The Eye of God: A Sigma Force Novel (Sigma Force Series Book 9)

"The date for the end of the world... it's in four days." This quote is the final sentence of the first chapter of James Rollins' latest Sigma Force thriller, The Eye of God. In other words, it's just another low-stakes drama from this master of disaster. This time around, the prologue opens in AD 453 with the death of Attila the Hun. From there, we quickly move to present-day Rome, with our old friends Vigor and Rachel. (Already, things are off to a good start!) Vigor is consulting with his niece about a mysterious package he's just received from an old friend--a priest declared dead more than a decade prior. The package contains an artifact, a human skull etched with Jewish Aramaic. It also contains a book bound in human skin. And these artifacts are pointing towards a coming apocalypse with a very imminent date. At the same time at an air force base in California, "something's gone wrong." according to Sigma's Painter Crowe, who happens to be in attendance. A special camera has been tracking a comet's progress through space, trying to collect "proof that the comet was shedding or disturbing dark energy in its wake." After a few pages of fairly sexy physics talk, remote data is retrieved: "It displayed a satellite view of the eastern seaboard of the United States, the photo taken as the satellite blazed a trail across the sky. It was detailed enough to make out the major coastal metropolises. Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C. with every city laying in a smoldering ruin." So, you've got your ancient prophecies lining up disturbingly with your weird space-time science anomaly prophesies. Ladies and gentlemen, this is where the fun starts! The Eye of God is a gripping tale of science, history, adventure, and mind boggling theories of how reality, as we understand it, may not be reality at all. I was going to ding him on a plot element being too outlandish, but as he often does, he followed it up with enough science that I was willing to continue suspending my disbelief. No, this is a strong novel in the long-running Sigma series. The plot is fascinating, and I hope it goes without saying that it moves at a lightning pace. Furthermore, there are significant developments among the major players. And that's all I'll say about that.Now, I've reviewed a lot of Rollins' past Sigma novels in the past seven months ,and the reviews have always been great because Mr. Rollins is so consistent with the strengths of his novels. So please bear with me as I go over the major bullet points:* I have read this type of science/adventure thriller before and I don't think there's another writer out there that can touch Rollins for the complexity of the tales he weaves--and I mean that in an entirely positive way. Above I alluded to Attila the Hun, the Roman Catholic Church, advanced physics, and Jewish mysticism. That is merely the tip of the iceberg. Throw into the mix Genghis Khan, the world's only freshwater seal, exotic locales spanning the globe, magnetic fingertips (So freakin' cool!), St. Thomas, multiverses, and the question, "Could the ancient Chinese have had knowledge of events described in the book of Genesis?" In every book, Rollins weaves an astonishing number of incredibly diverse, incredibly cool elements into one cohesive tale. And usually it hangs together so well, I wonder if he hasn't stumbled onto some secrets of the universe.* Again, I must commend the author on his strong female characters. I don't think readers are ever disappointed when Rachel and Seichan are both a part of the mix. The Eye of God introduces several noteworthy new female characters as well. (And for those of you waiting for something to happen with Gray... Your wait is over.)* And as always I find Kowalski to be the most funnist character in the novel. This time around he enters with the line, "Why does that duck keep looking at me?" Which is just so Kowalski. I thought he was funnier than ever in this book. I want to quote all his best lines, but I'll refrain.* Easter eggs! There are Easter eggs in this novel that refer to a non-Sigma book in the Rollins-verse. It's not a character this time around. I`ll have to read whichever book those esater eggs are referancing.* As always he leaves one super-cool author's note at the end describing what's fact and what's fiction, this time there are several of them.The way James Rollins seamlessly includes scientific theories on dark energy, quantum physics, the multiverse theory, and quantum entanglement will draw you in and keep you thinking for days after you've finished the book. It all comes down to a these questions... What is reality? Are we all just a 3D hologram? And what happens to us after we die? Does our energy just leave the universe forever? Or is what we perceive as death not even real? Is it possible that our consciousness just moves to another form of a different reality, to live out the rest of our lives on the other side of the same coin?This book guarantees you will come to question everything it is that you think you know. I honestly don't know how long James Rollins can possibly come up with these convoluted tales he spins. Surely he's written about every single interesting thing in the universe by now? But apparently not. As long as he keeps writing them, I'm going to keep reading them! I highly recommind this book for anyone who wonders about life and what happens after it ends.

The paperback arrived on time and in great shape.

