Judas Strain: A Sigma Force Novel: 4 (Sigma Force Novels)

This thriller, in the 'Sigma Files', is probably the closest thing to anything written by Michael Crichton. James Rollins has compressed so many intriguing ideas and facts onto the matrix of our imagination (and a very real fear), that this novel simply couldn't be rushed. I had to read it piece-by-piece, trying to absorb the many threads of the narrative. My only grudge in this respect is that the narrative didn't have any humour at all. Hence, one star was dropped. Otherwise, this is really as good as a Techno-thriller can be. Recommended.

Writer tried to create so many parallel suspences which feels

I really like this book, I found it eerily close to what is possible if some one were to be willing to release such a thing.

Tiene una buena trama, pero para algunas palabras es necesario tener un diccionario a la mano para entenderlo todo con claridad.

Liked it. Great action. Loved the Marco Polo stuff at the start. I should read more about his travels. Is Monk still alive? On to the next book.

This takes over the #1 slot among Rollins novels from Bone Labyrinth with tighter, better focused action and good characterization. If the character work feels just a hair below the excellence of Bone, Rollins more than makes up for it in other ways. As his characters work through their increasingly intertwined business and personal lives, what appears to be a natural phenomenon at Christmas Island in the Pacific turns out to involve the nefarious Guild, a (real) historical mystery going back to Marco Polo, and the quest for the ultimate biological weapon. The sheer amount of action is toned down a notch from Bones, but that lets us understand better what's going on, and the focus on key characters is tighter. The usual coincidences and luck help our heroes out, but this is a thriller and we readers accept his as part of the books' universe. Some of the "wisdom of the ancients" stuff is still farfetched (they knew about DNA how?) but this novel only relies on it enough to make the story work. The biological science is scary, indeed terrifying, and plausible. The technology throughout works fine: a last-chapter connection between continents on a low-power device initially struck me as absurd, but then I started working it out, and realized you could do it, and do it clandestinely, by bypassing the usual military/intel satellites and hiding it in a civilian system like ARGOS. That was reassuring, as I sometimes feel Rollins treats global communications almost as magic. The details of architecture and history are everywhere convincing, and the heroes have to rely heavily on their brains as well as their guns and gadgets to solve the mystery. Some of the heroes (e.g., Lisa, Gray) take the next step in developing as operatives and leaders, and a hunt for a mole (In stories like Midnight Watch, Sigma has a nasty habit of developing security weaknesses when the plot requires it) leads to a jaw-dropping scene about loyalties and who's playing who. Also, one of the early chapters wins some kind of ingenuity award for the cleverest use of a natural "weapon" to take out bad guys.Overall, then, I think this is the best-written of the Sigma series, one I had an easy time following but a hard time putting down. Excellent work, sir.Matt Bille,[...], author The First Space Race,[...]

O livro é excelente, mas infelizmente, chegou bastante avariado. Amassados tanto na capa como nas páginas internas, e fora os amassados, as páginas já estavam bem amareladas, parecendo item usado ou de sebo. Se soubesse que viria nestas condições, não teria comprado. Apesar que em relação a trama, o que posso dizer é que o livro é bem acima da média. Para quem curte ficção e aventura, não tem nada melhor!