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Jax Alexander Mystery #2
The Solomon Effect
A German U-boat lost in the final days of the Second World War rested silent and dead in the deep waters off the Russian coast for more than half a century—carrying a cargo too terrifying to contemplate.
Now it has been found and its terrible treasure liberated . . . by those who would set the world on fire.
A remote viewer working in top secret for the U.S. government, October Guinness can "see" events occurring on the other side of the globe. But she and her loose cannon partner, CIA agent Jax Alexander—who questions the validity of Tobie's "gift"—have arrived too late to prevent a bloodbath . . . and perhaps the Apocalypse as well. Now every second brings the unthinkable a step closer—and places Tobie and Jax in the gunsights of powerful enemies in frighteningly high places—as they race to connect the dots between an impending catastrophe and a nightmare cultivated decades earlier by Nazi scientists with an evil agenda about to become all too real …
389 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 2009
90 people are currently reading
459 people want to read
About the author
C.S. Graham
3 books86 followersC.S. Graham is the pseudonym of writing team Steven Harris, a former Army Intelligence officer, and Candice Proctor, who also writes the Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series under the name C.S. Harris. The two met at a local New Orleans writers group in 2001, after Candy moved to Louisiana from Australia. They now share a thriller series, a marriage and family, seven cats, and some great Hurricane Katrina stories.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
January 27, 2013
The first book in this series, "The Archangel Project," was a wonderfully evocative and addictive thriller set in New Orleans. Written by authors who knew the city intimately, it succeeded in using the city's neighborhoods and museums to give life to an exciting mix of spies, terrorists, bureaucrats, the paranormal, and the city's problems after Hurricane Katrina. It grabbed you and kept hold of you until the last page.
I was therefore eagerly awaiting the second book in the series and was not disappointed. Although not set in New Orleans, it continues and expands upon the same mix of secret agents and paranormal powers. This time, Nazis, lost German submarines, and the fall of the Soviet Union are thrown into the mix, giving the story an international scope and exciting, exotic feel.
In a manner slightly suggestive of Dan Brown, the authors base much of their work on real events. Additionally, the authors mine their personal experience in military intelligence and in writing historical mysteries. When they add fictional elements to the story, they create a book so rooted in reality that you want to believe it's true.
It's a great read and I eagerly await the next one in the series.
I was therefore eagerly awaiting the second book in the series and was not disappointed. Although not set in New Orleans, it continues and expands upon the same mix of secret agents and paranormal powers. This time, Nazis, lost German submarines, and the fall of the Soviet Union are thrown into the mix, giving the story an international scope and exciting, exotic feel.
In a manner slightly suggestive of Dan Brown, the authors base much of their work on real events. Additionally, the authors mine their personal experience in military intelligence and in writing historical mysteries. When they add fictional elements to the story, they create a book so rooted in reality that you want to believe it's true.
It's a great read and I eagerly await the next one in the series.
April 7, 2015
The Solomon Effect (2009) 371 pages by C. S. Graham.
I picked this book up at a Borders that was closing, and got it for 70 or 80% off. Without the steep discount I never would have looked at Graham. The book turned out to be really riveting. I flew through it. The science fiction-y part of the book is remote viewing and the sword of Solomon.
CIA man Jax Alexander and remote viewer October Guiness are looking into the disappearance of some cargo of a salvaged WW II era Nazi sub. Jax is sent to investigate the sub that Tobie has seen in her viewing. All the essential agents are sent on real missions and Jax is stuck with what is likely a wild goose chase. Tobie petitions her boss to go into the field. The two of them working together strive to thwart the terrorist plot.
I really enjoyed it, and thought it was excellent. After finishing I thought it reminded me of how a crime-drama TV show or movie is written. It may be a little formulaic. Of course, there are formulas because they work. The science fiction was a minor point in the book, but it was still very enjoyable. I really liked the Jax and Tobie characters.
I picked this book up at a Borders that was closing, and got it for 70 or 80% off. Without the steep discount I never would have looked at Graham. The book turned out to be really riveting. I flew through it. The science fiction-y part of the book is remote viewing and the sword of Solomon.
