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Jul 15, 2020jeh106 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
There is a genre of fiction that I call “archaeological thriller”. These novels have some historical context (through archaeology) added to the story line. One of the masters of that genre is JAMES ROLLINS. His latest is THE LAST ODYSSEY, a Sigma Force thriller. Sigma Force (part of DARPA) is a secret government agency whose headquarters is located below the basement of the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C. It is tasked with righting wrongdoing in the world. As in many of his previous books, James Rollins starts with a brief historical background and finishes with more of the same. That saved me a lot time looking up references. Leonardo da Vinci and the Greek poet/historian Homer figure prominently in the story line. Between 1100 and 800 B.C.E. three great civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean fell from power. They were the Mycenaeans, the Hittites and the Egyptians. The author calls this World War Zero. They were supposedly defeated by a fourth yet unknown civilization. Some writers have called them the Sea Power. Sigma Force undertakes the task of trying to stop a mysterious present day organization who is trying to unlock the apocalyptic powers of the Sea Power. The story begins in Greenland in an ice cave in the Helheim Glacier (the largest in Greenland) newly open to the sea, An Arab Sambuk (a ship from about the 9th century) is discovered with a mysterious and dangerous cargo. On the ship is an automated, three dimensional map that contains a spherical astrolabe (very rare). Only one is known to exist at Oxford University. In addition, there radioactivity present as well. Most of the Sigma Force regulars are operational in this book. These include Commander Grayson Pierce, his Korean born wife Seichan (formerly as assassin), Joe Kowalski Sigma’s muscle/explosives expert and his girlfriend Maria Crandall an anthropologist/archaeologist. Added to this crew are Dr. Elena Cargill a marine/naval archaeologist (daughter of a prominent U.S. Senator), Father Finn Bailey from Vatican Intelligenza, Monsignor Sebastian Roe head of the Vatican Holy Scrinium (a papal private library), Douglas MacNab a climatologist and Rabbi Howard Fine another archaeologist formerly with Israel’s Antiquities Authority. In opposition are members of an evil secret society that wants to destroy civilization and rebuild it in their image, mostly in a religious format. They want to establish a new Messiah (Christians) or Mahdi (Muslims) and other religious leaders. Their leader is called the Son of Moses. His second in command is Nehir Saat (Daughter of Moses) and her very large in size brother, Kadir. There is a book long chase by plane and boat from Greenland to the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. There are firefights and explosions galore. There are some romantic interludes where needed. JAMES ROLLINS once again proves that he is a masterful storyteller. Once again, there are some interesting historical notes and factoids. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! GO! BUY! READ!