Badlands

The #1 New York Times bestselling authors Preston & Child return with a thrilling tale of "hair-raising fun" (Kirkus) in which archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson, while investigating bizarre deaths in the desert, awaken an ancient evil more terrifying than anything they've faced before.
In the New Mexico badlands, the skeleton of a woman is found-and the case is assigned to FBI Agent Corrie Swanson. The victim walked into the desert, shedding clothes as she went, and died in agony of heatstroke and thirst. Two rare artifacts are found clutched in her bony hands-lightning stones used by the ancient Chaco people to summon the gods.
Is it suicide or… sacrifice?
Agent Swanson brings in archaeologist Nora Kelly to investigate. When a second body is found-exactly like the other-the two realize the case runs deeper than they imagined. As Corrie and Nora pursue their investigation into remote canyons, haunted ruins, and long-lost rituals, they find themselves confronting a dark power that, disturbed from its long slumber, threatens to exact an unspeakable price.

The thrillers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child "stand head and shoulders above their rivals" (Publishers Weekly). Preston and Child's Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number-one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series, and their recent novels include The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, Diablo Mesa, Bloodless, The Scorpion's Tail, and Crooked River. In addition to his novels, Preston is the author of the award-winning nonfiction book The Lost City of the Monkey God. Child is a Florida resident and former book editor who has published eight novels of his own, including such bestsellers as Chrysalis and Deep Storm.