CIA man Jax Alexander and remote viewer October Guiness are looking into the disappearance of some cargo of a salvaged WW II era Nazi sub. Jax is sent to investigate the sub that Tobie has seen in her viewing. All the essential agents are sent on real missions and Jax is stuck with what is likely a wild goose chase. Tobie petitions her boss to go into the field. The two of them working together strive to thwart the terrorist plot.
I really enjoyed it, and thought it was excellent. After finishing I thought it reminded me of how a crime-drama TV show or movie is written. It may be a little formulaic. Of course, there are formulas because they work. The science fiction was a minor point in the book, but it was still very enjoyable. I really liked the Jax and Tobie characters.
October 1, 2022
Interesting book with a nice mix of fiction and history.
July 21, 2018
3.5 stars. Fun to read. Very plot driven, roller coaster of a book.
October 30, 2019
CIA agent Jax Alexander has been shuffled off to Division Thirteen for being something of a loose cannon. Division Thirteen gets odd assignments that often people don't want to be completed. A Nazi U-boat sunk during World War II has been pulled up by a Russian salvage boat, whose captain plans to sell its cargo and also its pre-1945 steel, which is better steel than that forged since the war due to all the radiation in the atmosphere. The salvage boat captain and his crew are massacred, but his teenage nephew manages to slip overboard, triggering a manhunt determined to kill him too. Jax is dispatched to Russia to find out about its cargo, supposedly a lot of Nazi gold. Also added to the trip, to Jax's displeasure, is October (or Tobie) Guinness, a 25-year-old Navy ensign who also happens to be a talented remote viewer. But Jax doesn't really believe in remote viewing, even though Tobie has shown that it works, though not all the time. They soon begin to believe that the sub's cargo wasn't gold at all and that they've been deliberately misled by those at CIA headquarters who know better and don't want them to know. Through some wild journeys and adventures sending them to Russia, Germany, Turkey, and Lebanon, they have to keep alive with numerous characters out to kill them and the people they want to interview. They gradually build up a devastating picture and the deadline is a planned terrorist attack on Halloween. Figuring out who the terrorists are and what their target is keeps them on their toes. They also learn a lot about the less savory history of U.S. government and some of its programs and projects.
The narration bounces around a bit following mostly Jax and Tobie, but also several of the bad guys, both the field agents and their backers. I usually don't like it when the author makes us follow the bad guys as well as the protagonists, but it works here.
At the end the author indicates which plot and information points are real and which are imaginary. Several of the real ones give further reading.
Recommended, but read The Archangel Project first. It sets up the relationship between Jax and Tobie, gets her back into the Navy.
The narration bounces around a bit following mostly Jax and Tobie, but also several of the bad guys, both the field agents and their backers. I usually don't like it when the author makes us follow the bad guys as well as the protagonists, but it works here.
At the end the author indicates which plot and information points are real and which are imaginary. Several of the real ones give further reading.
Recommended, but read The Archangel Project first. It sets up the relationship between Jax and Tobie, gets her back into the Navy.
May 21, 2025
This is the second of three books in a series written by Candice Proctor and Steven Harris under the name C. S. Graham. The premise is that Tobie Guinness, a young navy vet, is able to do "remote viewing" under certain circumstances. The CIA agent assigned to work with her from time to time finds it hard to believe she can do what she can do, even though his experience shows that she really can. And when there is something dangerous going on in the world with too few leads, her ability becomes really important.
In this novel, someone has floated a sunken German U-boat from the end of WWII, looking to take possession of something important on board. The details are sketchy, but Jax and Tobie learn they have only a few days to solve the riddle and track down whatever was on the submarine before something catastrophic occurs, and they are nearly on their own, being hunted the whole time by men with guns everywhere they go.
If you can accept this one rather fantastic premise, that Tobie can see and describe a scene somewhere distant, somewhere she's never been, the rest of the series is believably realistic in a "best-seller action thriller" kind of way. It's not meant to be fantasy (though even if it was, I'd be cool with it), but instead focuses on the way intelligence agencies really work, telling a dramatic and exciting story. Just with that one twist. I think it works great.
