Product Description

The end of the world starts now ...Ancient wisdom predicts the end of the world with uncanny precision. But it also provided the key to staving off apocalypse: a flawless sapphire of incomparable beauty carved into the perfect likeness of a human skull. Hidden for four centuries, a crystal skull of exquisite beauty has just been found by Stella Cody, who also inherits its legacy of dark secrets, intrigue, and murder. Facing an increasingly implacable enemy, Stella and her lover, Kit, struggle to crack the code that hides the Skull's intended resting place. Their search takes them from the intellectual rigour of Cambridge University to the untamed wildness of England's prehistoric stone circles. But time is against them, and they have days - hours - left to uncover the secret that may yet save the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13553 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 512 pages

Daily Mail, 22 February 2008
'Scott has done her research and her novel is so engaging, even plausible, that you, too, will be panting with the desperate excitement of it all.'

Synopsis
The end of the world starts now ...Ancient wisdom predicts the end of the world with uncanny precision. But it also provided the key to staving off apocalypse: a flawless sapphire of incomparable beauty carved into the perfect likeness of a human skull. Hidden for four centuries, a crystal skull of exquisite beauty has just been found by Stella Cody, who also inherits its legacy of dark secrets, intrigue, and murder. Facing an increasingly implacable enemy, Stella and her lover, Kit, struggle to crack the code that hides the Skull's intended resting place. Their search takes them from the intellectual rigour of Cambridge University to the untamed wildness of England's prehistoric stone circles. But time is against them, and they have days - hours - left to uncover the secret that may yet save the world.

From the Back Cover
21.12.12
The date is set.
Time is running out.

Hidden for four centuries, a crystal skull of exquisite beauty has just been found by Stella Cody, who also inherits its legacy of dark secrets, intrigue and murder.

Facing an increasingly implacable enemy, Stella and her lover, Kit, struggle to crack the code that hides the skull’s intended resting place.

Their search takes them from the intellectual rigour of Cambridge University to the untamed wildness of England’s prehistoric stone circles.

But time is against them, and they have only days – hours – left to uncover the secret that may yet save the world.

Customer Reviews

Bland and tedious
This book promised so much, but sadly failed to deliver. The characters had very little depth, and the ending when it came was little more than a whimper, rather than the glorious finale it could've been. There was so much potential available: the twelve other skulls, which were hardly explored at all; and the apocalypse, which was all set up nicely for December 21st, 2012, but which seemed to lack any sort of urgency once the day finally arrived. Sadly, like the rest of the book, it was all very anti-climactic.

Underwhelmed
I'm a bit perplexed about my feelings for this book. I really want to be able to write a positive review but it really doesn't deserve it. I won't bother to rehash the story other then to say that the cover is slightly misleading in the sense that it stated that 'the implacable enemy is a threat.' As far as the story goes, it is well written and the premise is extremely good but the content is rather bland. I can safely say that I remained underwhelmed throughout the whole experience. The story threatened to pick up the pace and crank up the excitement factor but this always failed to materialise. The characters didn't do anything for me and the threat was almost none existent, in fact I can't for the life of me (with the exception of the odd scuffle) think of a single occasion when our heroes were in any danger. It was alluded to but quite often skipped over and you then had to endure a short paragraph as to how our heroes escaped, which sometimes made for annoying reading. Say what you like about the content and style of Rollins and Reilly but they know how to write exciting set pieces. The 16th Century storyline that runs parallel to the present day storyline is the better of the two but you get the overall sense at the end of the book of 'what was the point of all that?' I don't wish to spoil anything but nothing much happens. I don't think this will put me off the author but this book was simply not what I was expecting.

Rubbish.
This is the worst book I have ever read. The cover blurb made it sound good, but was the only good bit about it. I managed to finish it but only because I hate not finishing books. It went straight in the recyling bin when I had so at least it can go towards something better.