The Judas Strain by James Rollins

"The Judas Strain" is another fast-paced action-thriller from the series "Sigma Force" by James Rollins. The Sigma Force is a covert field arm of DARPA, and they work to either neutralize or safeguard new technologies all around the world. This gets them into lots of tight situations, and this time is no exception!

The story of the "Judas Strain" traces back to Marco Polo. He and his crew encountered something deadly that they were never willing to talk about, and now it looks like that something has been unleashed on the world. At Christmas Island there has been a massive wave of death, and the most frightening part is that it looks like it was released intentionally. This could be the most terrifying biological weapon yet!

All of our old friends are in this book, and the situations they face are extreme. Commander Gray Pierce wasn't even originally involved in the situation, until his old nemesis shows up at his door step offering to help, and his parents are kidnapped to stop the two of them. Monk and Lisa find themselves in the middle of the ocean with a diabolical mastermind who is intent on destruction. And we even see our old friend Monsignor Verona from the Vatican!

Black Order by James Rollins

I had a conversation the other day with my Mom about books, sparked by seeing "The Da Vinci Code" in a check out line. One of the things I told her about was the "Sigma Force" novels which I described to her as similar to "The Da Vinci Code" except with out all the controversy surrounding them!

"Black Order" continues the "Sigma Force" series by James Rollins. This time we find ourselves caught up in a sweeping story that has its roots in Nazi Germany, and that extends to mountains of Nepal. There are three main story lines running through the story, and it took me quite awhile to figure out how they all connected. I appreciate that in a story, I like being stumped!

The "Black Order" is the name given to a series of horrendous experiments that the Nazi's had been conducting in an attempt to create the perfect soldier. Only the experiments didn't end when the Nazi's fell. Now the results of these experiments are leading to death and destruction, and it's up to the Sigma Force to unravel this mystery.

On a side note, I read this book as my brother was on his way home from two years in Nepal. Entirely coincidental, but a lot of fun. This story takes place up in the high mountains though, and he really didn't get up there much.

My Life - The Grand Adventure

It's been awhile since I've done a good update on this blog about what's been going on with me. Heck, it's been a long time since I've blogged consistently period! I know that's left a lot of my friends wondering what's going on, so I decided it's time to update! Plus I have some good news to share, so that always makes it easier to give an update :P

The reason I've been awol alot from...everywhere...is that my migraines got really bad again. I've done a LOT of sleeping and a LOT of reading on the couch. It's been really frustrating and I was getting pretty depressed about it. It's overwhelming when you can barely get the day to day stuff done, like cooking and dishes, and there's no hope of doing anything fun, like going out with the girls!

Well I saw my neurologist last week. I didn't really have much hope going into because I'm on so many meds for my migraines already, and we've eliminated a lot of foods as well. The doctor totally shocked me though!

Apparently there's an IV therapy that you can do to stop the migraine cycles. She said my previous neurologist probablty would have done it, but he didn't have access to an IV center (called a infusion clinic) so he couldn't really. You can do the treatments via shots, but it's pretty painful so that's not a good option.

So we started the treatment last week. She said it might take several visits to get this current cycle of migraines stopped, but the good news that any time I have a migraine that lasts for two days or more, I can go in for an IV to stop things before I get stuck in another cycle of helplessness.

I'm really excited about this. The drugs aren't fun, but the possibility of being functional on a regular basis is incredible. I nearly started crying in the doctors office! And that was before they gave me the drugs.

The drugs I'm getting are a cocktail of a migraine med to stop the migraine, a pain med (narcotic) to help with the pain and to keep my blood pressure from spiking, anti-nausea because the other drugs trigger that problem (I got SUPER dizzy and could barely sit up with out my stomach heaving), magnesium, and an anti-seizure med (it works for migraines too). I had to do the shots last week because they didn't have an opening in the infusion clinic. That was fun - not. LOL. Because they gave me two shots of everything but the valium I ended up with four shots in my arm and three in my hips. Fortunately the two treatments I've done since then have been IV's. Much less painful!

Now I called my life a grand adventure right? Well the massive dose of drugs wasn't the end of the story! On Wednesday (so the shot day) I also had an appointment with my natural doc out in Beaverton. I slept in the car on the way over, and then I slept through most of my appointment while she did some massage and pressure point stuff. Then, we're on the way home and I'm half asleep again (do you blame me with both narcotics and valium in my system?), and we get stopped right off the I5 bridge because the bridge is up. We were laughing about yet another thing happening you know? Gordon turned the car off to save gas (we were there for about 15 mins) and I dozed off.

Well the bridge went up and traffic finally started to move, and we went to start the car, and nothing. We're pretty sure the alternator is dead. So there we were, I'm barely coherent, we're in the fast lane, and the car is completely dead.

I hopped out and went to the drivers side. Fortunately Gordon has a small car (a Rav). He got in back to push and I pushed a little from the front. The guy behind us (driving a delivery van) jumped out to help push, which I was praising God for because with my back problems there really wasn't much I could do to help with the pushing.

We got off to the side of the road just fine and Dad came and picked us up. He has a tow bar (he used to have a towing business) so we were able to tow the car right away. Getting me out of the car (in traffic) and into the truck was interesting. I could hardly walk in a straight line! After my Dad and brothers got the car hooked up the boys jumped in the back of the truck (where their butts got soaked) and we took off.

It was a crazy day.

But wait! The fun doesn't stop! I'm going to be getting a colonoscopy and an endoscopy tomorrow. I've been having some intestinal issues (I won't give you the nasty details) and we're trying to determine the cause. So I'm on a liquid diet today. Oh yah - let the good times roll...

Map of Bones by James Rollins

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Map of Bones

"Map of Bones" is the second book in the Sigma Force series by James Rollins. The Sigma Force is a special group of operatives in the US government that specialize in getting in and out nasty situations, typically with ancient artifacts. Well, at least they do in the books I've read so far!

"Map of Bones" starts out with a horrific massacre during a midnight mass in Germany. It turns out that the massacre had multiple purposes. One, to distract from the theft of the bones in the reliquary. Two, to thumb the noses of thieves at the Catholic church. And three, as a grisly scientific experiment.

This begins a race across Europe to catch the thieves, who are a part of something called the Dragon Court. Two operatives of Sigma Force team up with a member of the Italian police force, and her uncle, who works in the Vatican. It takes all of their specialized knowledge, and a good bit of luck, to figure it all out as they track down clues that were originally left in the 13th century.

Sandstorm by James Rollins

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Sandstorm

I'm not really sure why I ordered this book from the library. I think a friend recommended the author to me, but the last few months have been so hectic that I don't really remember! Ah well, that's life. "Sandstorm" is an adventure thriller in the tradition of Indiana Jones or anything by Clive Cussler. It's not what I read on a daily basis, but it is a genre I enjoy venturing into from time to time!

"Sandstorm" is the first book in Rollin's "Sigma Force" series of books. The Sigma Force is a small group of elite operatives designated by the US government to deal with certain problems. In this case, they are investigating a strange museum break in and the weird "lighting" that was associated with it.

The search will take us to the Arabian desert, and deep into the lives of two women. Lady Kara Kensington and Safia al-Maaz appear to be very different. Lady Kara is a wealthy heiress with a drive and determination that has taken her inheritance and multiplied it. Safia loves nothing more than spending time studying and preserving ancient artifacts. The two have a lot in common though. Safia grew up as Lady Kara's companion, and both of them have their roots in Arabia, and in this mystery.

If your looking for a "can't put it down" action-adventure than this book is perfect for you!