Седьмая казнь

Sigma Force #12

by James Rollins, Джеймс Роллинс

В суданской пустыне внезапно объявился руководитель пропавшей два года назад экспедиции, профессор Британского музея Гарольд Маккейб. Тело ученого пребывало в жутком состоянии – он стал мумией еще при жизни и умер по дороге в больницу. Во время вскрытия в каирском морге у Маккейба начал светиться мозг. А еще через двое суток люди, присутствовавшие при этом, тяжело заболели. Вспыхнула эпидемия, и половина заразившихся умерла. Такие события не могли пройти мимо недремлющего ока директора отряда «Сигма» Пейнтера Кроу…

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Mystery, Action, Science Fiction, Mystery Thriller

464 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 2016

About the author

James Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers. His writing has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold more than 20 million books. The New York Times says, “Rollins is what you might wind up with if you tossed Michael Crichton and Dan Brown into a particle accelerator together.” NPR calls his work, “Adventurous and enormously engrossing.” Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets matched with stunning suspense. As a veterinarian, he had a practice in Sacramento for over a decade and still volunteers at local shelters. Nowadays, Rollins shares his home up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with two furry companions, Echo and Charlie. He also enjoys scuba diving, spelunking, kayaking, and hiking. Of course, he loves to travel and experience new places around the world, which often inspire his next globe-trotting adventure.

Reviews

[Dracula]

Noooooo... not another Sigma book. The formula of mythical tales+conspiracies+pseudoscience+unbelievable action sprinkled with some science doesn't work anymore.

[Orient · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Rollins did it again, The Seventh Plague shines with great action, mysteries and suspense which draw in from the very first page. I think, that’s the main key why the series is loved, especially by me :) My reading joy was lessened by the sad loss and that’s why I had some struggle.

Characters: My beloved Sigma team. I love seeing them all and every new adventure makes me excited. As usual the team risks their lives while ancient history (and some Bible fun) comes back to threaten the world. They are chased by a cold-hearted, extremely skilled female killer (who managed to stay alive at the end, woohooo), a true match to my fave girlie, Seichan.



Kowalski just shined in this book. Like in the previous book, he supplied the muscle power, exciting destruction and of course some comic relief.

Kowalski sat behind the wheel, his elbow resting on the sill of the open window, cigar smoke wafting out. “Now this is a truck,” he grunted, slapping the outer door with his palm.
Gray understood Kowalski’s affection. The pair made the perfect match. Both were slow, loud, and somewhat crude.

She stared toward the door into the stomach. “But what if we’re wrong? What if there’s no exit back there?”
From a step away, Kowalski offered additional support. “I’m sure there’s a way out.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He urged her toward the opening. “I read it in a book.”
Even Gray was puzzled by this response. “What book?”
Kowalski sighed, exasperated. “Everybody Poops.” He waved an arm to encompass the cavern. “That’s gotta apply to this big guy, too.”

The story is rich with historical details as usual. It was great to read how Mr. Rollins managed to entwine famous figures into the story using some true facts. D. Livingstone, H. M. Stanley, M. Twain
, and N. Tesla
were entangled into the deadly adventure with yummy historical facts, scientific researches and great action.

Not forgetting the animal side of the story:
The amazing capabilities of the elephants and lovely Roho. It was amazing to see the story from their POVs.



The emotional aspect of the book was great, it centered upon Gray and it was heart-breaking. The ties between Gray’s and the author's emotional experiences regarding family created a bond and it just added the more emotional side to the book, I can say for sure that Mr. Rollins left a piece of his heart in it.

I love the “Truth or fiction” treat at the back of the books, it always helps the author to weave the story into a more believable and gripping adventure tale. Mr. Rollins is a master there.



Action in The Seventh Plague is set in a couple of places. I tracked my Sigma Force team to the Sudan Desert, Ellesmere Island, even to the frozen land of northern Canada. The historical and scientific side of the story is really well written and informative. I learned about the evidence of the plagues in four centuries and was given a sneak peak into ancient Egypt as well as ordinary and exciting life of some famous figures from the past. The process of self-mummification was presented in an interesting way with the backup from scientific and historical clues. Oh, not forgetting the electron-eating bacteria, which was discovered for real.

