Author : James Rollins
Genre : Mystery/Thriller
Pages : 416
Publish Date : April 29, 2010
Publisher : Orion
Started Reading : January 10, 2011
Completed Reading : January 12, 2011
Book Rating : 5/5
Following the fall of Baghdad, two Iraqi boys stumble upon armed men looting the city zoo. The floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations, but this crime hides a deeper secret. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground weapons lab is ransacked - and something even more horrific is set free.
Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a fishing trawler shipwrecked on a barrier island. The crew is missing or dead, but the boat holds a frightening cargo: a caged group of exotic animals, clearly part of a black market smuggling ring.
Yet, something is wrong with these beasts, disturbing deformities that make no sense: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-toothed tiger. They also all share one uncanny trait - a disturbingly heightened intelligence.
To uncover the truth about the origin of this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses, Lorna must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her and is now an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, Jack Menard.
Together, the two must hunt for a beast that escaped the shipwreck while uncovering a mystery tied to fractal science and genetic engineering, all to expose a horrifying secret that traces back to humankind's earliest roots.
But can Lorna stop what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden before it threatens not only the world but also the very foundation of what it means to be human?
*****
Finally! I got to read a book that is not smut! LOL...
Rollins did not disappoint (as always!). I really enjoy every book that he had published.. well, I have not yet read Jake Ransom but other than that, all have been awesome. Altar of Eden, though a stand-alone novel (I'm in love with the Sigma Force series), is one that I truly loved. I can't believe that I didn't read it the moment I got my hands on a copy. It's something that made me think (genetic engineering, fractal science, etc) but not to the point of nosebleeding (LOL) and it also made me feel. It's fast-paced and entertaining. Something that kept me up at night just to finish the novel.
I can't wait for Devil's Colony this June and meet Gray Pierce again. :)
