Doomsday

Graham Brown

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

An ancient secret. A terrifying prophecy. The last race against time...

In the heart of the Amazon, NRI operative Danielle Laidlaw makes an incredible discovery: a translucent Mayan stone generating massive waves of energy while counting down toward the infamous apocalyptic date: December 21, 2012. And somewhere, there are three more just like it.

What power will be unleashed if all four stones come together? Who created them - and who has them now? Using a cryptic Mayan map and a prophecy that points to the end of the world, Danielle and her team race toward answers. But one staggering question remains: Were these artefacts meant to save us - or to destroy us once and for all?

About the Author:
Graham Brown was born in Chicago. He is a pilot and an attorney. He lives with his wife, Tracey, in Tucson, Arizona.

Review by Chrissi (300411) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
This is a sequel to The Mayan Conspiracy, in which a strange white stone was taken from a temple by CIA outcast Hawker and Danielle Laidlaw of the NRI. The stone has been handed over for scientific examination and Hawker and Danielle have gone their separate ways. Unfortunately, the way that Hawker has gone is not the way he had hoped, the powers that be have reneged on the deal that was made and he is pottering around the backwaters of the world scratching a living. Danielle is engaged with a stable life outside the NRI but she returns for one last job. When she goes missing, Arnold Moore, the director of the NRI sets out to find Hawker and ask for his help in getting her back.

The action sequences in this book are well paced and clever, and you find yourself rooting for the good guys although the odds sometimes seem bleak. There are other characters interested in the powers of the stone and it turns out that it might not be the only one of its type and together, the stones are central to a prophecy regarding the end of the world. Not everyone believes that the stones are benign, they exhibit powers and surges which are alarming and tensions mount as Danielle and Hawker find themselves avoiding government agents and Chinese criminals as they try to figure out what they need to do.

Although I have given this book the same score as the first, I liked this one slightly more, maybe it is the familiarity of the characters, maybe it is that it is a deft, clever, timely novel; I particularly liked the take on the end of the Mayan Long Count. I am sure that this is not the only adventure thriller that will be released this year to coincide with the global fascination with the Mayan Calendar, but this will be one of the better ones. I do hope that we see more of Hawker, he is such a versatile character and it would be nice to see him again.
Chrissi (30th April 2012)