Customer Reviews

Map of Bones

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(71)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

This taut thriller about a conspiracy of (yet another) secret religious sect of the Catholic Church delivers all the punch of a well-plotted novel. Grayson Pierce, an operative for the U.S. top secret Sigma Force, is called to command a group of two other agents, Monk and Kat, to investigate the mysterious massacre of church goers in Cologne, Germany and the theft of the cathedral's relics, the bones of the Magi. They are assigned to work with an intel group from the Vatican, Monsignor Vigor Verona and his niece Rachel, a lieutenant in the Carabinieri Corps. The five quickly discover that the deaths in Cologne were carried out by the Imperial Dragon Court, a secret society dating back to the Middle Ages, and that the theft of relics in that church was just the beginning. Through Vigor's vast knowledge of church symbolism, history, and architecture, and the others' combined education in chemistry, physics, and engineering, they begin to solve the mystery that could lead to Armageddon. Their lives are threatened at every turn as they race the ruthless members of the Dragon Court to uncover the next clue.

Umberto Eco, with his novel Foucault's Pendulum, launched the literary premise of a complex religious conspiracy by a secret sect, and Dan Brown popularized it with The Da Vinci Code. James Rollins's book is much better than The Da Vinci Code because of its smooth writing and plotting and better integrated historical details. While he cannot compete with Eco in the writing and density of thought, Rollins's approach allows for a breathtakingly fast pace and incredible suspense. Sometimes the connections between the past and the riddle at hand are tenuous, although the information itself is usually fascinating. Rollins moves convincingly from one point of view to another, using all to satisfying effect, but he falls flat when trying to stir up the emotional connections between characters. Not to worry, though, since the action easily distracts the reader from this flaw. The truly intriguing aspect of this novel is that every character believes that Biblical Armageddon will occur if the Dragon Court solves the final riddle. Although the clues are solved using science, they lead to what is ultimately a supernatural mystery.

Map of Bones is billed as "the first in the exciting new Sigma adventure series" so it should be interesting to see how Rollins follows up this series debut. He'll need to deepen the characterization of his Sigma Force if he wants his readers to identify with them throughout a series, but his excellent storytelling ability will serve him well.

This novel makes fantastic escapist reading and yet delivers some intellectual depth to distinguish it from many other thrillers. Highly recommended for readers looking for a good thriller.

Rollins is an author whose works consistently shows potential but always falls short of realizing it. Having read several of his other works I decided to give Map Of Bones a try, hoping this time I wouldn't be met by two dimensional characters, which is his main weakness as a writer.

Alas, once again he puts forth characters that are at best caricatures. The good guys are all nice and well-mannered, just as the bad guys are all sadistic serial-killers. He overdoes this good versus bad thing to the point that it becomes laughable.

The good guys are all blessed with an exceptional high IQ, or so Rollins tells us explicitly, yet their dialogues never shows it.

Things like that keep the story from taking off as it is hard to impossible to get the feeling that you are dealing with live human beings, an illusion that a good writer manages to evoke.

This is not to say that Map Of Bones is all bad, far from it, it has much going for it. It has an exciting plot and does keep you wondering what will happen next, the reason why I finished it. So, if what you want is an adventure story, and don't mind characters who lack depth then this certainly is worth the purchase.

I enjoyed Mr. Rollins previous book, Sandstorm, so much that I was really looking forward to this one. Mr. Rollins' research was much sloppier in this book, as anyone with a Catholic school background will immediately notice. Indeed, the glaring and numerous inaccuracies about European history and Catholic tradition became such a distraction that I was unable to ever really get into this novel, even though it has a good story.

For example, it attempting to establish that Rachel (the heroine) is some kind of archeological dynamo at the beginning of Chapter 2, he has her utter Dante's famous phrase, "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate!" ("Abandon all hope, ye who enter!") A learned "professor" marvels at Rachel's knowledge of the quote "in the original Latin no less" (page 37). This is an amazing bit of praise -- as any reader of 2004 break-away best seller, The Dante Club (by Matthew Pearl) will notice -- since that famous quote is in Italian -- not Latin! Sadly, throughout the book Rachel is straining to interject awkward classical Latin two-word phrases (obviously culled from a "famous quotes" book) even though the subject that she is discussing is medieval -- not classical -- in nature.

The errors are not limited to problems with the author's use (and recognition) of foreign languages. The plot of this novel is centered around the theft and possession of certain holy relics (viz., the "Bones" in the title). You'd think the author would get his information right at least as it relates to relics, right? Wrong. In the opening chapters, he makes some sweeping pronouncements about the use of relics in Catholic church altars which, although they may be arcane rules, also have not been rules for years.

Although the above criticisms may seem somewhat petty, Mr. Rollins' sloppy research cannot be forgiven when it affects major plot points -- especially those occurring at the very beginning of the book. For example, the story essentially begins when nearly everybody attending a mass is killed after ingesting a batch of "poisoned" communion wafers at a cathedral. The only people who live through this episode of mass murder are those that did not take communion -- and the archbishop who was officiating at the mass! Indeed, the old archbishop begins arguing with the assailants (in LATIN, or course) afterwards until he is finally shot in the head. Even the most basic of research or the simple attendance of a single Catholic mass would reveal that the priests and officiants are the very first people to ingest the communion wafer at a mass, and that therefore, there does not appear to be any reason whatsoever that the archbishop would have had an opportunity to argue with the murders once his flock had perished.

When so many minor things are wrong with the story, how can I be expected to buy his explanations of the more complex components of his technological thriller?

