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The Eye of God: A Sigma Force Novel
The Eye of God: A Sigma Force Novel
The Eye of God: A Sigma Force Novel
Audiobook14 hours

The Eye of God: A Sigma Force Novel

Written by James Rollins

Narrated by Christian Baskous

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

In The Eye of God, James Rollins, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sigma Force series, delivers an apocalyptic vision of a future predicted by the distant past.

In the wilds of Mongolia, a research satellite has crashed, triggering an explosive search for its valuable cargo: a code-black physics project connected to the study of dark energy—and a shocking image of the eastern seaboard of the United States in utter ruin.

At the Vatican, a package arrives containing two strange artifacts: a skull scrawled with ancient Aramaic and a tome bound in human skin. DNA evidence reveals that both came from the same body: the long dead Mongol king Genghis Khan.

Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force set out to discover a truth tied to the fall of the Roman Empire, to a mystery going back to the birth of Christianity, and to a weapon hidden for centuries that holds the fate of humanity.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJun 25, 2013
ISBN9780062262981
Author

James Rollins

James Rollins is the author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the “top crowd pleasers” (New York Times) and one of the “hottest summer reads” (People magazine). In each novel, acclaimed for its originality, Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets—and he does it all at breakneck speed and with stunning insight. He lives in the Sierra Nevada.

