Book Review – The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

The Blood Gospel

By James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

Harper Collins

In Stores Now

I’ve been a fan of best-selling author James Rollins for several years now. His Sigma Force series of military thrillers laced with historical mysteries has kept me coming back for more with each new tale. Now, Rollins has teamed up for the first time with best-selling author Rebecca Cantrell. For those of you unfamiliar with Cantrell, she is the award-winning writer of the Hannah Vogel mystery/thriller series.

But that’s not the only change with the new series (The Order of the Sanguines). Instead of another high-tech thriller in the same vein as his Sigma Force books, Rollins and Cantrell have created a thrilling supernatural horror story packed with plenty of high-octane adventure.

Book Review – The City of Screams by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

The City of Screams

By James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

HarperCollins

Available now

In recent years, author James Rollins has sold thousands of books in his best-selling Sigma Force series. Rollins has written other standalone novels, but his most popular works continue to be the adventures of Painter Crowe and his teammates. Now, Rollins is teaming up with mystery writer Rebecca Cantrell to launch a new series with this short story. If this first taste is any indication, the new series could be as popular as Sigma Force.

This e-only novella introduces Sgt. Jordan Stone, a team leader for JEFF (Joint Expedition Forensic Facility), a CSI-esque group of investigators in Afghanistan. The team is called to investigate the massacre of a team of archaeologists in the titular “City of Screams,” Shahr-e-Gholghol. Upon arriving, the team discovers a lone survivor — a 10-year-old girl — and a terrifying mystery. In the 13th century, the conqueror Genghis Khan slaughtered more than 100,000 people at the site, and some believe the ghosts of that massacre still haunt the location today. Rollins and Cantrell play off this piece of history as well as some others in building a suspenseful story that ends far too quickly.

I knew it was a novella or short story going in, but I was still disappointed with just how short it was and just how quickly the story ended. I wanted to know more.

I am a huge Rollins fan and this book did nothing to change that opinion. From the little taste we get here, I like the new character of Sgt. Jordan Stone and am excited to see what the full-length novel holds. This short story did just what it was intended to do — introduce the new character and whet our appetite for what is to come.

In January, the first book in the new series will be released. Look for “The Blood Gospel,” the first book in the Order of the Sanguines series on Jan. 8, 2013.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I give “The City of Screams” a 4.5

Book Review – Bloodline by James Rollins

Bloodline

By James Rollins

William Morrow

In Stores Now

No one does thrillers quite like James Rollins does thrillers. His books are the benchmark all other authors in the genre strive to achieve. In Bloodline, the 8th book in the Sigma Force series, the best-selling author again shows why he is looked up to by his peers as the master.

Bloodline picks up shortly after the events of 2011’s The Devil Colony. Somali pirates hijack a yacht, kidnapping a pregnant young American woman and killing her husband. When Sigma Commander Gray Pierce is called in to lead a team to rescue the woman, he wonders why his team is being called in to deal with a simple hijacking. However, this is no simple hijacking. The hijackers want a lot more than a simple ransom and the victim is no average American. To rescue the woman, Gray and his team will have to once again face the constant thorn in their side — the Guild. Gray and the rest of Sigma Force again criss-cross the globe in their quest to stop the Guild’s plans to change the course of America’s future.