The Judas Strain
by James Rollins
Published by William Morrow (June 26, 2007 release)
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Reviewed by Jeff Foster
What happened to the lost fleet of Italian adventurer Marco Polo on his return from half a lifetime spent in the presence of the Great Khan of China?
From the dark depths of the Indian Ocean, a bacterial bloom is rising. Cynobacteria are rising to the surface in a phosphorescent glow and destroying all life in the water and on the shores of the pristine tropical paradise of Christmas Island.
Scientists Susan and Gregg Tunis, conducting research off the coast of the tiny island, are horrified when the glowing sea erupts and envelopes their boat, making them the first human victims infected by the bacteria.
In Italy an obscure Egyptian obelisk is stolen. The cryptograms on its facings are said to written in the language of angels. A pair of shadowy figures are present at the rendezvous to exchange the obelisk--both seeking it, but unwilling to share.
In Maryland Commander Gray Pierce, of the ultra secret SIGMA force--a clandestine unit of the United States Government made up of former Special Forces operators turned doctoral scientists--is taking a break, enjoying the company of his mother and enduring his father’s deteriorating health.
When a motorcyclist crashes in his front yard, Gray recognizes the woman with the bullet wound from a previous encounter with forces from SIGMA's nemesis, The Guild. When Pierce finds the aforementioned Egyptian obelisk beside the woman’s motionless body, this story goes from zero to sixty in a few short pages.
While SIGMA specialists are sent to investigate the bacterial crisis, Pierce and his family become hunted targets of a new Guild assassin known only as Nassar.
James Rollins does not disappoint in his latest thriller that stars your favorite SIGMA characters. Once again we're treated to the extensive research we have come to expect, and though some aspects are merely educated conjecture, they are persuasively plausible. Follow Pierce and a team made up of former friends and former enemies as they track the clues left by Marco Polo to the source of the bacteriological epidemic threatening to sweep the world in a plague that will make the Black Plague resemble a flu outbreak.
Armchair Interviews says: This book is sure to push aside the competition as the best of the summer thrillers this year!
Author's Web site: http://www.JamesRollins.com