Library Journal - Audio
09/01/2022
A new disease is ravaging both people and wildlife in Africa. When a United Nations relief team discovers the disease turning both flora and fauna into life-threatening dangers, the Sigma team is alerted and heads into the jungle to locate the source, alleged to be the legendary Kingdom of Bones. Their goal is to stop the epidemic. The Kingdom of Bones is deep inside the jungle and avoided by locals, but the team perseveres to explore the site and search for a cure to this new, strange ailment. With plants, animals, and other humans all aligned against the group, they manage to infiltrate some of the deepest, darkest corners of the Congo, all the while under attack on several fronts, to look for answers. With the voice of narrator Christian Baskous, the characters come to life. VERDICT Readers who enjoy Michael Crichton's books and fans of Rollins's (The Last Odyssey) previous work will want to tackle this new entry in the "Sigma Force" series, which can also be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.—Cheryl Youse
Publishers Weekly
★ 02/07/2022
Bestseller Rollins’s exhilarating 16th Sigma Force novel (after 2020’s The Last Odyssey) takes a Sigma Force team, including former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne, to a UN refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been overwhelmed by a simultaneous invasion of unusually violent insects and animals and an outbreak of a mysterious and devastating sickness. Their mission, which is to identify and combat what officials fear could be another worldwide pandemic, becomes a literal rescue as the camp is attacked by corrupt Congolese forces at the behest of an industrial-mining billionaire with a sinister agenda. Wayne and the other Sigma team members must travel deep into the primeval jungle in search of the Kingdom of Bones, a fabled ancient Shangri-La that might provide the cure to the disease, if they can survive the deadly mutating flora and fauna. Rollins, a former veterinarian, excels in description of animal taxonomy, both real and of his own invention. Fans of Clive Cussler and Michael Crichton won’t want to miss this one. Agents: Russ Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency; and Danny Baror, Baror International. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
Bestseller Rollins’s excellent 15th Sigma Force novel... marries nail-biting action with a highly imaginative premise….This is a thoughtful, nonstop thrill ride that’s an exemplar of an escapist page-turner” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Last Odyssey
“Rollins balances action-adventure, history, mythology and science in a truly imaginative story. All of the elements harmonize in this page-turner, which takes his team of adventurers into the very gates of Hell. This is one of Rollins’s best novels, and a perfect book to get immersed in during these turbulent times.” — Seattle Times on The Last Odyssey
“Rollins spins an entertaining thriller.” — Kirkus Reviews on The Last Odyssey
“Science fiction and archaeology have had a long relationship. The link is a conviction that there is a hidden truth in the relics of dead civilizations…and that this can be uncovered by what we now know about science… The dominant figure in this area of fiction right now is James Rollins.” — Wall Street Journal
“Nobody does this stuff better.” — Lee Child
Lee Child
Nobody does this stuff better.
Seattle Times on The Last Odyssey
Rollins balances action-adventure, history, mythology and science in a truly imaginative story. All of the elements harmonize in this page-turner, which takes his team of adventurers into the very gates of Hell. This is one of Rollins’s best novels, and a perfect book to get immersed in during these turbulent times.”
Booklist on Kingdom of Bones
The Sigma Force novels (this is the sixteenth) are muscular, dynamic action-adventures. But this doesn’t mean they skimp on character: Rollins knows just when to slow things down and let us get to know the players. He’s very good at this sort of thing, and his fans will surely be lining up for this one.”
Wall Street Journal
Science fiction and archaeology have had a long relationship. The link is a conviction that there is a hidden truth in the relics of dead civilizations…and that this can be uncovered by what we now know about science… The dominant figure in this area of fiction right now is James Rollins.
Wall Street Journal
Science fiction and archaeology have had a long relationship. The link is a conviction that there is a hidden truth in the relics of dead civilizations…and that this can be uncovered by what we now know about science… The dominant figure in this area of fiction right now is James Rollins.
null Seattle Times on The Last Odyssey
Rollins balances action-adventure, history, mythology and science in a truly imaginative story. All of the elements harmonize in this page-turner, which takes his team of adventurers into the very gates of Hell. This is one of Rollins’s best novels, and a perfect book to get immersed in during these turbulent times.”
Kirkus Reviews
2022-03-16
A plague threatens to burst from the Congolese jungle and infect the world in the latest bloodcurdling adventure in the Sigma Force series.
“Stay away. Dear God, don’t come out here”: That's the warning ignored by Sigma Force’s Tucker Wayne and his faithful soldier dog, Kane. Near Kisangani, “the literal heart of Africa,” a fearful contagion runs amok. Scientists and locals suffer attacks from crazed ants, bats, and myriad other jungle fauna. Some of the populace becomes nearly catatonic—what’s going on? The answer appears to be viruses, those half-living creatures said to outnumber all the stars in the universe. An infected moth lands on skin with bloodcurdling effect. Baboons go crazy and tear people apart. Ants develop spikes, as though their mandibles aren’t enough for ripping into flesh. The normally cranky hippos are even crankier. And “the deeper we go, the worse it will get.” The evil mining CEO Nolan De Coster loves all of this—he wants a massive pandemic in which he can become the savior, but he’s not all the good guys have to worry about. Even the flora fight them. They encounter intelligent fungi and angry trees as they get closer and closer to Mfupa Ufalme, the accursed Kingdom of Bones. Thriller readers love ticking clocks, and this yarn has several, like the timer on the mother of all bombs that is going to explode any minute now. The story is a well-mixed blend of action, science, and occasionally over-the-top imagination. That bats are “furry sacks of viruses” is an easy sell—judgmental trees, not so much. Readers will like the characters, especially the brave Kane and Benjamin Frey, the biologist with an eidetic memory and mild Asperger’s. This excursion into the depths of Africa is more enjoyable than Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, although it gets a little gross in spots.
This one’s fast-moving fun.
