text: Fast-paced yarn kept me reading. You could feel the heat, the exhaustion, the sting of knives and bullets, the terror of the unknown in the darkness. Loved the premise, although how a company bought land and got government permits to set up drilling operations practically overnight really stretched credibility. Without giving anything away, some of the story was too predictable. (Gee, why is all that platinum buried three miles down?) I also would have preferred if the story had been told from the perspective of one character, whether hero or anti-hero, but that never really happened. Even the author could not seem to decide if he liked or hated certain key characters. The most heroic had only minor supporting roles and some of them did not fare well. Biggest disappointment was the Hollywood movie ending. How many times have we all seen that ending before? Very convenient way to tidily wrap things up.