When young biologist Alexis Crawford discovers an unidentifiable specimen washed up in the wake of a devastating flood, it begins a journey that will reveal the dark conspiracies at the heart of California and the secret known only to a few: that beneath the City of Angels is an ancient world of tunnels lined in gold, a world that is home to the legendary Lizard People.
Overall, there's quite a lot to like here. The fun storyline here involves the initial discovery of the strange remains from the leftover wreckage in the house, the race to discover the truth behind the object in the face of the devastating flood around the community, and how it all ties together with this strange story revealed throughout it involving a supposed race of lizard-people that have been released. It's handled remarkably well, with a fine sense of intrigue over how the strange pieces come together initially following the discovery which is a rather intriguing series of encounters following up on these events, leading to some fine confrontations with figures wanting the hand kept confidential with the ongoing mystery that comes about as to the identity of the object and how it all connects to the lizard-people legend involving secret cults, mysterious figures in league with the creatures, and a speakeasy owner that knows more than they're letting on.
Given that this all takes place at a frantic, engaging tempo through the writing style presented helps to make the story go by in a complete blur as she discovers more about the strange creatures around her. This story is quite fun and takes a few unexpected turns involving who's really on board with the property and how it all leads together to this realization that the creatures aren't as dangerous as initially suspected which is where the one slight issue here comes from. With the way the creatures are presented, there's not much in the way of genuine threat here with the race to keep them at bay and in peace with society hidden away like they have been so it's got more of a suspense/mystery tone than all sorts of rampaging creature action that could've been utilized here. None of this is truly a drawback but is a factor to be had with this one, even though there's a lot to like here.
4/5