The Doomsday Key

A Sigma Force Novel, Book 6

By: James Rollins

Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez

Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

At Princeton University, a famed geneticist dies inside a biohazard lab. In Rome, a Vatican archaeologist is found dead in St. Peter's Basilica. In Africa, a U.S. senator's son is slain outside a Red Cross camp. The three murders on three continents bear a horrifying connection: all the victims are marked by a Druidic pagan cross burned into their flesh.

The bizarre murders thrust Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force into a race against time to solve a riddle going back centuries and to a ghastly crime against humanity hidden within a cryptic medieval codex.

Aided by two women from his past, one his ex-lover, the other his new partner, Gray must piece together the horrifying truth. But the revelations come at a high cost, and to save the future, Gray will have to sacrifice one of the women at his side.

That alone might not be enough, as the true path to salvation is revealed in a dark prophecy of doom. The ultimate nightmare is locked within a talisman buried by a dead saint, an ancient artifact known as the Doomsday Key.

©2009 Jim Czajkowski (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

Confused narrator

While the story was great, the narrator had a hard time remembering whose voice was whose. His accents were all wrong. Italian sounded half Irish. Irish sounded...I’m not even sure. And the voices used in the last book were twisted around and used for different characters in this book. If you can get passed that (which was rather annoying) you might enjoy the book.

Incredible all the way through.

As these characters progress through each book they are becoming more compelling. This is a fantastic story, and hearing the author's notes at the end will just leave you shaking your head at what's true.

My only critical note is to the production team: For the Love of Humanity will you please stop with the intermittent music. You believe you are adding drama, but in reality you are pissing people off! Don't you review comments, or take in feedback? Fortunately this story outshines the music, but the distraction(s) are still there. The narrator is fantastic! Let him be the one that builds the momentum. Stop the music...PLEASE!!!

Outstanding

Another great story from James Rollins. Great character development, nice twists, compelling plot and subplots. I really enjoyed this one.

Not a page turner, but still good

I think this book would get 4 stars as a regular read, but only 3 as an audio book because of the repetitiveness. I may have skimmed over some of the repeated detail if I read it, but you can't really skim on an audiobook, so it got a little annoying when the author would recap everything that had already happened every two hours or so. That said, the narrator was excellent, and I liked the bones of the story. Perhaps the abridged version would be better.

I really enjoyed how possible all the terrible outcomes are - the book touches on a lot of current topics: bee colony collapse, genetically modified food, world over-population, etc., that were interesting and scary at the same time because of their factual nature. Also, anything having to do with ancient stone circles is fun. But I HATED how many ancient treasures get ruined in the course of the book.

This was my first James Rollins book, and I'll probably read some of the earlier Sigma Force books. I certainly appreciate the level of detail and research that clearly went into this book. Overall, thumbs up.

Just needs to be an HBO series!!

This is my first Sigma Six novel. Can't wait to go back and read them all in chronological order the Nostalgia of old school GI Joe beautiful women & Action-Packed made me feel like a lad again I really appreciate the writing thanks.

Another great adventure with the Sigma Force

I’m enjoying every book in the Sigma Force novels so far, and this was no exception. Exciting adventures, and a fun listen for anyone intrigued by history’s mysteries. I look forward to more exceptional listens from this series.

Very good, but not great.

Being a huge fan of the Sigma force novels, I was a bit dissapointed by this one. Though it is certainly worth the read, it didn't leave me with the "WOW" factor the previous ones did.

It did a very good job of setting up several possible future plots, so I suppose it may all be worth it.

This book is much less supernatural than than the previous two. This supernaturalness is what, in my mind, separates Sigma force adventures from James Bond or Jason Bourne sagas.

But, as I said earlier, it's still a pretty good listen. Well, worth your time. Especially if you're a fan.

music

I'm a big fan of James Rollins not crazy about the music it kind of threw me off

After chapter twenty-o there is a cut that repeats

When Gray Pierce is in the French cafe there are two cuts that repeat. Almost ruins a well narrated story.

Better shorter

Too long. Would have been better shorter and more compact. Good characters. Unpleasantly violent in spots.