The tasty historical and scientific facts complemented and added colors to the story. I was all



I’m in love again for the 12th time. Can’t wait for the next book to come :)

“Trust me. The truth is out there—if you’re not too afraid to look.”

[Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Seventh Plague is the 12th book in the Sigma Force series and Painter Crowe, Grey Pierce, Seichan, and Kowalski, etc. are back trying to save the world from a deadly threat. This time it seems that they deadly plagues from the Bible could happen again.

This book did not have intense and wonderful thrilling feeling that the last book had. However, it was interesting to read, the idea that the plagues could have happened for real and the theory for it and I loved the historical part of the book that Rollins' included Mark Twain, Nikola Tesla in the story, although they did not have a large part in the whole story (unfortunately).

But, as much as I liked the idea, and enjoyed reading the book, is this not the strongest or the most interesting book I have read in this series and there are no weeping moments (like the ending of the last book in the series). The story was best towards the end when they were searching for a cure. But, Painter Crowe's mission on the Ellesmere Island that intertwined Pierce teams search for the cure was just not so interesting to read and the madman behind the whole thing was not a memorable villain.

The Seventh Plague, worked thanks to my love for biblical and historical mysteries. The story did not move me or enthralled me in the way I had hoped it would do. I did like the ending very much when Pierce team found something extraordinary in the jungle in Africa. That's the part I liked the most. I liked the book, but I did not love it. It's still well written and I'm really intrigued by the scientific part of the story, the theory about what could have set off the plagues all those years ago.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Seventh Plague is the 12th book in the Sigma Force thriller series written by James Rollins. Perhaps my favorite aspects of these books is chapter at the end -- when James Rollins explains what was true and what was fiction in his plots, ranging from the historical drama to the science-fiction and medical components. I enjoy understanding perspective on what could legitimately happen versus is truly just a fun story to consider but not worry about. In this one, we focus on altering human DNA, plus we learn about Moses and all the plagues from Biblical times. Lots to enjoy... moving on to the next book in the series.

[ReadandSmile · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read all the Sigma Force novels and I have to say they have started to be very repetitive. I was barely about to get passed the mythical & scientific inaccuracies (unfortunately these types of books are always full of them). Also some of the action was really out-landish, but again I could make it passed that. But then it went from being a typical archaeological mystery with enemies and secret societies to down-right ridiculous. There were some good parts, but most of it was meh. I love action in books, but I would almost say this had too much action. I found myself getting bored with it.

[Prakash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just couldn't take the clichés anymore, this book failed to generate a "willing suspension of disbelief". I had read it 100 times before and seemed to hit every cliché for these types of books, the race to solve things, the astonishing ease where the team resolve thousand year old mysteries, the bad guys always just catching up, the secret organisations, myths etc etc. It just followed a competent formula without adding anything special or new and as a result I felt a little let down and underwhelmed.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re going to read Rollins, read the earlier stuff. You can see in this instalment how all the crazy shit that makes these books so fun has been fading away book by book.

[Blaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sigma Force novels have been a guilty pleasure for me. I don’t normally read military thrillers, where the bad guys are irredeemably eeeeeeevil and the good guys are effectively invincible. But the Sigma Force novels usually do a nice job of blending the action sequences with interesting history and science. This one had a better balance than the last couple of books, and an above-average mix of history and science theories, though some of the ESP and elephant stuff is a bit out there.

The Seventh Plague follows the usual formula. One team is is working on a problem in the present, often the kidnapping of a person uniquely important to this book’s plot. Meanwhile, often on a different continent, the other team is investigating a historical approach to solving the problem. But since the Sigma Force’s main villain, the Guild, was defeated a few books back, the series has been searching for a proper villain. The villain here is a popular tech billionaire known for fighting against climate change? Yeah, that didn’t really work for me.