The pacing is very good, almost as good as C. S. Harris's (another Candice Proctor alias) Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, and this also has likable, interesting, sympathetic characters. I'm gonna grab the third book, all the while lamenting the lack of books #4-infinite.
If you like fast-moving globe-trotting spy mysteries, you've gotta give these a look.
In this novel, someone has floated a sunken German U-boat from the end of WWII, looking to take possession of something important on board. The details are sketchy, but Jax and Tobie learn they have only a few days to solve the riddle and track down whatever was on the submarine before something catastrophic occurs, and they are nearly on their own, being hunted the whole time by men with guns everywhere they go.
If you can accept this one rather fantastic premise, that Tobie can see and describe a scene somewhere distant, somewhere she's never been, the rest of the series is believably realistic in a "best-seller action thriller" kind of way. It's not meant to be fantasy (though even if it was, I'd be cool with it), but instead focuses on the way intelligence agencies really work, telling a dramatic and exciting story. Just with that one twist. I think it works great.
The pacing is very good, almost as good as C. S. Harris's (another Candice Proctor alias) Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, and this also has likable, interesting, sympathetic characters. I'm gonna grab the third book, all the while lamenting the lack of books #4-infinite.
If you like fast-moving globe-trotting spy mysteries, you've gotta give these a look.
October 19, 2020
Good latter day spy thriller
Just because the Cold War is over doesn't mean you still can't enjoy a good espionage thriller from time to time. Although, reading a book about a potential bio weapon retrovirus written the 2009 during the global pandemic of 2020 is, interesting. It's hard to read about a potential global plague without making comparisons to current events. Which brings me to my one criticism of the book, without being too spoilery, there is virtually no explanation of how the virus is contained in the story. Other than that, it's the typical level of suspension of disbelief when months or years worth of investigation and analysis in the real world gets compressed into a few adrenaline packed days in a spy thriller. That being said, I still very much enjoy the series.
Just because the Cold War is over doesn't mean you still can't enjoy a good espionage thriller from time to time. Although, reading a book about a potential bio weapon retrovirus written the 2009 during the global pandemic of 2020 is, interesting. It's hard to read about a potential global plague without making comparisons to current events. Which brings me to my one criticism of the book, without being too spoilery, there is virtually no explanation of how the virus is contained in the story. Other than that, it's the typical level of suspension of disbelief when months or years worth of investigation and analysis in the real world gets compressed into a few adrenaline packed days in a spy thriller. That being said, I still very much enjoy the series.
December 1, 2021
Seriously? The decision to send Tobie into the field makes no sense, none. All it does is give the authors a device so Jax and other characters can explain to Tobie (and the readers) what is going.
She has no proper field experience, no spy experience, a bad knee that means she can barely climb stairs let alone run and she can't shoot.
These two; Jax and Tobie, failed to be proper partners, or even have a simmering - will they won't they - attraction, given the authors describe Tobie as petite, no hips or breasts, and they constantly hammer home the kind of curvy, smart, woman that Jax usually hangs with.
Without a equal - give take - partnership or possible tease of a future romance this choppy delivery and yet again one note bad guys (all of them, very single one) make this a bland read.
She has no proper field experience, no spy experience, a bad knee that means she can barely climb stairs let alone run and she can't shoot.
These two; Jax and Tobie, failed to be proper partners, or even have a simmering - will they won't they - attraction, given the authors describe Tobie as petite, no hips or breasts, and they constantly hammer home the kind of curvy, smart, woman that Jax usually hangs with.
Without a equal - give take - partnership or possible tease of a future romance this choppy delivery and yet again one note bad guys (all of them, very single one) make this a bland read.