There are several similarities between James Rollins' THE EYE OF GOD and Dan Brown's INFERNO -- most noticeably, both novels are a race against time to save humanity and both are steeped in ancient history with abundant mysteries and exotic locales.I'd suggest however that THE EYE OF GOD succeeds far more than INFERNO for the following reasons: one, the pacing is relentless -- where Brown bogs down with laborious descriptions of artwork, Rollins paints vivid images with sparse prose that allows the story to maintain a full head of steam; two, INFERNO's plot fell apart for me when it became clear that the "bad guy" taunting and leaving clues for the "good guys" was the only way for Brown to move his story forward, which was just dumb, and then he tried to blur the lines between who is really good and bad at the end, and that was even dumber -- Rollins however rips a pretty scary story straight from the headlines, using the threat of NEOs (near earth objects), a comet streaking closer and closer to earth, and high-tech science dealing with dark energy to weave together a scenario that threatens an Armageddon type collision and the end of civilization as we know it; and finally, both these authors are obviously incredibly smart and gifted and do meticulous research, but Dan Brown's writing style always makes me feel like I'm talking to someone who wants me to know how smart he is, whereas (at least in this book) Rollins doesn't let all the research get in the way of the story -- instead it feeds the story and pulls you right along.A couple of minor criticisms: because the threat is from an inanimate object that has no inherently evil intentions, it seemed to me that the author felt he needed a B Story with a real bad guy. So he gives us a North Korean who is up to no good, who gets in the way and tries to kill our heroes ... only he's not doing this because he wants the earth to end, it's just really bad timing for our good guys that with minutes left to save the world this wacko shows up again (and the wacko has no idea what it is the good guys are trying to do, but he's determined to stop them anyway...) and now the good guys have to deal with him AND save the world. To me it was silly. The end of the world due to science was already compelling, the North Korean bad guy weakened the story for me.The second criticism, well ... it's not a big thing, but ask anyone who has traveled internationally to read this book and I think they'd agree that saving the planet in four days when you've got to jet-set all over the world to do it just isn't happening. I get it, this is fiction. We bend the rules. But when the good guys can launch an invasion of Pyongyang and get out in time to travel to Mongolia and they've barely used any of the precious four days they've been given to save the world ... well, it just bugged me, so I mention it here.Overall? It's a fast, fun read, and interspersed with the action there's a number of thought-provoking quotes and some great words of wisdom as well.

Did take thge direction i thought it would and the author can write, but Do we really need a gun fight every other page? There were two different novels, Vatican priest, the scientists and the action hero's vying for page room with triad bosses and north Korean nuclear scientists and former orphon assassins looking for mum and all under 400 hundred pages, bargain as far as reading bad books goes but was quiet an expensive paper back for it size.Is it James bony type novel or Dan brown type? Attila and Genghis khan and lots of gun fights... But the world is a better place by the end...Spoiler... The new boss of macau and Hong Kong is improving the lives of proustites under her care!Started OK but first spanner in the works was credibility issues, a key north korean nuclear scientist in Macau, without any protection, two american agents running around getting into gun fights with many explosions, in Macau, hong knot, north Korean capital, as well as one of the central Asian republics... Enough to start a world war and lay waste to america and the world.I did suspect that attempts to retrieve atop secret satellite from mangolia, near boarders of Russia and China would lead to a quick nuclear war but no..... Spoilers...Quantum entanglements!

Another brick layed on the ever changing quilt that is this fantastic series. I find the fearless use of known science as well as theoretical and in many cases speculative facts refreshing, such that it colours my own curiosity to learn more about the subjects discussed in these books.

I do love this author and have never been dissapointed in his storylines which always have a good scientific base to them. This one is about dark matter which our universe is aparently full of. It covers ripples in time and ancient historical relics, the vatican get involved and it all adds up to a wonderful book I just could not put down. I love the Sigma force and although some do get killed off in this one I hope this is not a trend that will continue. As with most of Rollins books he gives you the basis of his research at the end of the book which only makes the story so much more interesting.

Rollins is back with a cracking Sigma action packed adventure. As Seichan searches for her mother, she and Gray take on the triads in Hong Kong and Macau as well as the North Korean army. At the same time we have a search for Ghenkis Khan's tomb with hidden secrets that may affect dark power sufficient to diffuse the path of a comet. This fast paced story holds tight through to the end is a return to form. Recommended.

A very interesting and thought provoking read "Fact or Fiction"? Once again we find our friends at Sigma on different missions but they all come to a head in the final chapters. There are some interesting personal developments for some characters and also some shocking consequences. James Rollins certainly knows how to keep you turning the pages and wanting more, bring on the next.