Kingdom of Bones (Sigma Force Series)

by James Rollins

Overview

From #1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins, the latest riveting, deeply imaginative thriller in the Sigma Force series, told with his trademark blend of cutting-edge science, historical mystery, and pulse-pounding action.

It begins in Africa . . .

A United Nations relief team in a small village in the Congo makes an alarming discovery. An unknown force is leveling the evolutionary playing field. Men, women, and children have been reduced to a dull, catatonic state. The environment surrounding them—plants and animals—has grown more cunning and predatory, evolving at an exponential pace. The insidious phenomenon is spreading from a cursed site in the jungle — known to locals as the Kingdom of Bones —and sweeping across Africa, threatening the rest of the world.

What has made the biosphere run amok? Is it a natural event? Or more terrifyingly, did someone engineer it?

Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force are prepared for the extraordinary and have kept the world safe, vigilance for which they have paid a tragic personal price. Yet, even these brilliant and seasoned scientific warriors do not understand what is behind this frightening development—or know how to stop it. As they race to find answers, the members of Sigma quickly realize they have become the prey.

To head off global catastrophe, Sigma Force must risk their lives to uncover the shattering secret at the heart of the African continent—a truth that will illuminate who we are as a species and where we may be headed . . . sooner than we know.

Mother Nature—red in tooth and claw—is turning against humankind, propelling the entire world into the Kingdom of Bones.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062893048
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/19/2022
Series:	Sigma Force Series , #16
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	624
Sales rank:	3,887
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

James Rollins is the author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the "top crowd pleasers" (New York Times) and one of the "hottest summer reads" (People magazine). In each novel, acclaimed for its originality, Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets--and he does it all at breakneck speed and with stunning insight. He lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Hometown:

Sacramento, California

Date of Birth:

August 20, 1961

Place of Birth:

Chicago, Illinois

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/07/2022

Bestseller Rollins’s exhilarating 16th Sigma Force novel (after 2020’s The Last Odyssey) takes a Sigma Force team, including former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne, to a UN refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been overwhelmed by a simultaneous invasion of unusually violent insects and animals and an outbreak of a mysterious and devastating sickness. Their mission, which is to identify and combat what officials fear could be another worldwide pandemic, becomes a literal rescue as the camp is attacked by corrupt Congolese forces at the behest of an industrial-mining billionaire with a sinister agenda. Wayne and the other Sigma team members must travel deep into the primeval jungle in search of the Kingdom of Bones, a fabled ancient Shangri-La that might provide the cure to the disease, if they can survive the deadly mutating flora and fauna. Rollins, a former veterinarian, excels in description of animal taxonomy, both real and of his own invention. Fans of Clive Cussler and Michael Crichton won’t want to miss this one. Agents: Russ Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency; and Danny Baror, Baror International. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Rollins’s excellent 15^th Sigma Force novel... marries nail-biting action with a highly imaginative premise….This is a thoughtful, nonstop thrill ride that’s an exemplar of an escapist page-turner”  — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Last Odyssey

“Rollins balances action-adventure, history, mythology and science in a truly imaginative story. All of the elements harmonize in this page-turner, which takes his team of adventurers into the very gates of Hell. This is one of Rollins’s best novels, and a perfect book to get immersed in during these turbulent times.”  — Seattle Times on The Last Odyssey

“Rollins spins an entertaining thriller.”  — Kirkus Reviews on The Last Odyssey

“Science fiction and archaeology have had a long relationship. The link is a conviction that there is a hidden truth in the relics of dead civilizations…and that this can be uncovered by what we now know about science… The dominant figure in this area of fiction right now is James Rollins.” — Wall Street Journal

“Nobody does this stuff better.” — Lee Child

From the Publisher

Nobody does this stuff better.

Lee Child

Rollins balances action-adventure, history, mythology and science in a truly imaginative story. All of the elements harmonize in this page-turner, which takes his team of adventurers into the very gates of Hell. This is one of Rollins’s best novels, and a perfect book to get immersed in during these turbulent times.” 

Seattle Times on The Last Odyssey

The Sigma Force novels (this is the sixteenth) are muscular, dynamic action-adventures. But this doesn’t mean they skimp on character: Rollins knows just when to slow things down and let us get to know the players. He’s very good at this sort of thing, and his fans will surely be lining up for this one.” 

Booklist on Kingdom of Bones  

Science fiction and archaeology have had a long relationship. The link is a conviction that there is a hidden truth in the relics of dead civilizations…and that this can be uncovered by what we now know about science… The dominant figure in this area of fiction right now is James Rollins.

Wall Street Journal

Science fiction and archaeology have had a long relationship. The link is a conviction that there is a hidden truth in the relics of dead civilizations…and that this can be uncovered by what we now know about science… The dominant figure in this area of fiction right now is James Rollins.

Wall Street Journal

Rollins balances action-adventure, history, mythology and science in a truly imaginative story. All of the elements harmonize in this page-turner, which takes his team of adventurers into the very gates of Hell. This is one of Rollins’s best novels, and a perfect book to get immersed in during these turbulent times.” 

null Seattle Times on The Last Odyssey

2022-03-16
A plague threatens to burst from the Congolese jungle and infect the world in the latest bloodcurdling adventure in the Sigma Force series.

“Stay away. Dear God, don’t come out here”: That's the warning ignored by Sigma Force’s Tucker Wayne and his faithful soldier dog, Kane. Near Kisangani, “the literal heart of Africa,” a fearful contagion runs amok. Scientists and locals suffer attacks from crazed ants, bats, and myriad other jungle fauna. Some of the populace becomes nearly catatonic—what’s going on? The answer appears to be viruses, those half-living creatures said to outnumber all the stars in the universe. An infected moth lands on skin with bloodcurdling effect. Baboons go crazy and tear people apart. Ants develop spikes, as though their mandibles aren’t enough for ripping into flesh. The normally cranky hippos are even crankier. And “the deeper we go, the worse it will get.” The evil mining CEO Nolan De Coster loves all of this—he wants a massive pandemic in which he can become the savior, but he’s not all the good guys have to worry about. Even the flora fight them. They encounter intelligent fungi and angry trees as they get closer and closer to Mfupa Ufalme, the accursed Kingdom of Bones. Thriller readers love ticking clocks, and this yarn has several, like the timer on the mother of all bombs that is going to explode any minute now. The story is a well-mixed blend of action, science, and occasionally over-the-top imagination. That bats are “furry sacks of viruses” is an easy sell—judgmental trees, not so much. Readers will like the characters, especially the brave Kane and Benjamin Frey, the biologist with an eidetic memory and mild Asperger’s. This excursion into the depths of Africa is more enjoyable than Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, although it gets a little gross in spots.

This one’s fast-moving fun.

Kirkus Reviews