Neanderthal is an American novel written by John Darnton published by Random House in 1996.

[1][2][3][4][5] The plot of Neanderthal revolves around two rival scientists, Matt Mattison and Susan Arnot, who are sent by the United States government to search for missing Harvard anthropologist James Kellicut.

The Russian and American governments are competing to study the surviving Neanderthals in Tajikistan in order to learn more about their "remote viewing" capabilities.

They hope to do so without jeopardizing the safety of the peaceful tribe.

The novel explains that a completely peaceful society like that was doomed in any case, and would have been destroyed soon by the mountain tribe.