January 9, 2022
Just finished this second book in the series. Great quick read. Reads like it could be put directly into production for a movie or tv show. Both books sent me into the internet to look up locations and historical events. Very interesting to read in our present day political/social climate. This second one deals with a biological weapon that is very interesting now that we are entering the 3rd year of dealing with Covid-19. I wonder what the authors think of the present political climate in the US. Being a good liberal myself, when I first started this series I was worried that they would lean into right wing conspiracies and tropes, however, completely the opposite happened. I am really enjoying them and about to start the third one.
I found these because I am a huge fan of C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr series, C.S. Harris is one half of the pair that write as C.S. Graham.
I found these because I am a huge fan of C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr series, C.S. Harris is one half of the pair that write as C.S. Graham.
October 5, 2022
I really liked it. Fast-paced, and it didn't fall in the typical 2nd book slump of a trilogy. I thought it was great.
It was, however, IMPOSSIBLE to find this book anywhere, so I ended up buying secondhand copies online of this and the 3rd book.
Anyway, I liked the subject matter, and the characters developed a little bit more since the 1st book.
Since it's been so long since I read #1, I was pleased to see that #2 included background info from the 1st book that basically means you don't have to read #1 to know what's going on. I really appreciate that in a series. It was done in a way that wasn't exposition, but included in little dialogues or thoughts, or very brief explanations throughout the book.
It was, however, IMPOSSIBLE to find this book anywhere, so I ended up buying secondhand copies online of this and the 3rd book.
Anyway, I liked the subject matter, and the characters developed a little bit more since the 1st book.
Since it's been so long since I read #1, I was pleased to see that #2 included background info from the 1st book that basically means you don't have to read #1 to know what's going on. I really appreciate that in a series. It was done in a way that wasn't exposition, but included in little dialogues or thoughts, or very brief explanations throughout the book.
August 17, 2017
3.5 stars.
Another rip-roaring, race against a deadline thriller. This time Tobie and Jax are running all over Russia and the Middle East trying to find out just what deadly cargo the Nazi sub was carrying when it was sunk at the end of WWII. Tobie gets to show off her foreign language skills in this one.
Once again the bad guys are dramatically eliminated, in ones and twos, as the story progresses. The reader knows who the big baddies are, almost from the beginning. The mystery is in identifying and tracking the sub's cargo.
I'm glad the authors put in a 'what's real' section at the end. That was as fascinating, and disturbing, as the fictional story.
Another rip-roaring, race against a deadline thriller. This time Tobie and Jax are running all over Russia and the Middle East trying to find out just what deadly cargo the Nazi sub was carrying when it was sunk at the end of WWII. Tobie gets to show off her foreign language skills in this one.
Once again the bad guys are dramatically eliminated, in ones and twos, as the story progresses. The reader knows who the big baddies are, almost from the beginning. The mystery is in identifying and tracking the sub's cargo.
I'm glad the authors put in a 'what's real' section at the end. That was as fascinating, and disturbing, as the fictional story.
May 9, 2025
Back with another good tale
Finding the first book in this series was just amongst other books from a thrift store.......but to find the next two on kindle unlimited, perfect!
I enjoyed the first book, THE ARCHANGEL PROJECT, leading me to want to read more. Excellent books if you're into WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD. *wink, wink*
Imho, written as "fiction," and yet IF you're paying attention, you'd very likely do a slight sided eye wondering, UH..That almost sounds like "that 2020" thing.
Almost. Kind of. Could might have been. 😜
Oh, I can't wait to read the next book... THE BABYLONIAN CODEX.
Let the SECRETS of the spy world continue......
Finding the first book in this series was just amongst other books from a thrift store.......but to find the next two on kindle unlimited, perfect!
I enjoyed the first book, THE ARCHANGEL PROJECT, leading me to want to read more. Excellent books if you're into WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD. *wink, wink*
Imho, written as "fiction," and yet IF you're paying attention, you'd very likely do a slight sided eye wondering, UH..That almost sounds like "that 2020" thing.
Almost. Kind of. Could might have been. 😜
Oh, I can't wait to read the next book... THE BABYLONIAN CODEX.
Let the SECRETS of the spy world continue......