I haven’t enjoyed the last few books as much as the earlier works in the series. But each one has had a different problem, leaving me optimistic that the next book will be a return to form. Time will tell.

[McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Rollin's best effort. The Sigma force are their usual selves but the plot is just too unbelievable even for fiction. And, as usual, most of the characters are comic book supermen/superwomen. All have doctorates and some world class skill. Too much of everything. This one volume is enough of Mr. Rollins. The series itself seems to be getting predictable and cookie-cutter. The cookie-cutter essentially involves Grey P. going off in one plot direction, Painter C goes off in another plot direction, Joe K. tags along with either Grey or Painter, Kate B. stays home to answer the phones and tend to her babies, and Monk K/Seichan/Lisa C are intermittently tossed in (sometimes with their own plot lines and sometimes attached to the Grey or Painter plots) . Whatever descriptions James Rollins used to connect the separate plots seemed forgettable and/or nonsensical. This is generally how the last few novels are arranged. James Rollins really needs to shake things up because the series cookie cutter strategy is beginning to be obvious.

There is a plot afoot in this novel and it is insidious. The plot is to get you to believe in the blurb enough to buy the book. In the beginning, Rollins' books were slapdash, but entertaining. There were a few unexpected twists and treacheries; no longer so. Like Dan Brown's and Dean Koontz's, this is factory-wrought prose of the "cheaper, faster" variety melded sloppily with character behavior that is not so much "expected" as it is "re-hashed" without flavor or depth.

[Aharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before you start reading this book. Please read the below information.

1) On Sept. 7 the Daldykan River near the city of Norilsk had turned the color of blood, with locals pointing fingers at the nearby Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, owned by the company Norilsk Nickel. In fact, a broken pipeline at the plant may be the culprit, according to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. The company, however, has denied any accidental discharge of pollutants.

Red waters aren't always a sign of doom and gloom. This summer, Iran's Lake Urmia turned from green to blood red as a result of microorganisms that thrive on salt and light. The Blood Falls of Antarctica get their scarlet hue from bacteria hiding out in the briny water beneath the glacier there. Salt-loving archaea microbes turn Utah's Great Salt Lake a rosy pink.

http://www.livescience.com/56014-why-...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/20...

2) About HMS Terror
The stories described startled Inuit stumbling upon a large dead man in a dark room on the vessel, with a big smile. Experts have suggested that may have been a rictus smile, or evidence that the man had suffered from scurvy.

A scrawled note dated 25 April 1848, and concealed in a stone cairn at Victory Point on northern King William Island, said Erebus and Terror had been abandoned three days earlier, stuck in sea ice.

Survivors apparently hoped to follow the river – now known as Back river – south to safety at a Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading outpost.

None made it, and for generations, the accepted historical narrative has described a brutal death march as the Royal Navy mariners tried to walk out of the Arctic, dying along the way.

Now Franklin experts will have to debate whether at least some of the dying sailors instead mustered incredible strength, fighting off hunger, disease and frostbite, in a desperate attempt to sail home.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/201...
http://www.livescience.com/56110-doom...

3) Mark Twain was a very rational & skeptical person.

One famous legend surrounding the eccentric Tesla was that he had an earthquake machine in his Manhattan laboratory that shook his building and nearly brought down the neighborhood during experiments.

Tesla’s device wasn’t actually an earthquake machine, Carlson said, but a high frequency oscillator. A piston set underneath a platform in the laboratory shook violently as it moved, another experiment in more efficient electricity.

It didn’t bring the block to ruins, Carlson said, but it did “shake the poop out of Mark Twain.” Twain was known for having digestive problems, so Tesla, who knew Twain through their gentlemen’s club, invited him over. He instructed Twain to stand on the platform while he flipped on the oscillator. After about 90 seconds, Twain jumped off the platform and ran for the facilities.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/5...

4) "Cooperation itself isn't very unique — species from honeybees to lions cooperate in various ways, but what these animals 'understand' about how cooperation works is debatable," Plotnik added. "For many species, cooperation probably doesn't require much cognition at all, as much of the behavior is 'pre-programmed.'"

