Sumatra, año 1293 Marco Polo, su padre y su tío (Los Polo) fueron los primeros en hacer el viaje a China, a su regreso [a Venecia] contaban con una flota de 14 navíos y 600 hombres. En su viaje de regreso, una extraña enfermedad se extendió entre los viajeros y Los Polo se vieron obligados a quemar los navíos y a los enfermos, pues una vez contraída la enfermedad, todos los que la tienen, empiezan a presentar comportamientos erráticos, extrañas máculas en sus cuerpos, etc. Por eso Los Polo se juraron no decir nunca nada sobre la misteriosa cura que ellos tuvieron que tomar. La alternativa era demasiado horrorosa siquiera de pensarla, por eso, el secreto, prometieron, se iría a la tumba con ellos. Marco Polo, no obstante, estaba lejos de ser fiel a ese juramento y en sus últimos días, se dedicó a dejar un testimonio de lo acaecido en esos tiempos. Por suerte, porque de otro modo, la humanidad no habría encontrado la cura para El mal de Judas. Mal de Judas: término científico para un organismo que lleva a toda una especie a la extinción. Océano Indico, actualidad Un extraña luz surgió de las profundidades del lecho marino. En poco tiempo, todas las formas de vida comenzaron a morir. Las playas de Isla de Navidad eran un cementerio. Hombres, mujeres, niños; todos fueron evacuados con distintos grados de infección: algunos estaban ciegos, otros presentaban pústulas o ampollas. Así que El Señora de los mares, un crucero de lujo que se encontraba en el lugar, se había convertido en un barco médico. La OMS había mandado a varios de sus mejores especialistas a investigar y controlar la infección. Fuerza Sigma, no se quedó atrás y envió a Monk y Lisa a hacer las investigaciones pertinentes. Van como agentes encubiertos a una misión de bajo riesgo, pero algo se descontrola y un grupo de bioterroristas se apoderan del barco. Todos los científicos tienen que empezar a trabajar para Guild y encontrar la "cura" para una enfermedad que ellos mismos van a encargarse de diseminar. Es así como descubren que por alguna extraña razón, todos los bichos han mutado haciendo que los que eran inofensivos se vuelvan patógenos. Y mientras ellos intentan descubrir por medios científicos lo que ha llevado a estos organismos a mutar y generar respuestas para los nada amigables terroristas, los enfermos siguen empeorando, si alguien no hace algo rápido, toda la humanidad podría desaparecer. Washington, D.C., actualidad Gray ha desaparecido. Hay un topo en Sigma. Lisa y Monk están en algún lugar del mar, a bordo de un crucero lleno de enfermos. Y el director Painter tiene que buscar a los padres de Gray que han desaparecido, de no encontrarlos pronto, es tan seguro como que no los encontrará con vida... Difícil determinar ubicación, actualidad Gray y sus tres compañeros van en busca de las pistas que Marco Polo dejó hace muchos años. Venecia-Estambul-Camboya. Pero no van solos, Guild les sigue los pasos, amenazando a Gray con hacer daño a sus padres si no le da los datos necesarios para resolver el misterio. Pero, ¿tiene Guild a los padres de Gray, o sólo lo están chantajeando? ¿Puede darles la información sin poner al mundo en riesgo? ¿Y si el equipo científico de Guild descubre antes la "cura", servirá de algo cortarle los pasos al equipo histórico de Guild? Gray se ve entonces entre la espada y la pared y con ayuda de una asesina de Guild, un sacerdote y un marine, irán armando el rompecabezas hasta que la ciencia y la religión colisionen en un punto donde, solo un misterioso ser luminoso pueda salvarles. Este es el segundo libro de Rollins que tengo la oportunidad de leer y una vez más encuentro difícil pensar que los thrillers que lea de ahora en adelante, puedan superarle. James Rollins sabe conjugar historia, ciencia, suspense, intriga... y hacer una novela tan bien armada que se vuelve complicada dejar de leer. Me encontré en la noche, diciendo sólo un capítulo más... pero sabía que si seguía, no pegaría ojo en toda la noche, porque al igual que "La Orden del Sol Negro", esta novela es igual de fenomenal y adictiva. Los personajes se prestan solos, para que los ames, para que sufras con ellos, para que sientas su miedo y su desesperación. Me mordí las uñas y lloré con aquello que sucede en ciertas páginas. Me deja una sensación de esperanza el final, pero no quiero hacerme tantas ilusiones. De lo que sí me ilusiono es de tener el siguiente libro en mis manos y saber en qué lío se meterán Painter y su equipo de Sigma. James Rollins lo hizo de nuevo...