October 31, 2020
I like the format of this book, short, direct chapters which pushed the action forward and made it easy to read. Well written in language that was clear and easy to understand. I thought the plot worked, and if you like action/spy/CIA type stories, you will like this one. You expect that the heroes will kill people, and that happened here, but I thought it was treated a little too casually instead of the gut-wrenching event that it probably really is, even for spies. Overall, I like the book.
June 3, 2024
i guess with the SARS virus and the mRNA vaccines what 2009 seemed far fetched is now too true to say I enjoyed the book, definitely a thriller fast paced. I appreciated all the history I didn't know but with War in Gaza this is too real.
September 1, 2024
Highly Recommend!
If you like James Patterson you will enjoy this husband & wife team, C.S. Graham.
Fast paced with a believable mix of fact & fiction that grabs the imagination from the start.
If you like James Patterson you will enjoy this husband & wife team, C.S. Graham.
Fast paced with a believable mix of fact & fiction that grabs the imagination from the start.
December 9, 2025
Heavy on the WWII history, and sadly feels like something that could happen this decade despite coming out in the early 2000s, but fast paced and fun! I love the quick “based on fact” or “we made this up” bit at the end.
June 22, 2017
Published 2009. Standard mystery thriller. Not enough Nazis (ha).
November 24, 2018
高开低走的感觉，节奏很快，套路很多，但不算难看~
May 27, 2019
Formulaic, but a fast and somewhat entertaining read.
August 26, 2020
A parody of current COVID-19 pandemic, almost!
January 18, 2021
2 stars - Mystery/Thriller
August 24, 2021
This one's a real page turner - certainly has a lot of reality mixed in, if you're aware of US intervention in other countries...good reading. Can't wait to read more in this series.
June 28, 2022
Great book, quick read but was still intense. The jokes at the end were amazing, and I like how C.S Graham included historical programms and ideas.
December 31, 2010
MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.
Fun (i.e., tense) thriller centering on a young woman Navy officer who has the skill of "remote viewing," (seeing details of places, objects, people she has never even met or been to.)
Tobie, the woman, has language abilities and her sensing talent. She teams up w. Jax Alexander, a U.S. govt. agent who has espionage and combat skills, and no faith in Tobie's gift.
There's a sense of romantic potential between the two, as they save the world fr. a terrible Nazi-era weapon - the ability to infect the air in public places w. an organism that will kill only Semites (Jews/Israelis plus Middle-Eastern Arabs).
Rogue U.S. military and industrial parties want to unleash the organism to wipe out practically everyone in the Middle East, defusing the perennial Middle East conflict and allowing U.S. companies to "inherit" the Middle East oil reserves.
Nice touch - not only do Tobie and Jax foil the dastardly plot -- the guy who is to ignite the attack himself dies, because he has -- unbeknownst -- Semitic blood in his genealogy.
Fun (i.e., tense) thriller centering on a young woman Navy officer who has the skill of "remote viewing," (seeing details of places, objects, people she has never even met or been to.)
Tobie, the woman, has language abilities and her sensing talent. She teams up w. Jax Alexander, a U.S. govt. agent who has espionage and combat skills, and no faith in Tobie's gift.
There's a sense of romantic potential between the two, as they save the world fr. a terrible Nazi-era weapon - the ability to infect the air in public places w. an organism that will kill only Semites (Jews/Israelis plus Middle-Eastern Arabs).
Rogue U.S. military and industrial parties want to unleash the organism to wipe out practically everyone in the Middle East, defusing the perennial Middle East conflict and allowing U.S. companies to "inherit" the Middle East oil reserves.
Nice touch - not only do Tobie and Jax foil the dastardly plot -- the guy who is to ignite the attack himself dies, because he has -- unbeknownst -- Semitic blood in his genealogy.
August 13, 2016
The second of three books (so far) featuring Remote Viewer Tobie Guiness and CIA agent (and black sheep) Jax Alexander, the book continues their adventures with a new problem, based around the cargo of a Nazi U-boat recovered near Russia.
After reading the first book, The Archangel Project, I was eager to read this book, the next in the series- but it took me a while to find it because the "teaser chapter" included in the first book gave an incorrect title "The Deadlight Connection".
