The Final of Six Novels in the Series is an Incredible Finish
Mark, Heather and Jennifer reach their potential as augmented humans, as they race against time, and the evil augmented Dr. Stephenson to protect humanity from the black hole Stephenson created at CERN in the previous book.
They exonerate Stephenson from his horrifying crimes of stealing the Rho ship technology for his own power hungry agenda and distributing nanite formula that caused gross deformity, madness and illness instead of curing everything. All Stephenson's crimes were then publicly blamed on Jack.
Stephenson is taken from his prison cell, toasted at the White House as a hero, then taken to CERN. The U.S. needs Stephenson to stop the black hole from eating the Earth. He is the only scientist with the knowledge to throw the black hole into space before it ate the planet, but of course, he has a hidden agenda. Our three kids had to find out what he is doing and stop him, but first, they have to get out of the U.S., and that is going to prove to be a challenge.
Jack and Janet act as trainers, facilitators and handlers as our three protagonists take on the NAVY SEALS, the NSA, the Rho ship as well as an augmented Stephenson himself with his scientific creation to get rid of the black hole and create a gateway. A gateway to what, or whom?
The government still wants to kill the Ripper at any cost, and the same goes for Janet, who is seriously pregnant, so they have to physically stay under the radar, but it doesn't stop Jack from going anywhere he wants in his stealthy fashion in support of the kids.
There is no discussion about the alien in Jack's head, so I guess it isn't either the Kasarians or the Altrians that banished this alien to be an exiled spirit, or something would have been mentioned.
I am interested not only about the future of Jack's alien rider, but also Robby's imaginary friend that he gained through a simple accident on the back patio. If there is another book, Robby at an older age would be quite interesting to follow, especially with parents like Jack and Janet. Out of the three, only Janet hasn't been changed in some way.
The first third of the book was set up, and therefore a bit slow. The next third of the book got the story rolling and I was glad to finally have some action. The last third of the book is all action and flies by at an incredible pace.
There are only a few new characters. The new head of the NSA is billed as being significantly more qualified than Riles, but he doesn't come off that way, he comes off as a forceful, arrogant bull of a man who wouldn't know an insight if it bit him. Ms. Wu, the Cal Tech Computer Wunderkind seems to have some obvious blind spots for someone in her position. I guess it wouldn't be clear unless you knew about the subject matter.
Bottom line: It is an incredible capstone to the six book series ( or the two trilogies ), and it puts to bed most of the nagging questions that I haven't mentioned. This book had more hard science than all the others combined.
Highly Recommended!