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Reviews for The Eye of God

Rating: 4.461538461538462 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

78 ratings25 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the latest book in the Sigma Force series. The eye of god is an American satelite which crashes to earth after getting too close to a comet and being affected by dark energy. That in itself is enough of a plot to bring in Sigma Force to investigate yet this story has other plot lines which include Ghengis Khan, the Vatican and St Thomas. It seems incredible that these things can be linked in any way and yet this is Rollins' skill! He writes so intelligently and with such detailed research that it is difficult for the reader to separate fact from pure fiction. But even this is covered with an appendix at the end of the book! I LOVE this series - if you haven't read these books, start at the beginning and work your way through them all!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another fast paced Rollins novel with lots of action and twists. I enjoyed the new characters that are added.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A great edge of your seat thriller. James Rollins always provides a good story , but over and beyond that he provides situations that not only open your eyes to the world around you, but also to the science, and history that effects you daily. He gives you something to think about. He also alway backs up his story with honestly separating the fact from fiction. After the story has been enjoyed, he writes author's note giving the reader a perspective of where he got his ideas and how much of what he used is fact. This book is a great quest- in four days or less Sigma Force must follow a trail of artifacts which may or may not lead to the grave of Attilla the Hun, a site rumored to hold all the riches of all the kingdoms Attila conquered, to find an artifact that was supposedly given to him by the Pope to ward off Attila's planned invasion of Rome. The artifact is said to be made of metal from a meteorite that had fallen during the passing of a comet near earth during Attila's time. The book begins in a NASA flight control room with Painter Crowe observing the flights of two sattelites IoG-1 and IoG-2 (IoG is an acronym for Interpolation of Geodetic Effect) intended to analyse the space-time curvature around the earth to aid in missile and satelite trajectory, but the satelites were also going to measure the energy signature of a passing comet. As the satelite is measuring the energy something goes wrong and the satelite crashes to earth in remote Mongolia.The last fleeting image the satelite sends is a view of the East Coast destroyed and in flames. Dr. Jada Shaw, astrophysicist, beleives this is an image from the future and that it shows the destruction that the comet's passing is going to cause. Painter must get the team together to retrieve the satelite before it falls into enemy hands. However the members of the team are already working on projects - Gray and Seichan are following a lead to find her mother who she was separated from in Vietnam when she was nine as the soldiers arested her mother. In Rome, Monsignor Vigor Verona has received a mysterious package from a priest who was thought long dead. The package contains a skull with aramaic writing and a date carved in the center of it and a book bound in human skin containing a copy of the gospel of Thomas the apostle. He has a sample of the skin sent to the lab and calls his niece to come to see the artifacts. A bomb goes off and they narrowly escape with the artifacts. They request help from Sigma and Monk is sent to help them along with Duncan, the newest member of Sigma force, and Dr. Jada Shaw, the astrophysicist who was conducting the satelite experiment, as the team makes its way to retreive the satelite. With heart-pounding edge of the seat thrills the men and women of Sigma force must overcome overwhelming odds and foes to find the key to saving the world.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Sigma Force returns in volume 9 of the series, this time titled The Eye of God. These are certainly the guys to call on when disaster, mysterious evil, or even the end of the world is imminent.As the story begins, Painter Crowe, Director of the Sigma Force, is on hand to observe twin US satellites as one passes through the tail of a huge comet. The purpose of the super secret mission of the satellites, called IoGs (Interpolation of the Geodetic Effect), originally had been a study of earth's gravity, but it has morphed into a study of the power of dark energy, the force that accelerates cosmic expansion. It didn't take long for the military acronym IoG, to be referred to as the Eye of God.Plan A has the satellite that passes through the comet to absorb and transmit the dark energy back to its sister satellite, still orbiting the earth. But something goes wrong and one of the satellites is pushed out of orbit and plummets back to earth.The last image it transmits is the smoldering ruin of the Eastern seaboard of the United States, but quick inquiries show that no such tragedy has occurred. The scientists posit the theory that the IoG's interference with the dark energy has caused a wrinkle, or perhaps a small tear, in the space/time continuum, allowing a disturbing glimpse into the future. Perhaps it is a possibility, not inevitable, but they must quickly locate the satellite wreckage, hoping that enough of the equipment survives the crash that they can find the answers they need.In the meantime, a mysterious package arrives at the Vatican from a priest long given up for dead. Incredibly, it contains some ancient relics which predict the end of the world. The Vatican officials take this seriously, but realize that urgency is vital when a grenade is shot into the window of the office where they are examining the items. Already familiar with the work of the Sigma Force, they call Painter Crowe for help. Almost immediately the Vatican officials are on the way to Kazakhstan, just as the Sigma Force team, headed by Gray Pierce are arriving in Macau, enroute to find the answers which the satellite wreckage may hold.Every step is fraught with danger, evil enemies of foreign governments threaten Sigma Force members and their friends with kidnapping and torture, but the two teams soon realize they are searching for two separate but related items which must be reunited to save the world.James Rollins keeps the adrenaline pumping and the adventure level maxed out from beginning to end. It's another great Sigma Force saga enriched with science, history, and yes, even religion...there is something for everyone here!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Awesome read! Great story! Good mix of quantum theory and Rollins own thoughts on the subject. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another action packed adventure from Rollins, this time with Gengis Khan! Gotta live the Kowalski too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What do you get if you combine "scientists with guns" and dark energy, Genghis Khan, St. Thomas, asteroids and meteors? Well, if you're James Rollins, you get one heck of a good story with some heartbreak at the end and a final, bittersweet and totally appropriate twist. This one makes for a terrific entry in the Sigma series!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I just finished this one. It's typical Sigma force series. So if you like this type of book you will probably like it. However, I think Rollins is reaching the end of this sigma series. All sigma novels have the same architecture. If you substitute artifact X with artifact Y and country A with country B, you got a new novel! So, I think it is time to change it a bit.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great novel by Rollins. The story line differed from other Sigma novels in that it is focused on the what ifs of physics rather than the history in which Rollins is a master.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Here's another fun romp with the Sigma Force. It's full of coincidences and bad guys that are bad shots, but somehow, it all works. As usual, our guys save the world with only seconds to spare, and with a little twist at the end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The end of the world in an explosive, fiery cataclysm is near... and only Sigma Force and friends can prevent it -- and their adversaries are legion and ruthless, and time is quickly running out. I continue to be awed by this author's amazing talent. Yet another suspense-filled, highly entertaining, relentless, blistering page turner from the undisputed reigning Master of Kick-ass Action & Adventure. Kudos and bravo, Mr. Rollins. I am ready for The 6th Extinction... that is, ready and eager to start reading your next Sigma Force novel. Thank God this stuff is fiction... or is it? Either way, Mr. Rollins never fails to amaze and entertain.

