adventure story with a bit of horror thrown, this is definitely the book to read.

Thank you Netgallery for the opportunity to read Ararat. I have read previous novels by Christopher Golden. He has a great sense of the supernatural and keeps the reader captivated. His new novel is no different. Ararat takes the reader to a scary place. Can Noah's Ark be found today? Readers will find this novel engrossing. Keep the lights on for this one. Recommend.

I was drawn to Ararat by the prospect of reading a horror novel based around Noah's Ark. I've never read Christopher Golden before, never read anything marketed as fiction involving Noah's Ark either. So, really, I had no clue what I was getting myself into when I picked up the book.

Ararat is a fast-paced horror thriller with a good dose of atmosphere. When they're inside the ark, you can immediately feel the evil settling into the air. What do you get when Jews, Muslims, and Catholics all find themselves clustered in what could be one of the biggest religious discoveries? At first, just a bunch of people there to do their jobs, which was refreshing! I liked how Golden set things up, with the UN oversight, the restrictions about not claiming the area for any one religion, etc. It kept it from taking a left turn into becoming a festering ball of religious one-upmanship and animosity. So, when tensions start to build after the evil has firmly got its hooks in, it's easy to read it without bias.

I wish that the book had focused a little bit more on Meryam (and Adam) as I felt there were some unexplored possibilities there. Towards the end, I felt like I didn't know Meryam nearly as well as I wanted to. That made it a bit harder to root for her, and to feel the appropriate emotions at certain times. Instead, the main protagonist of Ararat is exactly the type of guilt-ridden male figure you expect to find in these books. I do give the author points for saddling him with some actual issues, though! He - the whole cast, really - was still interesting enough that I had trouble putting the book down to go to sleep!

But, people that read a lot of horror novels are going to be able to lay out the rough details of the last half of Ararat. The author does throw one or two curve balls at you, but the rest of it is fairly predictable. Ararat is an enjoyable read, but just not as exciting for the more jaded readers. The way the last few pages are written, you can tell Golden is setting the stage for a possible sequel at some point down the road. I'm ambivalent about that. I think a large scale version of the possibilities he's left dangling would be interesting, but I'd have no interest in reading something that centered on just a few people.

Overall, while not a breath-taking thrill ride, Ararat is a great introduction to a talented author if you've never read Christopher Golden before. If you have read him before, I have a feeling you'll be satisfied with this latest work. There's plenty of action, tons of atmosphere, and people dying all over the place. What's not to love?

Fans of Dan Simmons’ THE TERROR will love ARARAT, the thrilling tale of an adventure that goes awry. When a newly engaged couple climbs Mount Ararat in Turkey, an avalanche forces them to seek shelter inside a massive cave uncovered by the snow fall. The cave is actually an ancient, buried ship that many quickly come to believe is really Noah’s Ark. But when a team of scholars, archaeologists, and filmmakers make it inside the ark for the first time, they discover an elaborate coffin in its recesses…and when they break it open, they find that the cadaver within is an ugly, misshapen thing…and it has horns. A massive blizzard blows in, trapping them in that cave thousands of meters up the side of a remote mountain…but they are not alone.

Five stars.
What did I think:
OMG I just finished it and I loved it, if you've ever read anything by James Rollins then you need to pick this book up, because the story is kind of like something he would and could of wrote, once I started to read it, I just couldn't seem to put it down, it pulled me into the story and I was hooked, the more I read of it the more I had to know what was going on and what was going to happen next, so this is a must read if you love thrillers that is non stop, from beginning to the very end, once again I have to say thinks to Netgalley for giving me a chance at reading what turned out to be a really great book for me to read and for helping me find a new author to check out, as well as a chance to review it in change for my honest opinion.

An earthquake uncovers a cave on Ararat. Visible within that cave are the remains of what many believe to be Noah’s ark. Meryam and Adam are determined to be the first team in the cave regardless of the horrid conditions on the mountain. As they begin the excavations they are not prepared for what they find and soon discover they are not alone on the mountain.
Don’t start this late at night or during a blizzard. If you want to be up all night, ignore this warning. Golden has given us a white-knuckle ride complete with a fully defined, diverse cast. This is a quick read because you just can’t put it down. Leave yourself plenty of time, not only to read but to reflect on what happens on that mountain.


(This is scheduled to be posted on my tumbler and Amazon the Monday prior to the publication date. If you would prefer it sooner, you can contact me. )