AN ANCIENT, PANDEMIC CAUSING, VIRUS whose origin and cure is linked to the ANGKOR WAT and the mysterious return voyage of MARCO POLO from the court of KUBLAI KHAN...yep, it looks like another job for SIGMA FORCE .The SIGMA Force is one of the truly delicious concepts to be introduced into the popcorn-eating, page-turning, actiony, spy-guy, thrill-o-rama genre. PhD toting scientific brainiacs with Navy Seal kill skills and James Bond spy craft (minus babes and booze…damn). SIGMA is a covert ops team working under the auspices of the DOD as an agency of DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency). SIGMA is charged with tracking down and neutralizing threats in the form of advanced technology, whether biological, chemical or mechanical. The threats are always large, the explosions are always loud and the pace (with a few exceptions I mention in my gripes) is always on turbo. Now, in a less capable story-teller’s hands, this Michael Bay/summer blockbuster sounding novel could get out of control quickly and begin to reek of cheese. Fear not because James Rollins is a very capable story-teller and maintains very good command of his plot. His novels are very well researched and incorporate fascinating real life historical events and mysteries, which he then extrapolates from to create a wild story with enough factual/historical background to keep suspension of disbelief possible. Despite my “not quite 4 star rating” for reasons set forth below, this is a series that I intend to continue to read as Rollins is a very compelling tale spinner and his plots are big, bold and very well thought out. Put simply, they are both smart and a ton of fun. The Judas Strain is the 4th SIGMA novel and finds the team racing against time (as usual) to investigate an unusual and highly contagious viral outbreak in the Indian Ocean. The plague has the potential to be an extinction level event if not contained or if no cure can be found. Complications arise when SIGMA’s evil counterpart, the GUILD, shows up looking to control the plague (and possibly weaponize it). Of course, those of you who have read previous SIGMA novels know that there is MUCH, MUCH more to the plot than that. The story of the plague actually begins with Marco Polo’s 13th Century return from China after spending 20 years in the court of Kublai Khan. Marco left China with 14 ships and 600 men, but when he arrived in Italy was down to 2 ships and only 18 men. In his famous book of “travels,” Marco hinted at a “mysterious” tragedy but refused to elaborate. This historical “mystery” forms the jumping off point for Rollins story. From there, clues lead to a mysterious connection between Marco Polo and the Vatican, clues written in angelic script, the Hindu temple complex of Angkor Wat, cannibalism, piracy and lions, tigers and bears…OH MY!! Exciting, smarter than your average action thriller and containing highly engaging plot points. If you are a fan of this genre, you should definitely be reading this. MY GRIPESFor all the love I heap on this novel, there are a few issues I have that keep me from giving it a 4th star (though just barely). First, as with many of these types of novels, it is very formulaic. You know pretty much what you are going to get when you pick it up. Good guys win, bad guy lose, world is saved, peace preserved and justice served. Nothing horrible about that, it just takes a bit of the tension out of certain aspects of the plot. My biggest gripe is that I think the story should be about 150 to 200 shorter than its 550 pages by cutting out the “failed attempt” to flesh out the characters and provide quiet little family moments and bad romances. This is one thing Rollins does not do well and yet he spends too much time trying to make it work. His characters are two dimensional and for this kind of story, that is just fine. If he were to cut out all of the attempts to round out his characters and show they have any life outside of SIGMA, he could trim this down to 350 to 400 pages of smart, high octane covert action mystery with great historical background and turn this novel into a 5 star thrilltastic joy bringer. Alas, he doesn’t and it is the extraneous stuff that Rollins does not do well that keeps me from giving this a higher rating. Still, the good parts are so interesting and I love the complicated, historical based plots so much that I will continue happily reading the series, hoping for more of the same good and less of everything else. 3.5 stars. RECOMMENDED!!
What do You think about The Judas Strain (2008)?
The first James Rollins book I read was a large-print version of The Doomsday Key. Having bought this book for $1 and change, I was looking forward to re-immersing myself in the series.CONS: Unfortunately, the book gets bogged down in details and could have easily been condensed. I fluctuated among being interested, bored, and frustrated. I had to force myself to finish reading the series. I will probably resume the series, but not anytime soon.PROS: The books in this series blend together science, history, religion, and action/violence. Fans of The Da Vinci Code (which I have yet to read) will probably enjoy this book. A preview of the next book in the series was included at the end of the book.
—Jeff
This is my third Rollins' Sigma Force novel, and can best be described as a guilty pleasure (I stole that from another reviewer, but it fits exactly my view). It is an adventure-action-half historical fact-half made-up stuff-and a little more Dirk Pitt-like amazing escapes. It makes no sense to try to explain it...it's a fun read, with enough historical facts to pause every once in a while and perform some on-line fact checking. Rollins does a great job on researching background...more so than most other authors in this genre. It's clear to me that he has a science background and knows how to have fun with it.It's a good read...great for that next flight. Might be best to read them in order...just sayin'.Recommend!
—Jim
After having read, Black Order, I was pretty sure that Rollins couldn't top it, and unfortunately I was right. However, it did feel a lot more epic than Black Order. Another great area of science was tackled and as an A-level Biologist/Chemist it was great to see the cis/trans idea used within Biology and then with the wonderful biochemistry!!But, some of the ideas were hard to visualise - like the hiding place of the pirates and Mistress of the Seas. Towards the end the resolving of the problem felt half-heartedly done, perhaps it was too epic to try to rap up in 20 or so pages. Having read Sigma 5 first and then returned I'm now back on track and am thoroughly enjoying them. Considering I pick the first one I read in a charity shop!
—Chris
