Black Order

A Sigma Force Novel, Book 3

By: James Rollins

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

High in Nepal, a monastery erupts with savagery and madness. Deep in a German mine, abomination wears the innocent face of a child. Hidden in the jungles of Africa, experiments rooted in a dark past have found fertile ground again.

Across the frozen peaks of the Himalayas to the diamond fields of the Congo, from the subterranean labs of a lost era to the bright halls of the Smithsonian, Sigma Force will face its most cunning adversaries, its most daunting challenges, and its most dire threat. The very future of mankind will belong to the victor.

For any hope of success, Painter Crowe must make a pact like no other: to align Sigma Force with an old enemy, one beyond redemption. And it will be up to Commander Gray Pierce to find the balance between salvation and damnation, even if it means sacrificing those closest to him. Still, victory is far from certain, for there are riddles that even the greatest minds were never meant to solve.

©2006 Jim Czajkowski (P)2006 HarperCollinsPublishers

Critic reviews

"This is Cussler and Ludlum territory with a dash of Dan Brown, sure to please devotees of any of these authors." (Publishers Weekly)

"Why Hollywood hasn't snapped his books up yet is a mystery." (Booklist)

Great book

makes you think about the world and the neverending battle of good vs evil.

Technique

This is the first book by this author that I have listened to. I was disaapointed that the advancment of the plot and creation of suspense relied on the ineptness of various members of the Sigma Force.

Better to read the book

I love to read James Rollin's. He is the kind of author that writes to allow the reader to escape into imagination based on science. I have read all of his books with the exception of this one which I listened to.
I have listened to hundreds of books and, because I act, I realize how hard it is to be a decent reader. With this said, I did not care for the readers performance. His reading voice and inflection irritated me to the point that I did not enjoy the book. He only used accents for certain characters and I could not tell the difference between chapters. The reader has an old style which reminded me of 1950s private investigator shows or an older radio announcer. In the first few chapters he started each sentence on the same high note and ended each sentence with the same low note, an octave difference. Also, he extended the end of each word of a sentence, drawing out the sound, which I found to be creepy. Maybe he was just out of practice because toward the end of the book he got better but at that point I had tuned out so much of the book I had lost interest. If the reader reads this I hope he takes it a constructive criticism, I do realize how hard it is to give a good performance with material that length.

Wow!!

What a ride, fast paced and intense. Could it have been true?? Makes you wonder. Great writing and good narration. All that could be wanted in the genre!! Enjoy!

Very Impressed

I have to be honest. For a couple years, I avoided this series mainly because of the character names - "Painter Crowe" and "Grayson Pierce". They just seemed too forced. However, I ran out of Cussler (Pitt/Cabrillo/Bell/Austin) / Pendergast books and finally bit the bullet.

I waited too long! This was my first Rollins book, and I really, really liked it. The plot ran nice and tight, there was a good science/metaphysics background, and it was "believable". Yes, it included a "mysterious rich family" who bought half the world's lead and gold supply without any red flags being raised, but I was totally enthralled with it.

What I liked most is that the main characters weren't infallible, like, say a Dirk Pitt. Don't get me wrong, Pitt is great, but Painter Crowe and crew were just more believable. Half way through the book, I went out a bought the rest of the Sigma series.

In summary - Yes, listen to this book.

Love this book!

From the begining of this book your minds eye is captured with the non stop intrigue and inteligence the author has given to his chatacters.

My favorite Sigma book so far!

This was easily my favorite in the sigma series so far. Great story, fascinating science, wonderful characters. I also liked this narrater much better than the previous books.

Well written - not read

A well-woven story as usual from Rollins. This is the first audio book from him I've heard and second book overall (the first I read). I wish they could have found a better reader. Throughout it seems as if this is his first reading - poor inflections and horrible accents for the quoted parts. It really does take away from a good novel.

Please don't use the sound effects

The performance by G Garfner which I found to be mediocre together with the sound effects like an 80s radio show clouded my judgement perhaps... Hence this wasn't my favorite book by J Rollins.

Love the history and science

Always enjoy the science and history in the sigma force books. I love listening to them as a fun read.