THE SUNDISK

Two archaeologists search for a mystical lost land where men know no evil.

Atlantis’s lesser-known cousin, Mu, is the central focus of Logan’s archaeological thriller/environmental screed. What begins as a languorous historical mystery set in the slower-paced, pre-internet world of 1962 soon degrades into a hodgepodge of myth, science fiction and improbability. Tom Daudelier and Harry Worthy are archaeologists, each man searching for something that will validate his life’s work. Thirty-something Harry falls for Tom’s 18-year-old daughter, in what proves to be the first of many intense, instant attachments seemingly designed solely to introduce new subplots. While on an archaeological expedition for the summer, Harry takes only a few weeks to meet, fall in love with and marry a woman who is fleeing her South-American druglord ex-husband. After his new bride is gunned down by drug dealers on their wedding day, Harry returns to Tom and his daughter and renews his courtship. They begin to investigate a series of clues, all of which point the way to Mu’s location. The final piece falls into place when the wife of an old colleague begs the pair to help find her husband, who has been missing for months and was last seen in an area of the world that may hold the key to the mystery. Of all the utterly implausible occurrences that follow–which include the appearance of an illusion-casting magician; the revelation that refugees from Venus created Mu and Atlantis and Martian invaders destroyed them; and the inexplicable appearance of Harry’s dead wife’s drug-dealing ex-husband, who is in search of gold–the most confounding is the appearance of a talking pink dolphin, who pops out of the water and delivers a sermon.

Perhaps future generations will have better luck deciphering the meaning of this odd relic.