The Last Oracle: A Sigma Force Novel [Hardcover]

James Rollins (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 24, 2008 | Series: Sigma Force (Book 5)

In Washington, D.C., a homeless man takes an assassin's bullet and dies in Commander Gray Pierce's arms. A bloody coin clutched in the dead man's hand--an ancient relic that can be traced back to the Greek Oracle of Delphi--is the key to a conspiracy that dates back to the Cold War and threatens the very foundation of humanity. For what if it were possible to bioengineer the next great prophet--a new Buddha, Muhammad, or even Jesus? Would this Second Coming be a boon . . . or would it initiate a chain reaction that would result in the extinction of humankind?

Vital seconds are ticking rapidly away as Pierce races across the globe in search of answers, one step ahead of ruthless killers determined to reclaim the priceless artifact. Suddenly the future of all things is balanced on the brink between heaven and hell--and salvation or destruction rests in the hands of remarkable children.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of bestseller Rollins's rousing fifth Sigma Force novel (after The Judas Strain), the group's leader, Cmdr. Gray Pierce, encounters a homeless man as he's crossing the Mall in Washington, D.C., near Sigma Force's secret lair far beneath the Smithsonian Castle. The man, who's really an MIT neurology professor, collapses in Pierce's arms and dies after passing him a strange coin, thus kicking off a far-flung adventure whose plot threads include the Oracle of Delphi, autistic savant children with strange implants behind their ears, Gypsies, power-mad Russians bent on unleashing enough radioactivity to poison the world, rogue American spy agencies and genetically enhanced wolves and tigers. Lots of absorbing scientific information and tantalizing sentences like With two rifles strapped to his back and a boy and a chimpanzee in tow, Monk marched down the pitch-black tunnel keep the pages flying by. 10-city author tour. (July)
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Review

“Lots of absorbing scientific information and tantalizing sentences.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Rollins combines real-world science with high-octane action to create rousing stories of adventure that are as exciting as any movie.” (Chicago Sun-Times)

“Once again, the action is nonstop.” (Sacramento Bee)

“The perfect escape novel, an edge of-your-seat read.” (Knoxville News-Sentinel)

“Rollins has outdone himself with this fabulous mix of history, science, and adventure that will easily increase his growing number of fans.” (Library Journal)

“Go out and buy James Rollins’s latest saga. He just keeps getting better and better.” (The Barnstable Patriot)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 434 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061230944
• ISBN-13: 978-0061230943
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (165 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #486,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 106 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast-Paced Science/Adventure Thriller June 30, 2008

By Mel Odom TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The first James Rollins book I ever read was SUBTERRANEAN. It was a "lost world" adventure, about an underground world that spawned the marsupial creatures that inhabit Australia. The book was a blistering good read and I read it - held completely in thrall - in a single sitting. Not many 400-page novels can do that to me these days.

Rollins is the pseudonym of Jim Czajkowski, but he also writes fantasy novels under the pen name James Clemens. As Clemens, he's written and published seven high fantasy novels so far, with more in the works.

Writing under the Rollins name, he wrote five stand-alone thrillers that took readers inside the earth -- SUBTERRANEAN, into high mountains -- EXCAVATION, to the ocean's bottom -- DEEP FATHOM, through the deepest jungles -- AMAZONIA, and to the most remote and dangerous pole in the world -- ICE HUNT. He also wrote the novelization of the newest Indiana Jones movie, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.

In SANDSTORM, Rollins introduced a covert espionage team called Sigma Force that deals with archeological and scientific threats to the world. Made up of scientists and military personnel, Sigma Force goes anywhere and battles anything to ferret out puzzles and mysterious left throughout history. Imagine Dan Brown on steroids with Tom Clancy weaponry and you've got a good idea of what Rollins does in these books.

His interest in science and history are immediately noticeable in these books. They're carefully researched (albeit with an eye toward getting Rollins and his fans where they want to go in high adventure), and the pacing is absolutely frantic. Not only does Rollins present information, but he also leavens the exciting mixture with no-holds barred conjecture on his part. He doesn't just know how to relay information, he's quite handy at spinning theories in bite-sized chunks that don't get in the way of the action and don't blow the readers away. I read these books for the information bytes almost as much as for the action and adventure.

The fifth and newest novel in the series, THE LAST ORACLE begins with a bang. After a prologue containing a compelling peek back at the Oracle of Delphi, Commander Gray Pierce is approached by a man only seconds before he's shot and dies in Pierce's arms. The callous murder sends Sigma Force into motion to try to figure out what's going on. Especially since the dead man seemed to know about Sigma Force, one of the most closely guarded secrets in the United States espionage network.

The man turns out to be Dr. Polk, one of the men who helped create Sigma Force. As soon as that mystery is cleared up, the team realizes that Polk - not Pierce - was the intended target all along. Even more mysterious, Polk was a walking dead man, already dying from radiation poisoning.

Rollins plants his clues deftly, charging into the adventure vigorously. A coin clutched by Polk leads them to the museum, and to Dr. Polk's daughter, Elizabeth. I love the pacing of these books, but Rollins strips the characters down a lot, leaving them more blocked-out than filled in. Sometimes I miss not getting to know more about them, but then I realize with the headlong pacing of the books there's no real way to explore any kind of personal life.

In short order, Rollins has got his plot up and running, separating Sigma Force into teams and branching out with different avenues of action. Director Painter Crowe and his group try to figure out the mystery of the Russian girl that falls into their hands while Gray Pierce follows up on the trail of bread crumbs Dr. Polk has left behind. On another front, we pick up the story of yet another Sigma Force member who's fighting for his life to escape enemy clutches with a cadre of the psychically gifted children. And then there are the machinations of the bad guys.

