The Anomaly by Michael Rutger

       "You're that guy ... The You Tuber. That archeologist guy. Unsolved mysteries and stuff."

       This, I should note, seldom happens. My grin in response was charming, and the accompanying shrug could have been used as a Wikipedia illustration of self-deprecation.

       "Guilty as charged," I said. "I am indeed Nolan Moore."

Nolan Moore is a failed screenwriter who is now the face of The Anomaly Files, a small-time YouTube show that seeks to uncover unexplained phenomena and other strange mysteries. This time he and his crew--his producer, Ken, assistant producer, Molly, and cameraman, Pierre, as well as a journalist and one of their new backers--are on the trail of a 1909 explorer who claims to have found a mysterious cavern hidden somewhere high up in the Grand Canyon reportedly full of wonderful things. This time their expedition is backed by the Palinhelm Foundation, and they have a shot at making the move to cable TV if they can actually find this cavern. Despite his immense amount of research on this project, Nolan doesn't really believe it'll be there, so when they do find a cave where he predicted it would be, he's as surprised as everyone else. Eager to enter and explore, none of them stop to question if what's hidden deep inside this lost cavern should be shown to the world...or if there's a reason what's inside should stay hidden forever.

It felt strange to be standing in a place where at some point -- hundreds or thousands of years ago -- there had been an intense fire and great heat. That was gone now, along with any hope of understanding what had caused it. All that remained was an unpleasant olfactory echo. And us, stuck, with no way out.

 The suspense mounts slowly in this one, but I thought it was a fun escapist adventure. But then, I've always liked survival stories that take place in mysterious caves. And you'll never guess what's in this one! Nolan is a fun character who doesn't take himself too seriously but is a surprisingly good person to have around in an emergency. I liked him and his crew (even though I thought Ken used the f-word a little too much.) There are some good twists along the way as they explore the cave, and some tense and suspenseful moments as they try to find a way back out. I liked Rutger's writing, though I did think the ending was a bit fantastic and out-there. Still, The Anomaly is a pretty entertaining read. (And it'd make a great Syfy movie.)

Happy Reading!