Although such a task seems simple, it can prove difficult for many animals, Plotnik said. When tested in a similar manner, crows and their relatives, which research increasingly shows are extraordinarily intelligent, do not wait for their partner.

http://www.livescience.com/13108-elep...

5) HAARP doesn't cause earthquakes.
The goal of the program is to understand the physics of the ionosphere, which is constantly responding to influences from the sun. Solar flares can send solar particles racing toward Earth, occasionally disrupting communications and the electrical grid. If scientists could better understand what happens in the ionosphere, they might be able to mitigate some of these problems.

In May 2014, the Air Force announced that the HAARP program would be shut down later in 2014. While experiments ended in the summer of 2014, the complete shutdown and dismantling of the facility was postponed until at least May 2015. In mid-August 2015 control of the facility and its equipment was given to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

http://www.livescience.com/45829-haar...

6) David Livingstone's body was preserved in salt on purpose in the hopes of preserving his corpse for the long journey back to London. There is nothing mysterious about it.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=P...

7) Accepting the biblical account as a "possible 'qualitative' description of an event," Florida State oceanographer Doron Nof set out to investigate whether the parting of the Red Sea is "plausible from a physical point of view." Using a common phenomenon called wind set-down effect, he found that "a northwesterly wind of 20 m/s blowing for 10-14 h is sufficient to cause a sea level drop of about 2.5m." Such a drop in sea level, Nof speculates, might have exposed an underwater ridge, which the Israelites crossed as if it were dry land.

While scientists agree that wind set-down effect could have caused the Red Sea to part as described in the Bible, most biblical scholars and archeologists insist that the Israelites' crossing did not take place at the Red Sea at all.

Before he parted whatever sea it was he parted, the Bible describes Moses and his brother Aaron delivering 10 plagues on the people of Egypt. The Nile turns to blood, all the fish die, frogs are brought forth abundantly, and so on. Drawing on theology, Egyptology, and biology, epidemiologist John Marr developed a "domino theory" to explain each of the 10 plagues in order. Marr believes the plagues were a series of natural disasters and diseases triggered by a bloom of water-borne organisms called dinoflagellates. The dinoflagellates turned the Nile red and killed the frog-eating fish, which in turn caused a population explosion among frogs. The tainted water eventually killed the frogs, causing lice and flies to run rampant, which lead to a number of animal diseases (including African horse sickness) and an outbreak of boils (fancy glanders). This reign of disaster and disease continued through hail, locusts (Schistocerca gregaria, to be precise), and sandstorms until the death of the firstborn sons, which Marr thinks was caused by grain infected with mycotoxins. Others, building on Marr's domino theory, argue that the plagues were triggered by the eruption of the Greek island of Santorini, causing a string of disasters such as those that occurred at Lake Nyos, Cameroon, in 1986.

Although not quite as impressive as the plagues or the parting of the Red Sea, Moses' encounter with the burning bush is a pivotal moment in the Passover story and has, for a long time, been the source of much scientific speculation. As the story goes, God speaks to Moses from a burning bush and tells him, "I am come down to deliver [the Israelites] out of the hand of the Egyptians." Most scientific explanations of the story focus not on the voice of God but on the description of the bush: "[T]he bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." Humphreys believes the bush continued to burn because of a natural gas or volcanic vent underneath it. Others have pointed to the work of Norwegian physicist Dag Kristian Dysthe and his article on the subsurface combustion of organic material in Mali, saying the bush could have combusted spontaneously.

As for the voice of God, Hebrew University psychology professor Benny Shanon proposes that Moses was tripping at the time on a hallucinogenic substance similar to ayahuasca. Shanon argues further that the presentation of the Ten Commandments might have been a mass hallucination. "The thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the Book of Exodus says emanated from Mount Sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people in an altered state of awareness."

By speculating that the voice of God is a hallucination, Shanon, like Freud before him, is attempting to cast doubt on the foundations of monotheism.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_an...
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com...

