Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Devil Colony by James Rollins Book Review

Rating: Strong Case for 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, and Thrillers

**Review**

The Devil Colony is the seventh book in the Sigma Force series by James Rollins and definitely one of the better stories of the series. In this story, Sigma Force, which is a covert branch of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is asked to get involved when a highly publicized explosion rocks a cave in Utah killing an important member of a research team and setting off a chain of events that is heard around the world and sets in motion events that may lead to the destruction of humanity.

Painter Crowe, who is the director and leader of Sigma, is tasked by General Gregory Metcalf head of DARPA, to get involved with the explosion investigation and bring about a quick conclusion. He realizes that the Guild is always nosing it's way into any Sigma investigation, and it will be only a matter of time before they interfere once again.

Painter is unhappy to realize that his niece, Kai Quocheets, is somehow involved and was last seen leaving the cave as the explosion goes off. Painter, as usual, is quick on his feet, and manages to thwart the end of times destruction of humanity. There is also a group that calls itself the True Bloodlines, and wants what was discovered in the caves.

I am truly happy that Painter is finally allowed to get out from his desk, and do actual field work for a change. He started out as an operative, but moved into the directors spot soon after the events of Sandstorm. Most of the stories have surrounded Commander Grayson Pierce, Monk Kokkalis, and Seichan a skilled assassin who formerly worked for an international criminal organization known as the Guild. The Guild has deep reaches into every corner of the globe and the government of the US. She has since betrayed her former employer, but is still on most countries most wanted list, including the US, and the Mossad. As of a year ago, she now works covertly for Sigma under Painter Crowe and is nearly always partnered with Pierce.

The Devil Colony intertwines fiction with history when it comes to the United States and it's founding. I was surprised to find that only part of this story actually took place outside of the US unlike the previous six installments. This book focuses on the founding fathers, and the fact that they too dealt with traitors who were willing to do anything to become rich and powerful and have a hand in the direction of what happened to this country. It also has strong Native American influences, as well as a possible connection to the Book of Mormon and whether or not a lost tribe from Israel actually found their way to the new world before Christopher Columbus.

Rollins is, as usual, an amazing researcher and writer. He vividly creates a world that you can put yourself into and not feel that things are a bit too made up or shoved down your throat in order to make a point. If you pay attention to the end of the book, you will see how hard he actually works and does his research about actual events that happened over the course of history of the US. There are truths to various storylines that he writes about, and then, of course, there are the fictional aspects which I’m disinclined to spoil for any future readers of this series.

The ending is truly emotional for all of the major players, and leaves lots of questions to the future of Sigma and it's operatives. 

If you are at all interested in this series, may I recommend that you at least try to read some of the books that were previously released in this series?

ARC accepted 05/20/2011 via NetGalley.com. Book releases 07/01/2011

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