1982; 605 pages (or 647 pages if
the short story is included). New
Author? : No. Book 7 (out of 18) in the “Sigma Force” series. Genres: Thriller-Suspense; Action-Adventure. Overall Rating : 9*/10.
It’s a major archaeological discovery! An Indian burial site, hidden away in a cave in
the mountains of Utah.
Maggie Grantham and Hank
Kanosh, a pair of professors from nearby Brigham Young University, have been dispatched
to do the first inspection of the burial ground. Professor Kanosh is a historian and a member
of the Shoshone tribe. Including him in
the excavation will hopefully quell any protests by Native Americans in the
area about desecrating their dead. So will assigning a detachment
from the National Guard to the group.
Cross your fingers, guys. WAHYA, a militant Native American rights
group and already known for carrying out headline-grabbing acts of defiance,
will almost certainly have something planned against those who would violate a Native American graveyard. Plus there’s the Ute curse.
That tribe has a legend which says
that if anyone enters a sacred burial area in these parts, they must be killed
immediately. Because if they somehow
manage to leave the chamber, the world will come to an end.
What’s To Like...
The Devil Colony
is a “save the world” thriller that
finds Painter Crowe’s Sigma team traipsing all over the globe trying to figure
out what’s going on geologically, while at the same time trying not to get
killed by the potently secretive group of bad guys known as "The Guild". Painter himself gets more involved than usual
in the case when he learns that his niece Kai is one of the WAHYA
operatives. Meanwhile, Sigma’s
operations chief, Grayson Pierce, finds it difficult to focus on saving the
Earth while simultaneously attending to his parents’ plight: his father is
succumbing to dementia.
Once again, I was in awe of
the number of disparate topics that James Rollins weaves into the
complex-yet-coherent storyline: the Anasazi,
Iceland, Meriwether Lewis, Mormon historical lore, nanotechnology, Yellowstone,
Solomon’s Temple, Fort Knox, the Great Seal of the United States, and
many more. I also liked very much that the
main baddie is suitably resourceful when carrying out skullduggery against our
heroes.
It was fun to learn about a
skeleton called “the Kennewick Man”,
since I’ve made several business trips to that town in Washington. There’s a bunch of French phrases in the text which is
always a treat for me, and a smidgen of Native American dialects to boot. The reader even learns a bit of mild Icelandic
cussing (see below).
The pacing is fast and
furious, like every Action-Thriller should be.
The basic story is 597 pages long, and is divided into 44 chapters plus
a prologue. The chapters usually are
introduced with locations, dates, and times, which is useful when trying to
remember who is where and doing what.
There’s a bonus short story,
38 pages long, tacked on at the back of the book, and featuring Seichan, a
professional assassin and recent addition to the Sigma Force group. Both tales also come with James Rollins’
trademark “Truth or Fiction”
afterword, which I very much appreciate.
The ending is spectacular with
a favorable outcome in doubt down to literally the last second. Humanity is saved (well, you knew that would
happen), although The Guild is still alive and well. The last chapter is an Epilogue with a couple
of heartwarming revelations about some of the presumed dead. Things close with a dazzling Plot Reveal in a
six-word last sentence.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 4,011 ratings
and 974 reviews.
Goodreads: 3.86*/5,
based on 26,982
ratings and 1,329 reviews.
Kewlest New Word ...
Fjandinn (n.)
: the devil (Icelandic).
Others: “what the fjandanum” (phrase,
half Icelandic).
Excerpts...
Ryan now understood why they were called
lava bombs.
One sailed past overhead, raining flaming
ash. Cinders burned his cheeks, his
exposed arms, reminding Ryan all too well that his vehicle had no roof.
He ignored the pain and focused on the road
ahead. The Jeep bucked and rocked down
the steep, rocky trail. His left fender
crumpled against an outcropping, shattering the headlamp on that side. The Jeep lifted. For a moment he swore he was driving on a
single wheel, like a half-ton ballerina. (pg. 207)
Kai stared at a thin pall of dust
retreating across the badlands. Painter
and the others had wasted no time, gathering gear and flying off in the rented
SUV, even taking the dog.
But not her.
Earlier, she’d reined in her anger, knowing
it would do her no good. Bitterness
still burned like coal in her gut. She’d
been here at the start of all this mess.
She deserved to see it through to the end. They kept saying that she had to bear the
consequences of her actions like a woman, yet still treated her like a child. (pg. 276)
Kowalski plus
fireworks. Not a good combination. (pg. 563)
There’s very little to gripe
about in The Devil Colony. The cussing is surprisingly sparse; I counted
just six instances in the first 20% of the book. Later, several f-bombs appear, plus a pair of references to genitalia.
I only noted one miscue: sheered/sheared, which mean someone did a
topnotch job of editing. And some of the
“Mormon history beliefs” used as keys to
solving various conundrums in the tale are shaky at best, with the author
admitting that in the Afterword. But
they contribute to the fascinating storyline, so all’s well that ends well.
This was the seventh book I’ve read in the Sigma Force series. I have high expectations each time I begin one, and I’ve never yet been disappointed. The plotlines are complex, the world-building and character development are great, and the storytelling is outstanding. No wonder James Rollins is my favorite Action-Thriller writer.
9 Stars. Oh yeah, one last thing. When’s the last time you read a story where a pod of killer whales (orcas) had a life-saving experience?
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