[Skip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find it hard to believe that GR has a rating above 4 for this one. Seventh Plague was a weak effort. A Professor is found by nomads wandering in the desert, having attempted self-mummification. He dies, and then a nasty contagion is released during his autopsy. Painter Crowe and Kat head to the Arctic Circle while Seichan, Gray Pierce and Kowalski, head to Africa along with the Professor's daughter to find answers or a cure. There were simply too many plots, concepts, politicking, and famous people thrown into the mix. Simpler plots are better. I liked Noah, his white lion, and the elephants best.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gray, Seichan, Painter, and Kowalski are at it again in the latest Sigma novel. An archaeologist stumbles out of the desert bringing a deadly ancient disease with him. Now the team must track down the origins to the disease to find a cure.

A found this story not as cohesive as the other Sigma novels. It's too split up and there's not really one central bad guy. It just doesn't have the same tension and thrill as previous works.

[Jerry Mead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Action keeps coming but perhaps a little too biological this time for me.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is this story about religion or science or skullduggery? The inability to distinguish and focus solidly on a story without guesswork would mean a better novel in my opinion. I need to take a break from James Rollins.

[Why So Serious]

Rollin’s novels always have a pretty tenuous grip on plausibility, but they have generally managed to stay just the right side of the line of believability. In the early days they also benefitted from a combination of originality and sheer verve and pace of story-telling, all of which helped paper over the many cracks, such as lumpen dialogue and excessive use of lazy stylistic tricks like ending every chapter on an unnecessary cliff hanger. With the recent books however, the stale, recycled plot and questionable narrative choices leaves all Rollin’s weaknesses as an author exposed.

[Jenny Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first experience with a James Rollins novel is a good one. Although I didn’t love this, I would still read another of his novels. I love story concepts with plagues, but this was a slow moving thriller. I noticed that long-time James Rollins fans don’t consider this his best work, so if you’re one of those readers, which Rollins novel do you think is his best?

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one fell a little (just slightly) flat for me. I really enjoyed that Safia al-Maaz was back -- we haven't seen her since the very first book in the series, Sandstorm, and she was a great character in that book. Unfortunately, in this installment, I kind of felt like most of the main characters were cardboard cutouts of themselves. Seichan and Kowalski showed a little personality, but it wasn't near as much as in previous books in the series. I also didn't feel much of a connection to the newly introduced characters like I usually do.

Luckily for Rollins, his ability to tell a rollicking fun adventure hasn't waned, and the exotic locales and crazy explosions helped.

All in all, still a typical enjoyable and fun Rollins novel, just not the best that the series has to offer.

3.5 stars rounded up. (Please note that some health issues and stress might have also taken away from my enjoyment of this novel!)

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigma books seems to be based on old comic books. The author attempts to weave history together with current events, and overlays with an increasing series of violent adventures and scenarios. Each more unbelievable and improbable than the previous.

[Mike French · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better Sigma Force books I have read.Very enjoyable and didn't bog down in spots,like I found in other Rollins books.

[Rizwan Khalil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goddammit. My once beloved, endlessly inventive and wildly entertaining Sigma Force has become so predictable and formulaic! Everything that was such unique, creative and original book after book in this series, has now grown into overused, overblown and plain STALE from the same cuts of clothing at every turn of the narrative.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this book is not entertaining, and at times it's even interesting, Rollins still can amaze me with his one-of-a-kind plots involving real scientific wonders and historical mysteries, which always keeps me at least invested and intrigued... but everything else, not so much. From characterizations to actions to bad guys to most of all, plot-developments: things became so much by-the-numbers and ho-hum, that I can scarcely believe this is the same series that once gave us stunning distinctive adventures like The Last Oracle or Bloodline. There are plenty breathless thrills and action sequences going around to satisfy general A/A readers, and a whole lot of convoluted mysteries and death-defying usuals to satiate anyone looking for a quick timepassing enjoyment, but to me at least, who was an avid Sigma Force fanatic since day one, and loved loved Rollins's many BRILLIANT stand-alone tales beside that (Ice Hunt, Deep Fathom, Altar of Eden to name a few to remember how out-of-the-box he can truly be, combining with the previously mentioned Sigma marvels), the series, along with Rollins as a writer, has gotten unsurprising, formulaic, safe-in-the-box. And that in turn, is making the storytelling loose its palpable tension, the ever-present edge-of-seat suspense in unable to guess what will happen next.