    Kerry Alan Denney, multiple award-winning author of SOULSNATCHER (Lazy Day Publishing, April 2014) and JAGANNATH (Permuted Press, coming February 2015)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Once upon a time I gobbled novels like this like popcorn. They're almost addicting with their nonstop action, innovative thinking, close calls, around the world chases, and characters with unbelievable skills. Of course the characters are always beautiful or handsome and incredibly smart as well. I don't remember why I stopped reading them, probably something about a lack of time, but at any rate it has been years. When a publicist at HarperCollins offered this paperback edition to me for review, I remembered the good old days and accepted. Well, Sigma Force novels are a little different now than those thrillers I used to read but not much. The difference is in the technology. I felt like I should have a Ph.D. in physics to even attempt to follow the mystery the characters were trying to solve. So, lacking that kind of education, I just rolled with the flow and let the tech talk just sort of fly over my head. If you have the stomach for some torture, some very scary situations, and danger, you'll like this. The plot involves a search for relics of Genghis Khan and St. Thomas (strange pairing there) they had to use to stop the destruction of the earth. And of course they have to find them in a few days. New calculations keep lessening the time line, and no one knows for sure where the relics are. We travel to Rome, the Aral Sea's exposed bed, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Lake Baikal, etc. The good guys deal with North Korea, a Chinese Triad led by a woman and a cult in Mongolia. If you are a fan of James Rollins or just love thrillers, this one will certainly not disappoint you. There were a lot of times I rolled my eyes and thought, "Come on. Really?" but for the most part I just relaxed and enjoyed the fun. The characters are perfect, even the guy who has had magnets surgically implanted into his fingertips to detect electromagnetic fields is a hunk who will win you over.Highly recommendedSource: Publisher
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    James at his best! I must agree with the few reviewers that I've read. This gem is definitely at break-neck speed! Whew! The action! The science! The thought provoking prose!

    Buy it! Read it! LOVE IT!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good book. Fast read. I love how james Rollins' story always incorporate some history and some science. It really get interesting and makes you wanting more.I also like how he address the different things he mentionned in the book at the end. You really then get the amount of research put in and how he was able to incorporate everything in this story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fun read. Really well done.

    Recommend.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    "The date for the end of the world...it's in four days". The Eye of God is a gripping tale of science, history, adventure, and mind boggling theories of how reality, as we understand it, may not be reality at all. The Eye of God pulls you in when a satellite sent out to study the dark energy of a comet crashes to Earth, after sending one last image of the Eastern Seaboard of the US in a smoldering ruin. At the same time a package bearing strange artifacts is delivered to the Vatican for Mosignor Vigor Verona from a colleague who disappeared a decade before. Inside is a skull etched with ancient Aramaic and a tome bound in human skin, the skin of Genghis Khan.

    The SIGMA crew we have all come to know and love is dispatched to different Asian countries to investigate the scientific and historical aspects of the comet and dark matter. Rachel Verona and her Uncle Vigor join forces once again with SIGMA to help follow the historical trail that lead back to major historical figures such as Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, St. Thomas, all the way back to Adam and Eve.

    It all comes down to a these questions... What is reality? Are we all just a 3D hologram? And what happens to us after we die? Does our energy just leave the universe forever, or is what we perceive as death not even real? Is it possible that our consciousness just moves to another form of a different reality, to live out the rest of our lives on the other side of the same coin?

