Book Review – James Rollins’s “Map of Bones”
Map of Bones, the second book in the SIGMA Force series of novels written by ace novelist James Rollins, takes readers into a mystery of biblical proportions as two teams race between ancient sites and solve riddles and clues.
One of the teams is focused on the grand prize of total world domination while the opposite team does everything in its power to stop them, even solving the riddles and jumping ahead of the other team in a race to the finish.
Map of Bones begins at a Catholic Church in Cologne, Germany. What begins as an innocent midnight mass quickly turns to horror as a band of hooded monks seizes control of the service. Most of the worshippers are electrocuted in an obscure method and the monks gun down the rest of the survivors, leaving no witnesses. Except for one young man who crawls to safety and reports the horrors he witnessed. Unfortunately for him, that young man is later killed as the evil doers attempt to wipe their path clean.
It’s the method of execution, not the mass murder itself, that draws the attention of SIGMA Force, a secret organization within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). How can a hundred or so people sit in wooden pews and suddenly become electrocuted? How could some of the people not be electrocuted and have to be shot and killed by the killers disguised as monks?
Continuing from the events in Sandstorm, Painter Crowe is the new director of SIGMA Force. This assignment is going to keep him mainly behind a desk and commanding the squad from his office in Washington, D.C., a position that Crowe despises greatly. He wants to be out in the field where he feels like he’s more of an asset, and not stuck behind a desk.
As Director Crowe commands the squad from his desk, Grayson “Gray” Pierce leads fellow SIGMA Force members Monk Kokkalis and Kathryn “Kay” Bryant out to Cologne, Germany to investigate what happened at the church. Out in Cologne they meet their contacts from the Vatican, Vigor Verona and his niece, Rachel Verona. Rachel is an officer with the Carabinieri, serves under General Rende, and already had an attempt on her life by unknown forces in Rome, Italy.
Part of what makes the massacre in Cologne so unusual is that the culprits seemed to use the killings to cover up their true motive – a simple robbery. Gold was not taken from the church. Instead, it was the altar’s relic, some bones from the Magi (as in the Three Wise Men who visited Jesus Christ shortly after his birth) were stolen. So why were innocent worshippers electrocuted and brutally killed?
We later learn that the Magi bones aren’t exactly true bones but rather a form of a mysterious powder involving a new type of element. This powder was crushed and secretly added to the Communion wafers served at that church. The evil doers activated powerful electromagnets which activated the hidden power within the power, sending surges of electricity through the bodies of those who consumed the Communion wafers. Those worshippers who did not receive the Communion wafers were then shot and killed by the killers disguised as monks.
As Gray, Monk, Kat, Rachel and Uncle Vigor are investigating the church, the killers return and a massive gun battle takes place. The group barely survives the battle and a few of the killers are killed, but a large explosion takes out their bodies and destroys the evidence.
We later learn that the killers are part of a secret organization called the Dragon Court. The Dragon Court has a strong bloodline that dates back over a thousand years.
After the brief investigation at the church and surviving an attempt on their lives, SIGMA Force analyzes the clues and determines that the Dragon Court is going to strike next in a church in Milan, Italy. They race across Europe and hope to beat them there, but once arriving in the church, they discover that it’s too late. Dragon Court set a trap and again tries to wipe out SIGMA Force. Once again SIGMA prevails and we see more evidence of Dragon Court’s brutality as the church’s priests have all been tortured to death.
But Dragon Court missed a small piece of evidence, something that points to Saint Peter’s tomb under St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. An alarming issue with the basilica is that its hosting a memorial to all the victims killed in the Cologne massacre, making it a prime target for the Dragon Court.
After arriving in the Vatican, Uncle Vigor uses his contacts and makes his way to the pope to warn him about the impending attack and the need to evacuate the worshippers. Meanwhile, Gray, Monk, Kat and Rachel descend into the underground tombs and locate Saint Peter’s Tomb. They beat Dragon Court to the tomb, but their margin of victory is measured in minutes. Dragon Court arrives and yet another battle takes place between them and SIGMA.
Dragon’s leader, a large and powerful man named Raoul, uses the mysterious powder and special magnetic plates to activate a secret door and enter a tomb. This sparks an electrical storm above them in the basilica, causing damage to the structure and injuries to hundreds of people. Raoul is able to enter the tomb and photograph the clues during the conflict. His men then force the SIGMA team into the secure room and attempt to kill them with a bomb. As the bomb’s timer quickly ticks to zero, SIGMA finds a secret passage out of the tomb and they escape the following explosion.
The clue in the tomb turned out to be a map of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, with the prime spot being Alexandria, Egypt. They believe that they’re now searching for the tomb of Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, Alexander’s tomb has been missing for over a thousand years.
By now SIGMA knows more about the mysterious powder and knows about its connection to magnetism. They believe that the Lighthouse of Alexandria, a wonder of the ancient world, was built on top of the tomb of the ancient conquerer. The lighhouse was destroyed a long time ago from a series of earthquakes, and its present location would be somewhere underwater in the city’s harbor.
Using their theory of ancient magnetism, the team uses SCUBA gear and compasses to find an underwater clue which points them in the direction of the lost tomb. The tomb itself is then discovered, wielding another clue and further glimpse into an ancient power source. Perhaps the ancient ones were significantly more advanced than modern thinkers give them credit. Or perhaps they had some help from above.