As in the first book, the book is action packed and well informed on intelligence operations. The incredible globe trotting of Jax and Tobie sometimes strains credulity more than the remote viewing.
What I particularly enjoy in this series is that the authors (C.S. Graham is a pseudonym of a writing duo) provide a list of topics, entities and events from the novel that are rooted in fact, and provide suggestions for doing further research. Slightly para(-but-chillingly-close-to-)normal, it's a good read for those who enjoy action, intrigue and mystery.
After reading the first book, The Archangel Project, I was eager to read this book, the next in the series- but it took me a while to find it because the "teaser chapter" included in the first book gave an incorrect title "The Deadlight Connection".
As in the first book, the book is action packed and well informed on intelligence operations. The incredible globe trotting of Jax and Tobie sometimes strains credulity more than the remote viewing.
What I particularly enjoy in this series is that the authors (C.S. Graham is a pseudonym of a writing duo) provide a list of topics, entities and events from the novel that are rooted in fact, and provide suggestions for doing further research. Slightly para(-but-chillingly-close-to-)normal, it's a good read for those who enjoy action, intrigue and mystery.
November 14, 2012
The Solomon Effect is the 2nd book in the Jax Alexander series written by CS Graham. Just like the first, newly promoted Navy Ensign October Guinness and CIA rogue agent Jax Alexander team up to solve the mysterious disappearance of a sunk German submarine. The book is full of action-thrilled scenes. The mind-boggling mystery that surrounded the German submarine; I really thought I had it. Even got chilled when Tobie did a remote viewing and she seen nothing. Really thought it was because of the atomic bomb being drop somewhere. But it wasn't like that. I enjoy reading this quite a lot. Jax and Tobie has developed their chemistry. The only negative comment I have for this book is the repetitious scenes of Jax and Tobie being able to finally figure out by talking to someone and then BOOM, someone would kill the informer right in their very eyes. I just wish the author be more creative.
3.75 stars
3.75 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2010
A remote viewing of a WWII U boat by October Guinness causes the U.S. government, who can "see" events occurring on the other side of the globe to send her and loose cannon partner, CIA agent Jax Alexander—who questions the validity of Tobie's "gift"—have arrived too late to prevent a bloodbath . . . and perhaps the Apocalypse as well. Now every second brings the unthinkable a step closer—and places Tobie and Jax in the gunsights of powerful enemies in frighteningly high places—as they race to connect the dots between an impending catastrophe and a nightmare cultivated decades earlier by Nazi scientists.
October 3, 2013
This C.S.Graham book was about how the CIA with the help of a "remote viewer" went about finding out what the cargo was of a World War II vintage German submarine that was salvaged and then blown up by unknown mercenaries. His books are a little hard for me to follow sometimes because he adds elements that are kind of "far out," almost science fiction, but very close to being real. It makes the reader a bit scared of what could really be out there that could destroy our civilization and even life as we know it.
April 21, 2011
What a fantastic novel. I absolutely love these novels that mix fiction with historical facts. On more than one occasion I found myself going to Google and researching out an element or two of events to find out more. Did this really happen? Sure enough, it did.
The action is non-stop and the depth of the research by the authors is phenominal. Not only do they keep my attention with good plot, indepth characters, mystery and action, but they go throwing in historical elements and events that peek my interest even more. Can't wait to start the next one.
The action is non-stop and the depth of the research by the authors is phenominal. Not only do they keep my attention with good plot, indepth characters, mystery and action, but they go throwing in historical elements and events that peek my interest even more. Can't wait to start the next one.
July 19, 2016
this is the second book and it moved just as slow as the first one. there is a lot of action but there are a lot of different characters in the book and trying to remember who is who gets difficult at times. The book is well written with lots of details this is diffently not a skimming type of book you would miss to much of what is going on. I did really like that the main characters had a lot of hoops to jump through and everytime they think they're getting somewhere something happens. Good read but really slow for me and a book unfortunately that I could easily put down and forget about.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews