Map of Bones

Author: James Rollins
Published: April 2005 (HarperCollins)
Category: Thriller
Rating: 7/10

I have read James Rollins' fantasy work written under the name of James Clemens and enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I'm dying to read the third in the Godslayer series published by Roc, but I've heard that he's more popular as Rollins and his suspense novels therefore take up more of his time. I'll have to keep waiting to read Tyler Ser Noche's further adventures.

During a crowded service at a cathedral in Germany, armed intruders in monks' robes unleash a nightmare of blood and destruction. But the killers have not come for gold; they seek a more valuable prize: the bones of the Magi who once paid homage to a newborn savior . . . a treasure that could reshape the world.

With the Vatican in turmoil, SIGMA Force leaps into action. An elite team of scientific and Special Forces operatives under the command of Grayson Pierce and accompanied by Lieutenant Rachel Verona of Rome's carabinieri, they are pursuing a deadly mystery that weaves through sites of the Seven Wonders of the World and ends at the doorstep of an ancient, mystical, and terrifying secret order. For there are those with dark plans for the stolen sacred remains that will alter the future of humankind . . . when science and religion unite to unleash a horror not seen since the beginning of time.

This book was nonstop action and well written in that aspect. I also enjoyed the descriptions of their high-tech equipment and investigatory techniques. I thought there'd be periods of calm, but once the team has rolled out of one predicament, they've rolled right into another, and by strokes of incredible good luck, they survive. I really thought more people would die, especially Rachel's older uncle.

There's also a little romance between Rachel and Gray, although it's awkward at best. Throughout the book, Rachel likes looking at him and Gray feels this need to protect her. My inner romantic wants there to be a successful romance, but the constant action makes a romance rather absurd and out of place. In the middle of a supernatural defeat of the bad guys, Rachel and Gray finally kiss, and it's practically in the presence of God. At the end of the book, Gray even goes back to Italy to see Rachel, but when I look at the blurbs for future SIGMA books, it doesn't appear that he's with her (like James Bond always has a new floozy in every movie), and I find that really awful when it supposedly felt so right in a spiritual sense.