The reward for solving the puzzle is a special golden key, and the clues point back towards the Vatican. Vigor points out that these riddles have deep layers and concludes that the final destination in this chain of clues isn’t the Vatican but rather Avignon, France, a place where popes outsed from the Vatican ruled from 1309 to 1376, making Avignon the temporary seat of power for the Roman Catholic Church.
While investigating Alexander’s tomb and solving the puzzle, Dragon Court arrives and attacks the team. Gray intentionally instructs some of Raoul’s men into a deadly trap, and Seichen, a mysterious and deadly woman working for Dragon Court but she’s really a member of the Guild, is left for dead. SIGMA fights back and escapes from the tomb, but Monk and Rachel are captured by what look like innocent bystanders.
Gray, Kat and Vigor are in their temporary lodgings when they receive a phone call from Raoul. Raoul wants to exchange Rachel and Monk for the golden key from Alexander’s tomb. If he doesn’t then Rachel and Monk will no doubt be killed in a horrific manner. Gray learns over the phone that Raoul already chopped off Monk’s hand as he interrogated Rachel. Gray agrees to meet with him in Switzerland and exchange the key for his friends. He instructs Kat and Vigor to proceed to Avignon to research whatever they can.
Before departing for Switzerland, Gray returns to Alexander’s tomb and finds a wounded Seichan pinned to a rock wall. It’s a slow death for the woman without any help. Gray makes a deal with her, the same woman who tried to kill him earlier in the book and detonate a biological bomb on an Army base, and Seichan agrees to help Gray. She secretly travels with him to central Europe and shows him the location of Dragon Court’s headquarters in the mountains.
Of course, Seichan leads Gray right into a trap. Raoul captures him and keeps him imprisoned along with Rachel. True to his word, as soon as Gray arrived in Europe, Raoul freed Monk and sent him to a local hospital. Raoul then takes the golden key from Gray and prepares his men to depart to Avignon, France.
Gray escapes from his prison cell and frees Rachel. Outside, Seichan detonates a small bomb and there’s a brief battle as Seichan, Gray and Rachel fight with Raoul’s men. Raoul and many of his men escape and Seichan, Gray and Rachel are trapped in the castle. They have to deal with a bunch of large and hungry dogs. Just when the end is near, a helicopter arrives and Seichan, Gray and Rachel escape from the mountain castle.
In Avignon, Kat and Vigor have entered the Papal palace and discovered a secret passageway starting in the castle’s kitchen. The special blocks reacted from electricity and it opened an underground pathway.
The secrets of over 700 years come to life as Kat and Vigor carefully explore the underground structure filled with scrolls and other artifacts belonging to the Catholic Church and ancient world. Gray, Seichen, Rachel and Monk soon arrive to help solve the final puzzle, but Dragon Court is hot on their heels.
Raoul and his men arrive disguised as French police officers. They quickly apprehend the SIGMA Force and then force Gray to help him solve the final puzzle in the palace. Gray and Rachel do help, but when it’s time for Raoul to use the golden key to unlock the final door, he realizes that it’s a trick. Gray gave Raoul a fake key. This sparks a massive outburst of electricity that kills almost all of the men of Dragon Court. Raoul is injured when part of the ceiling falls and pins his arm to the floor, trapping him.
Gray, Rachel, Kat, Monk and Vigor are all alive at the end of the outburst of energy. They question how it’s almost like the energy had a mind of its own and picked which people to kill, hinting that the ancient ones had even bigger ambitions when they designed the series of clues and deadly traps. Not forgetting how Raoul left her for dead in Alexander’s tomb, Seichan executes Raoul with a gunshot to the head.
Outside the palace, General Rende, the true leader of the Dragon Court, is captured when real French police officers arrive on scene, replacing his men disguised as police officers. One of the police officers turns out to be Painter Crowe. Crowe is thrilled with being in the field and an active part of SIGMA again. Desk jobs aren’t for everybody.
Map of Bones ends with Vigor Verona being admitted to the secret Thomas Church within the Catholic Church, and the rest of SIGMA Force returning to the U.S. Monk adjusts to life without his left hand, and he and Kat begin dating. Gray and Rachel also become a couple.
So is James Rollins’s Map of Bones any good?
If you’re a fan of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and love adventure novels with science mixed with religion and ancient history, then Map of Bones is the perfect novel for you! Take everything you love about The Da Vinci Code and simply make it better. Bigger and better characters, puzzles, ancient secrets, action scenes, and simply a much better adventure.
Simply put, Map of Bones delivers!
This novel jumps right into action and conspiracies, and by the end of the fast-paced page-turner you’ll receive a healthy dose of history and a hearty amount of thrills. Be warned: Once you begin this thriller you’ll be pulled deep within its conspiracy and forced to continue reading right to the end.
Personally, I enjoyed Sandstorm a little bit better, but this sequel is still an outstanding novel.
James Rollins has another winner on his hands with Map of Bones. It’s a fantastic and very well-written novel that’s worthy of everybody seeking adventure stories, especially those looking for a biblical connection.