Although I finished the book in a couple sittings, I admit I had to take a breath now and again to figure out who was doing what to whom from time to time. Rollins introduces all the elements of his adventure, from the Oracle of Delphi to the Gypsy culture to Punjab history, then kicks in a lot of psychic spying (remote viewing that the Russians spent so much time with) as well as archeological and scientific background.

Rollins tells his story adroitly, like a sketch artist. He lays out a line that gives the reader just enough to whet the imagination, then jumps to another set of characters and does the same. The pacing and plotting is pure potboiler, and these books could have easily been pulps or serials movies back in the 1940s. Rollins has acknowledge a love of Doc Savage novels when he was younger, and it truly shows.

THE LAST ORACLE also deals with a cliffhanger left over from THE JUDAS STRAIN, and a lot of fans are going to be reading with even more interest than the casual reader. Rollins puts a lot on the line for his regular readers, and they're going to respond.

The book is out just in time for summer. But I have to warn you, if you open this book and begin reading expecting to have a calm day of it, you're going to spend the day on the beach or in a hammock tensed up, dodging bullets and bad guys, and trying to figure out the final mystery of THE LAST ORACLE.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A No-Spoilers Review June 24, 2008

By Susan Tunis TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Last summer, the diabolical Mr. Rollins left his fans with a cliff-hanger ending that was simply TORTUROUS. Let me start this review by telling readers that the unresolved questions are answered thoroughly and in a completely satisfying manner. And, you don't have to wait `til the end of the book to learn those answers. Yes, that's all very vague, but I don't want to give away a thing.

Now the above paragraph may seem pretty intimidating or off-putting if you haven't read the novel that precedes this one, The Judas Strain. Well, here's the most impressive thing about The Last Oracle: It absolutely works as a stand alone novel. Yes, it's great if you're a long-time fan of the Sigma Force novels, but Rollins manages to jump-start this tale from the opening pages, and I don't think you'd need any back story to dive right into this adventure. And never once did I feel like there was that awkward exposition you often see in series novels. Bravo!

The hard part of reviewing any James Rollins novel is trying to summarize the plot. This novel opens in 398 A.D., with the eponymous Oracle of Delphi. The final moments of the temple are depicted. A few pages later we're in Romania, circa 1959. The Ruskies are rounding up a bunch of charming villagers. And a few pages after that we're at last in modern-day DC, with our old friend Gray Pierce of Sigma. Walking across the Mall, he's approached by a "homeless" man. As he pauses to give the guy a hand-out, a shot rings out. Gray is safe, but the derelict is killed. Later investigation suggests the stranger was the intended target, not Gray. This is confirmed when Gray's boss takes one look at the body and say's, "I know this man."

It turns out the man was an important part of Sigma history. Two clues from his murder lead Gray to the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History. There he meets Elizabeth Polk, who becomes a major player in the novel. The scenes in the museum (where I once worked in real life) are among my favorite that Rollins has ever written. The action picks up at this point, and as one clue leads to another, Gray, Elizabeth, and an assortment of Sigma and non-Sigma characters find themselves globe-trotting from India to Russia. With this author, it's pretty much a given that the action comes fast and furious, and the pages will fly by at lightning speed. Along the way, Rollins explores the connections of autism to the Oracle of Delphi, the history of the Romani (Gypsy) people, and the advancement of the human race. We get to visit with old favorite characters from books past (though some you'll expect are notably missing) and we'll meet some new characters too. Not all are human.

As always, there was some real science entwined in the plot that absolutely floored me! Sometimes it's almost an aside and you just wish the entire novel was about the fact that, apparently, human beings (all of us) can see two or three seconds into the future. And again Rollins provides an afterward to clarify fact vs. fiction and cite some of his sources. He also manages to incorporate up-to-the-minute current events into the novel's plot. It was a little bizarre to have real life news delving very directly into the novel's story. Talk about timely!

Okay, I'm unable to summarize this plot in any meaningful way. It's simply too complex. But The Last Oracle is fantastic addition to the Sigma novels, and works shockingly well as a stand alone. You need a great airplane book or a beach read? This is the book you're looking for.

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Diapers and Bills June 24, 2008

By Stacey Cochran

Format:Hardcover

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I haven't read another James Rollins novel. THE LAST ORACLE was my first, and I enjoyed it. While this style of plot-driven novel is definitely not for everyone, I'd be hard-pressed to name another author who is more on top of his game writing action and suspense than Rollins is in THE LAST ORACLE.

The story concerns a group of autistic savant children who have been bred and surgically altered to improve their savant skills. A rogue Russian senator has plans to create a nuclear disaster that will vault him to global power, and he plans to use the children's talents in his new, self-appointed position. Furthermore, the children's ancestry dates to the ancient Oracle of Delphi, which acts as a historical backdrop for the story.

SIGMA Commander Gray Pierce leads the band of folks who must stop him, navigating from SIGMA's headquarters in Washington DC, to India, to Chernobyl, and finally to the Ural Mountains in the former Soviet Union. Many people try to kill them along the way.

James Rollins has clearly done his research to ground THE LAST ORACLE in a reality that fits the story, and the fear of nuclear waste left available in the former Soviet Union is an issue that needs to be addressed. The political unease underlying the novel works to ratchet the tension, and Rollins does a remarkable job of juggling multiple storylines to enhance the suspense even further.

I'm not convinced that a writer in this genre can't create realistic, emotionally-complex characters, but it does seem like they might get in the way of the plot. That said, if you're looking for a fun action-suspense novel, Rollins is your man. He is at the top of his game in THE LAST ORACLE, and I do recommend this novel. I enjoyed his hard work and the escape from my real life of diapers and bills.

Stacey Cochran
Author of CLAWS available for 80 Cents