Or maybe the problem does not lie with the writer or the series at all, maybe I have just reached to the point where I've read too many Sigma Force novels, I've became too accustomed to all the twist & turns and I simply come to expect too much. Maybe that's just it. I think its time for me to not hold my breath for the next new Sigma novel and expect something grand and different, while accepting the fact that the golden times of this once amazing series has passed, and give a quick timepass read once in a while like any other conventional action-adventure novels.

Book: 'The Seventh Plague'
Author: James Rollins
Series: Sigma Force #12
Pages: 448
My rating: 6/10

বইখানা পড়েছিলাম বছরখানেক আগে, পর পর তিনটা বইতে এত গৎবাধা ফর্মুলা আর প্রেডিক্টেবল ঘটনাপরিক্রমা দেখে এতটাই ত্যাক্ত-বিরক্ত হয়ে গিয়েছিলাম যে পড়ার পর আর রিভিউ লিখতেও ইচ্ছা হয় নাই... আজ (০৬-০৪-২০১৯) গুডরিডস ঘাঁটতে ঘাঁটতে মনে হলো আমার একসময়কার অতি অতিপ্রিয় সিরিজটার এখনকার এহেন আশাহতকরণে অন্তত কিছু প্রতিক্রিয়া লিখে রাখা উচিত, তাই লিখলাম। ফ্যাক্ট অফ দ্য ম্যাটার ইজ যে সিরিজটার নতুন বই বের হলে আগে আমি প্রথম দিনই পড়া শুরু করতাম, সেই সিরিজের এটার পরে গত দু'বছরে আরও দুটা বই বেরিয়ে গেছে, এখনো শুরু করার আগ্রহ জাগেনি। একসময় যা ছিল কল্পনাতীত!

[هادی امینی · Rating 3 out of 5]

باز هم بیماری، باز هم تاریخ، باز هم یک آدم شرور و باز هم علم که در دست یک دیوانه دنیا رو تهدید می‌کنه.
و باز هم پینتر در مرکز همه ماجراها و گری در گوشه دیگری دنبال راه حل.
این بار صفیه الماس هم دوباره بود، کنار پینتر؛ ولی به جای کویر در یخ‌های قطب شمال.

[Jonathan Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid thriller.

[Pop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Don’t think I need to say more.

[Raviteja · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★

The Seventh Plague is a good page turner, but it lacks the intensity and excitement compared to the previous books in this series. The whole of Painter's mission felt like a slog, and the villain felt like a cliche.

[David Eppenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rollins is one of my guilty pleasures. His books are something I read for the pure fun and entertainment of it and I frequently learn something in the process. He writes a series of books about a team of what I call scientist commandos working for DARPA, a real Defense Dept. agency devoted to defense research. The team, called the Sigma Force, is headquartered in the basement of the Smithsonian Castle on the D.C. Mall. Okay, so that's a bit James Bondy or maybe Maxwell Smarty but these books aren't high art they're entertainment. Rollins is a veterinarian by profession so his adventures are all science based and sometimes a little history is thrown in but much of his stories are premised on real science and a lot of artistic license. For my money Rollins puts the science back into science fiction.