In the end, I gave the book "3 Stars" because the story is undeniably good. However, if you know your European history or if you have even a rudimentary knowledge of Catholic tradition, this book simply does not hold water and is more of a "1 or 2 Star". Pick up Sandstorm instead.

I guess we should curse Dan Brown for writing the "Da Vinci Code". Since then a cottage industry has risen up whose authors try to outdo Brown. James Rollins is one of these writers. Unfortunately he can't bring it off with this novel. Where to start? The characters are from the cookie cutter mold. Uninteresting. Can any reader really say they cared what happened to the people in this book? I know I didn't. Rollins tries to inject the smallest bit of romance into the book, but it fails miserably. Have you ever read a book with so many explosions taking place as this one, and fails to kill virtually anyone? I wish he had written in more disposable lead characters who died off, just to liven things a bit. He had a good basic premise for the book, Rollins just never carried through with it. Ever read a novel where there is a secret head of a society and then we are left to guess who is is? It doesn't take much to figure who the culprit is here. You only need to read 250 pages or so to confirm your suspicions. There seems to be a basic plot line with all these Da Vinci clones. Gather a team of experts together for five minutes and they will soon solve clues to a puzzle that has been dormant for many centuries. Just toss out some ideas and the light bulb will go off. Skip this book and try reading Steve Berry's new book "The Third Secret" instead.

I have enjoyed Rollins's previous novels. Always lots of action and adventure. Sure there may be a plot hole here or there but at the pace these go who cares. This story is like The DaVinci Code on steroids. The plot starts at a fast run and never stops. Secret religous sect combine with a criminalistic supergroup are opposed by a secret government agency. Deception, subterfuge and explosions--wow. Never forget the handsome super agent, of course the beatiful policewoman and the seductive mysterious counteragent who is working for which side??? Great read, much fun.

This book reads like James Rollins' editor sat him down at gunpoint and said, "Y'know? That Dan Brown guy had a lot of success writing about the Vatican and educating people about art and the Catholic church. How about if you try it? If you don't want to try it, how about you try getting a bullet in your knee?"

On the bright side are some good action scenes, and interesting plot twists.

On the negative side are the numerous lectures that the characters give us regarding art history and the Vatican (already done in great detail in The Da Vinci Code), and the romantic scenes seem like an afterthought.

This was the first Rollins book not to be set in a unique environment with fantastical creatures/myths out of Earth's past. This book is set in European cities, and doesn't feature one creature or magical element out of the hidden past of some culture. It reads like many standard thrillers that are a dime-a-dozen, and doesn't capture what Rollins has done so well in the past: bring the unbelievable to life. For the first time Rollins reuses some characters, and great characters have never been Rollins' strength. His strength is bringing exotic and new climates to life in a believable way. His characters have always been cartoonish and simple, and have served as fodder to move his stories along.

Dan Brown has already cornered the market on educating the masses about Vatican-conspiracies. James Rollins should return to doing what he does best. Please.

There is something to be said for some good old-fashioned, mindless, entertaining fluff. This book is the literary equivalent of a travelling carnival. Lots of bright lights and fun, but not much substance.

Leaving aside the obvious parallels to "The DaVinci Code", this book draws you in and keeps you entertained, but doesn't make you think very much. If you just want to escape into fantasy for awhile, I would recommend this book. There are flaws and the ending is kind of hokey, but just ignore the problems and have some fun.

This book reminds me of the (perhaps apocryphal) story that Carl Sagan sometimes told about Erich Von Daniken's books. Sagan said that biologists would tell him, "The biology is nonsense, but the historical and archaeological aspects are very impressive." The archaeologists would say, "The archaeology is nonsense, but the ideas he has about biology and evolution impress me a great deal."

So, I'm afraid I have to say, "The historical and literary aspects of this book impress me quite a bit, but the rest of it is very poorly formulated and written."

Where do I start? The annoying, seemingly minor, errors in terminology and technology are quite a turn-off for me. A "BC [buoyancy compensator] buoyancy vest"? Seems a bit redundant...wonder if he even knew what it was. A guy with dual PhDs in biology and chemistry has to have a simple battery explained to him? The highly-trained and elite special force keeps calling their underwater ultrasonic communications system a "radio"? (No radio waves here, folks.) A sniper uses an "exhaust suppressor" on his rifle to conceal his location. Should be a "flash suppressor". An "ultraviolet light" source is used for illumination when using night-vision goggles? It should be an infrared source (for several reasons). A non-covert team slips into a cathedral with some weapons and tools in their rucksacks. When cornered, one of the team members noncholantly pulls a JACK (doesn't say if it's hydraulic or not) from the rucksack in order to bend some bars on a window...something which I certainly wouldn't have anticipated.

So, while the majority of the book is OK, the continuous background of mistakes/goofs (doesn't somebody have to read these before they get published) made this a somehwat painful read for me.

Having read all of James Rollins' novels, Map of Bones comes off as a verbose attempt to justify Rollins' intense research into Catholic ritual, history, and dogma. While the basic military action of the story captures the reader's interest, the novel bogs down in the author's attempt to display his research in a clumsy, didactic fashion. If you've ever heard Tim McCarver literally ruin a World Series telecast with irrelvant, decades old minutia, then you'll appreciate how James Rollins should have reduced the history lessons and simply got on with the novel's action, especially as it leads to the climax.

Well, I'm 90 pages into this book and I'm afraid I'm going to have to put it away. It's that boring.It's very rare that I won't make myself finish a book, but this book is sheer drudgery for me. I LOVED DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, and The Last Templar. This book was nothing like those--at least not in the first 90 pages and I just can't force myself to go on reading any further. It's just been a very tedious book involving murders and car chases. I want suspense, mystery, and puzzle solving!