DEEP PAST

An archeologist working in Kazakhstan is presented with a discovery that could prove revolutionary, but taking it public proves unexpectedly fraught in Linden’s novel.

In the hope of landing a full professorship in the anthropology department at Rushmere University, Dr. Claire Knowland accepts a research position on a dig in Kazakhstan investigating the domestication of ancient horses. Her “true passion” is the study of animal intelligence, but as a 32-year-old adjunct, she is willing, however begrudgingly, to make concessions to secure professional advancement. An unexpected discovery piques her interest: Rob Rebolet, the chief of security for the Transteppe mining company, reports that one of his geologists, Russian Sergei Anachev, has found something peculiar—a grouping of “enormous bones” far too large to belong to horses that seem purposefully arrayed in a place where elephants never roamed. The bones predate the rise of any human ancestor, provocatively challenging the accepted scientific interpretations of the evolutionary emergence of intelligence on Earth, a gripping possibility lucidly explained by the author: “If the bones were not arrayed by some ancient human ancestor, could they represent the rise of intelligence in some other mammalian line, which became extinct many millions of years ago? Given the long sweep of life on earth, if evolution could produce intelligence once, could it have produced it more than once?” Such an explosive discovery will almost certainly be commandeered by the profoundly corrupt Kazakh government, and the examination of the bones is waylaid by the violent outbreak of civil war. Sergei is also menaced by Andrei Bezanov, a cruel Russian oligarch with a longstanding grudge against him who aims to take over Transteppe, thereby gaining control of the region’s valuable phosphorite reserves.

The novel deftly combines a dramatically powerful story with a thrilling scientific possibility, one made impressively accessible by the author. The story ranges from an assassin’s attempt on Claire and Sergei’s lives to searching discussions of the nature of intelligence and its mysterious appearance in the world, which is made even more inscrutable by the fact that human beings seem to have a monopoly on its possession (though Sergei’s findings undermine that assumption). As Dr. Keerbrock, another scientist, puts it to Claire: “Why only us? If rapid environmental change is a driver of intelligence, why don’t we find a bunch of other smart animals?” Some of the literary elements of the novel are questionable—Sergei’s history of acrimony with Bezanov feels convoluted and contrived, and Bezanov is something of a cartoonish villain, brimming with outsized evil plans and fantasies of revenge. Additionally, the eventfulness of the tale sometimes takes a turn for the formulaic; some of the violence depicted seems culled from popular cinema, and is more canned than exhilarating. Nonetheless, Claire is a memorable hero, as smart as she is empathetic, and Sergei is a profoundly complex character, one with an extraordinary grasp of science and a prudent sense of human nature. This is an immersive tale that is both intellectually enlivening and genuinely entertaining.

A deeply intelligent tale about intelligence itself, and the hurdles science must clear to see the light of day.