    I don't know how long James Rollins can possibly come up with these convoluted tales he spins. Surely he's written about every single interesting thing in the universe by now... but apparently not. The scientific aspect of it became a little mind boggling at times, but otherwise a very good and compelling read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I enjoyed this book, as I have several others from the series, but it was a bit hard to follow in places. The theme is based around a concept that I have a hard time fathoming as well, which made it a bit harder to engage with.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Won this via Goodread's First Reads.With both Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan in the same book I was pretty sure that this was going to be a particularly action packed thriller and I wasn't disappointed. Also, in every book of his that I've read Rollins puts something new and totally out of left field in the book. In this one it was rare Earth magnets in people's fingers. I'd never heard of them, wouldn't want to personally do it, but, it was an interesting new thing that I got to learn about through the book. Always a good thing.The story is just as multifaceted as usual in Rollins' books. For one thing, SIGMA has about four days before the world ends. SIGMA also needs to find and recover a fallen satellite that's on the border of China and Russia in Mongolia. And, Seichan and Gray are looking for Seichan's mother and manage to get caught up in a bit of an intense pickle that has has the head of the underbelly of Macau, a Triad leader, and North Korea in it. (As I said, action packed) Of course, as usual Rollins combines all his stories very well and in this book it seemed much less contrived when they came together. It flowed very well and was thrilling in very natural ways.It was a much more philosophical novel and that's saying something because most of the SIGMA books have a religion component in them. But, in this one it wasn't about Christianity (or even Vigor's Catholicism) it was about the greater questions about our soul souls, not just our religious souls. (See, it was such an upper level philosophical book that now I'm making no sense in a philosophical way...)All in all it's my favorite Rollins book so far and I eagerly await what he will do in the next SIGMA series book, because the end of this one. It blew my mind.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fast paced and wild ride. Rollins has a way of blending just enough scientific fact with his adventures to make the "Sigma Force" novels a treat to read. This one was very enjoyable and hard to put down - just straight forward fun.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    James Rollins is the action/adventure writer for 3 digit IQs! If you want an heroic escape that also requires fast-thinking and in-depth understanding of "who knows what high-tech/super-smart invention mixed with ancient knowledge or esoteric understanding" disaster this time. Then Rollins is your man. He creates a unique blend of the military brawn with an M.I.T. intellect and that makes for one page-turning thriller ride! The Eye of God, pits the Sigma Force members against the cosmos, time, and the bad guys! If you want to keep up the pace have your physics mind set turned on and your history fresh in your memory banks! You will need both. Rollins does a great job of beginning in 3 totally disconnected and unrelated points not just on the globe but relative speaking of import as well. The future and past slam head long into saving the girl and saving the world, but in the end, is there really any difference in the two...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Listened to this on our way to a resort many hours away. Another solid adventure of Sigma Force saving the world. Not very believable, but full of lots of action and keeps you interested and awake while driving.An experiment to help understand Dark Energy goes awry and it leads to a discovery from a 2000 year old prophecy about the end of the world. Sigma happens to be able to piece the clues together and travel the world to prevent an asteroid from becoming a meteor that would wipe out the planet with an extinction level event.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first half of this novel was somewhat disjointed, plodding, and more of a testament to relationships within Sigma than anything else...but, as I should have known, Rollins does a great job bringing plot elements together (approaching comet, crashed satellite, North Korean gang elements, historical aspects of Ghengis Kahn, etc.), incorporating necessary characters (Gray, Monk, Kowalski, Seichan, Jada, Duncan, Painter, etc.), and having them all come together in Russia at the world's largest fresh-water lake to tie everything up neatly. The concept of averting world disaster by using their knowledge of dark energy with respect to the approaching comet made for a real nail-biting ending. Rollins has put forth another great read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I found this entry in the Sigma Force series to be rather uneven. While I liked the introduction of the new characters, I found one of them to be a bit ... um ... well, I'm not sure that I believed that little something special that he had. And unfortunately, the science at the core of this story seemed another example of the too far over-the-top that Rollins has fallen into too often of late. And toward the latter stages of the story, things seemed to come together too easily (why, again, were the Sigma characters able to get a meeting with that shaman so easily and how was contact made?), almost as if Rollins was either bored with his story or knew he'd plotted himself into a corner (vis-a-vis the countdown that he'd placed on his story) and needed to finish things quickly. And while one particular intrusion and escape was fun(ish), it was a bit beyond credulity. But then I don't read Sigma Force for the same reason I might read John le Carré, do I?Oh, well, a binge session of Sigma Force books (3 books and a short story) should tide me over for a while.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rollins has done better but a good read none the less
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What's better than a great adventure story? Why two of course! Two blended into one book and working towards each other for a successful finale! James Rollins books are always a good read. His stories of discovering antiquities that can change or save the world don't ever feel like "it's been done before". Beware, tho....this is one of those "can't put it down" books. I was getting frequent interruptions towards the end when things were really heating up so I can definitely say...take the phone off the hook...send the kids out to a friends...or a movie...tell everyone to leave you alone and then lock yourself in your room and enjoy!!! PS...James Rollins also includes some true facts in this one. Love those additional touches he explains in his author's note.