Ben Mezrich probably doesn't need to write fiction to pay the bills. His book The Accidental Billionaires was made into the movie The Social Network. But when Brett Ratner (directed Hercules) called and asked him to write a book based on the Seven Wonders of the World so they could make it into a movie, who could resist? This is a first novel, but Mezrich can certainly write and he knows how to create a chapter-ending cliffhanger. He unabashedly pulls out all the stops: ancient clues intersect modern society, big spiders, women with ivory javelins who don't need men (get it) inhabit space in Brazil (okay, yes, they're Amazons), snakes, nerdy professors of anthropology and plant genetics team up for adventure and possibly romance.This novel (on its way to being a screenplay) is a bit formulaic, but it's a pretty good read. I loved the clues the plant geneticist adds along the way. And there's some truth in all this hokum. Some seventeenth-century Italian really did write a book about the odd plant life at the Colosseum in Rome. It's great fun -- a complicated plot that doesn't take itself too seriously, well-constructed fight scenes, and fun facts about the Seven Wonders. This will be a trilogy, supposedly, and I'll bet Mezrich gets better as he goes along.The rating would have been a whole star higher if the editing had been better. For this price ($12.99) Kindle readers expect near perfection.