Product Description

Arson and murder reveal an insidious plot to steal a Bible that once belonged to Charles Darwin. As Commander Gray Pierce investigates, he is soon caught up in a mystery that dates back to Nazi Germany - and to horrific experiments performed in a now-abandoned laboratory buried in a hollowed-out mountain in Poland. A continent away, madness ravages a remote monastery high in Nepal. As Lisa Cummings, a young American doctor, begins to investigate reported atrocities at the monastery, she is suddenly the target of an assassin. Her only ally is Painter Crowe, director of SIGMA Force, now undercover - and already showing signs of the baffling malady destroying the minds of the monks. Now it is up to Gray Pierce to save both Painter and Lisa - and a world in jeopardy . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17054 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

About the Author
James Rollins is the author of seven bestselling novels. An amateur spelunker and scuba enthusiast, he also holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine. He currently lives and writes in Sacramento, California.

Customer Reviews

This Book Has Got Everything

James Rollins is a pseudonym of James Clemens who was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1961. He now has a veterinary practice in Sacramento, California, where he shares his home with two Dalmations, a stray Shepherd and a love-sick parrot named Igor. He has written several books that have been highly acclaimed and I believe this one to be his latest to date.

All of James Rollins books are fast paced and exciting and this offering is no different. A fire in a Copenhagen book store ignites a hunt across four continents. Arson and murder reveal a plot to steal a bible that once belonged to the notable botanist Charles Darwin, who became the father of present day evolutionary thinking. Commander Gray Pierce dives headlong into a mystery that dates back to a Germany when the Nazi's were in power and to a now abandoned laboratory, buried deep in in a polish mountain where horrific experiments were performed . . .

Black order is a brilliantly written adventure novel that leaves books like the Da Vinci Code floundering in its wake. It is pure escapism and I was truly sorry when it ended. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fast-paced adventure novels.

Absolutely outstanding!!
I read this book in a single day, I couldn't bare to put it down!! It has everything a book needs - adventure, mystery, action, history, even a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure. The short chapters with different sub-plots running alongside each other to meet in the climax is completely gripping. It's fast paced, exciting and very interesting! I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone. Read it!!!!

OK if you like action
The first 5 chapters each introduced a new character in a "gripping" situation. Trouble was, by the time the characters reappeared, you'd forgotten who they were and cared even less! And surprisingly, Dr Rollins, the vet, didn't euthanase any of them - you thought they'd died, but back they came. A bit of culling wouldn't have gone amiss! There were some interesting expositions of things like quantum mechanics, but they tended to slow up the plot and weren't always scientifically accurate. It's a book for blokes, maybe, with lots of action, and to give it its due, lots of twists. If you prefer your thrillers more psychological and with more complex and empathetic characters, you'd be better with Minette Walters.