This book mixes a little history with a lot of science and one of the best things about Rollins' books is that at the end he always includes a section identifying what was fact and what was fiction. The story presented in this book involves an archeologist trying to prove that the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians by the Biblical Moses was a real historic event and not a legend, myth, or allegorical tale. While in the Sudan on a dig in pursuit of proof for his theory the archeologist is kidnapped along with his son and his team and they go missing for 2 years. This professor then emerges from the desert 2 years later after having undergone a process of self-mummification and soon dies. His body is sent to London unknowingly carrying a disease with no known cure and is seriously fatal. The disease is spreading rapidly in Egypt and in London. The Sigma Team is called in to assist in finding a cure. This leads to a mega-rich villain that idolizes Nickolai Tesla. This man hopes to use the virus causing the threatened pandemic in an attempt to bring one of Tesla's inventions to reality. The story has two scenes, one in the deserts and jungles of Sudan and East Africa and another in the far Northern reaches of Arctic Canada. There's a lot of action, a lot of science, a little history some of which is fictional, and a lot of entertaining action and adventure. If you like a good thriller that provides a little knowledge along with the adventure then Rollins is your author. Enjoy.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, no one is doing these thrillers better than James Rollins. This is the 12th in his Sigma Force series and, OK, it is formulaic. But I like the ideas he comes up with it, the mix of history and science that is used in his stories. In this one, a British professor tries to prove that the biblical plagues described in Exodus actually occurred. And it looks like they're starting again in Egypt. I particularly liked the part where a Sigma team heads into a remote jungle in Central Africa to discover the source of the plagues.... Far from being tired of Rollins' stories, I have the next one in the series and look forward to reading it. But not too soon.. I'll save it for the right time...

[Alex Cantone · Rating 3 out of 5]

"That old adage—those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it—falls too often on deaf ears."

Thus speaks Monk, one of the minor characters and member of Sigma Force, charged with saving mankind and other lifeforms from apocalyptic oblivion by the release of the biblical plagues of Egypt.

British archaeologist Prof Harold McCabe is found by nomads, wandering in the desert of Sudan, two years after the expedition he was leading, including his own son, Rory, went missing. The Prof dies before he can tell his story, but as an autopsy is performed in Cairo the pathologist and others in attendance fall ill, some fatally. When his body is transferred to the British Museum, more people die.

The professor asserted that the biblical plagues of Egypt were not allegorical, but based on historical climate conditions. In Oxfordshire, his daughter Jane and the Prof's protégé Derek are searching through her father's papers and find a book stolen from a university library, containing transcripts of letters exchanged between Livingstone and Stanley in the late 19th century. Suddenly the pair are in danger of their lives.

The protagonist is mad scientist and entrepreneur, Simon Hartnell. Inspired by his hero Nikola Tesla, a compatriot of Edison, Hartnell aims to protect the planet from global warming by tapping into an unlimited microbial energy source (from the plague), only to set the sky on fire.

This is the first Sigma Force novel I have read, and despite his critics, Rollins delivers a well-written adventure story, part Indiana Jones, part Dr. Frankenstein. I savoured the maps, drawings and hieroglyphs, the pseudo-science of self-embalming, pettiness of quarreling academics, the fortitude of the heroes, Commander Gray Pierce and Director Painter Crowe. Throw an opposing pair of feisty female assassins into the mix and this is as good an escapism novel as you can get.

I particularly liked the formatting. The story is spread across 4 parts, like an organism dividing. Each part has its chapters, switching between locations in the US /England, Egypt / Sudan and Ellesmere Island off the Arctic Circle. Each chapter drills down into time frames, making the action scenes easy to follow, even if at times, events seemed a little too far-fetched.

[Rakib Hasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

সিগমা ফোর্স সিরিজের ১০ এবং ১১ নাম্বার বই পড়ে বেশ হতাশ হয়ে গিয়েছিলাম, কিন্তু ১২ নাম্বার বইয়ে এসে হতাশা দূর হয়েছে। আগের দুইটা বইয়ের তুলনায় এই বইটা অনেক ভালো।

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say that as a fan of James Rollins "Sigma Force" novels, this one was a disappointment. Not nearly as interesting or scientific as many of the past ones, and it seemed to be filled with a lot of repetitious filler, repetitious action scenes, repetitious danger, repetitious things that all of the characters have done many times before. Maybe the author is running out of ideas for this cast.

[John Beta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to read a Rollins action-thriller in between the heavier reads for that dose of fun, save-the-world, globe-trekking, and science and history bullshit. I enjoy the Sigma characters, especially Kowalski.