"Sleeping Giants" (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel

Sleeping Giants is the first book in a sci-fi series called Themis Files. A young girl named Rose rides a bike in a wooded area near her house in South Dakota, when she falls into a hole in the ground. When she is discovered, the hole turns out to be a giant metal hand. Fast forward several years into the future, and Rose is now a young scientist who is recruited to work on a secret project tasked with figuring out the origins and purpose of the giant hand she fell into when she was little.

This is pretty much all I knew going into the book, and it is a very intriguing synopsis. What I did not know was how much this book is about politics, scheming and power race at the international level. The book is written in the form of recorded interviews and journal entries (hence the name of the series "files"). Most of the interviews are conducted by an anonymous powerful man (we only know that his first name is Robert). He has a direct access to the U.S. President, vast financial, intelligence and military resources at his disposal and significant skills in diplomacy and manipulation. I am now reading the second book in the series and I still do not know who this guy is or what agency he works for, which is a bit frustrating.

The dossier format of the book works well, but it does get a little dull/dry towards the end.  Despite the fact that by the end of the book, we learn quite a bit about the metal giant, nothing of interest actually happens in terms of military action. So overall, it is an interesting book, but you will have to wait until book 2 if you are looking for some sci-fi action.