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Map of Bones

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Overview

The horrific theft of a priceless relic...a secret society reaching back to the Middle Ages...and the top-flight US team who must stop them.

Editorial Reviews

A mysterious biblical object, nefarious Vatican spies and a deadly centuries-old religious cabal-sound familiar Sacramento veterinarian Rollins offers more Da Vinci Code-style thrills for the seriously addicted. In this seventh outing, hooded men invade midnight mass at the Cologne Cathedral and slaughter almost everyone present, then break open a gold sarcophagus and steal... the bones of the Three Wise Men. Grayson Pierce, top agent in the Department of Defense's covert Sigma Force, takes a team to Rome, joins up with love-interest Rachel Verona, a carabinieri corps lieutenant, and her Vatican official uncle, Vigot. It seems that the Dragon Court, a medieval alchemical cult-cell that still operates within the Catholic Church, is to blame, and it also seems that the bones of the Magi aren't really bones, but the highly reactive Monatomic gold that the group plans to use to accomplish its ultimate goal-Armegeddon. Rollins has few peers in the research department, which makes the historical material fascinating, and he keeps the dialogue believably colloquial and the incidental elements motivated-and plausible for at least short stretches. Clumsy romance is mostly overcome by lots of action. Dan Brown-ers looking for methadone will add to Rollins's usual solid numbers. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of James Rollins

James Rollins, 1961 - James Rollins was born in 1961 in Chicago, Illinois. He spent his childhood in Canada and the Midwest along with his three brothers and three sisters. Rollins attended the University of Missouri, where he received hid Ph. D. in veterinary medicine in 1985. After graduation, Rollins moved to Sacramento, California and started his veterinary practice there. He enjoys being underground and underwater, themes for his best selling novels, and could often be found spelunking or scuba diving. "Subterranean" is his first novel. "Subterranean", Rollins first book, became a New York Times bestseller, followed by "Excavation."

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Additional Info

Imprint

HarperCollins

Filesize

1.19 MB

Number of Pages

560

eBook ISBN

9780061158711

Excerpt from: Map of Bones by James Rollins

JULY 24, 4:34 A.M. FREDERICK, MARYLAND

THE SABOTEUR had arrived.

Grayson Pierce edged his motorcycle between the dark buildings that made up the heart of Fort Detrick. He kept the bike idling. Its electric engine purred no louder than a refrigerator's motor. The black gloves he wore matched the bike's paint, a nickel-phosphorous compound called NPL Super Black. It absorbed more visible light, making ordinary black seem positively shiny. His cloth body suit and rigid helmet were equally shaded.

Hunched over the bike, he neared the end of the alley. A courtyard opened ahead, a dark chasm framed by the brick-and-mortar buildings that composed the National Cancer Institute, an adjunct to USAMRIID, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Here the country's war on bioterrorism was waged across sixty thousand square feet of maximum-containment labs.

Gray cut the engine but stayed seated. His left knee rested against the satchel. It held the seventy thousand dollars. He remained in the alley, avoiding the open courtyard. He preferred the dark. The moon had long set, and the sun would not rise for another twenty-two minutes. Even the stars remained clouded by the shredding tail of last night's summer storm.

Would his ruse hold?

He subvocalized into his throat mike. "Mule to Eagle, I've reached the rendezvous. Proceeding on foot."

"Roger that. We've got you on satellite."

Gray resisted the urge to look up and wave. He hated to be watched, scrutinized, but the deal here was too big. He did manage to gain a concession: to take the meeting alone. His contact was skittish. It had taken six months to groom this contact, brokering connections in Libya and the Sudan. It hadn't been easy. Money did not buy much trust. Especially in this business.

He reached down to the satchel and shouldered the money bag. Wary, he walked his bike over to a shadowed alcove, parked it, and hooked a leg over the seat.

He crossed down the alley.