Altar of Eden

Altar of Eden

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3.95 of 5 stars 3.95  ·  rating details  ·  6,287 ratings  ·  548 reviews
Following the fall of Baghdad, two Iraqi boys stumble upon armed men looting the city zoo. The floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations, but this crime hides a deeper secret. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground weapons lab is ransacked--and something even more horrific is set free.

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Hardcover, 398 pages
Published December 29th 2009 by William Morrow (first published January 1st 2009)
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Marvin
As far as airport novels go, this book was a sleeper...the kind that literally puts you to sleep. That's an odd thing to say about a book that has some of the loudest prose I've ever read, the kind that shouts, shoots, and explodes on every page. But I found it rather dull. I liked the premise and there was a nice amount of science-babble in it. Yet Rollin's cardboard characters with their TV formula problems bored me. This is the first Rollins novel I've read. I know a number of people who like...more
Kim
I really liked this book! It is a quick read. I picked it up just to take a look and read seven chapters before I put it back down. I highly recommend all of James Rollins books, but "Altar of Eden" is definitely my favorite.
Keri
Lorna is innocently driving to work in Louisiana one morning after a strong storm thinking of how her day is going to go. However, once she gets to work, she finds that she has been told that she is going out to inspect a ship-wrecked boat. What??? She is a vet, what do they need her for? Once she gets there however, she not only has to deal with Jack, a dark and sexy Border Patrol agent from her deep and painful past, she also has to deal with some animals on the ship. Not just any animals mind...more
Brian D.
James Rollins' "Altar of Eden" is both an action-packed thriller and a science fiction sensation. Though it's not unusual for the two scenarios to be side by side in a story (think Crichton's Jurassic Park), even in previous Rollins' novels, this one takes extreme action and profound scientific theory to the max.

The story begins in Baghdad, Iraq, and quickly moves to New Orleans and to a deserted fishing trawler discovered after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the region. Lorna Polk, the regional ve...more
Matt Schiariti
Wow. It amazes me how much work James Rollins turns out in such a short period of time and each effort it just fantastic. I didn't even realize this one was coming out so short after The Doomsday Key was released and it's scary how he can write such high quality novels in such short order.

The plot of the book has been summarized by many reviewers before me so I'll spare reiterating what's already been said. What I WILL say though is that this is about as good as thriller/mystery as you're likely...more
Randy Daugherty
The story starts at the fall of Baghdad, the zoo and secretive men taking something from a secret room,One man is shot by the other before he himself is attacked by something that followed him out of the depths of the hidden chamber.
The story picks up seven years later and a grounded troller with mysterious cargo. Local Veterinarian Lorna Polk is called in to help with what is found inside.Animals, each deformed in some way, and a kitten, but upon examination, not just a wild cat but one with Sa...more
Bogdan
и еще один – пока что последний, так надеюсь (разве что очередная «сигма» появится), потому что передоз бывает и от пустоты, сотрясаемого воздуха. то есть – я совершенно не против такой литературы, даже ее приветствую: по крайней мере, она качественная, продуманная и доведенная до ума (если не до стиля), но этого бывает слишком много.

слишком изобильными оказываются приключения, кочующие из книги в книгу, из сюжета в сюжет. наука безгранична, как и неожиданные ее стороны, издали кажущиеся натянут...more
Jamee Pritchard
I'm a faithful fan of James Rollins, and I've read almost all of his books. I love his style and his imagination. He knows how to engage his readers, giving them not only an entertaining story but also an insightful look into an alternate reality. In Altar of Eden, he didn't disappoint. Though I cannot say I loved every page of the book, I can say that I was thoroughly engrossed in the concept behind the story: genetically manipulated animals for the purpose of creating weapons for war. Man is p...more
Jeremy
Jun 13, 2012 Jeremy marked it as to-read

Following the fall of Baghdad, two Iraqi boys stumble upon armed men looting the city zoo. The floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations, but this crime hides a deeper secret. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground weapons lab is ransacked—and something even more horrific is set free.

Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a fishing trawler shipwrecked on a barrier island. The c

...more
Davide
James Rollins si addentra nei meandri delle potenzialità degli esperimenti scientifici e delle manipolazioni su esseri viventi. La veterinaria Lorna Polk si trova catapultata in una vicenda dagli esiti terrificanti: a New Orleans, all'interno di un peschereccio alla deriva, un gruppo di visionari terroristi lascia le tracce di una sconvolgente manipolazione genetica applicata ad una ventina di animali, collegati tra loro da una misteriosa forza telepatica, derivata dagli studi sui frattali. Quan...more
travelgirlut
Is it possible for a book to have too much action? If so, this one qualifies. I wasn't even a quarter of the way through and I was thinking I was getting close to the end because there was so much going on all over the place. The point of view switches so often that it's hard to stay focused on the storyline. The characters are very transparent. Right from the beginning the heroine is attracted to the manly scent of our hero, even though they are out hunting feral cats in the bayou. The little b...more
Steven Kent
The book is titled, Altar of Eden; but for the purposes of this review, I'm going to call it FAKP--short for Fur Ass-Kick Park.

Very much a cross between the Michael Chrichton classic, Jurassic Park and the ground-breaking Peter Benchley novel, Jaws, FAKP tells what happens when a saber tooth jaguar escapes into the bayous of Louisiana.

Not only does this cat have big teeth, it's smart... really smart, I mean, romp Bobby Fischer with three moves in Chess smart. This cat's IQ is higher than all the...more
Mitch
WHY are people rating this book so highly???

The characters were cardboard cutouts, the plot was obviously manipulated, the scenarios were so unlikely...the story was more like a series of explosions and gunfights loosely linked together until it finally expired. Having survived to the end, I know a lot more about weaponry and am reassured that one-dimensional good guys can only get wounded no matter how many rounds are fired per minute, while no-dimensional bad guys inevitably get something she...more
Nicole
I have mentioned many times that novels with themes of technology and science rock my world and James Rollins is one of my absolute favorite action/adventure authors who incorporates these themes. Normally I'm enraptured by the scientific theories Rollins includes in his novels, but in Altar of Eden I felt I was at times being lectured to about the science rather the than the story evolving from the science (this was even more apparent after comparing Altar of Eden to Awakening by S. J. Bolton,...more
Doug
My first glimpse into James Rollins occurred around 2006. I was managing an overstock bookstore at the time—Book Gallery—and a customer came in asking if we had any of Rollins's works. We had two—Amazonia and Ice Hunt—that he already had read, and so I personally picked them up and brought them home to drop on my never ending and ephemerally conceptualized to-read list. Why? Because he had used such phrases as "like Michael Crichton but way more exciting" and "seriously the best novels!" Phrases...more
Paul Pessolano
Lorna Polk, a veterinarian, is working for ACRES (The Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species). She is summoned in the middle of the night because a trawler has run aground off the Louisiana coast. Normally this would not be a situation that requjired a veterinarian, except that the trawler contains a very unusual cargo.

Jack Menard, an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, shows Lorna the blood stained bulkheads (walls) and the absence of any crew members. She is also shown the caged exot...more
Chibineko
As a fan of Rollins for years now, I've been waiting eagerly for this book. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't a Sigma novel, but as several fans can vouch- his stand alone books can often be better than his series novels. I have to say, this book is one of his better ones.

The book begins with Lorna, a biologist at a local conservation lab, being called out to a shipwreck for her input on several animals that were stashed inside the boat. At first Lorna assumes that it's a case of illeg...more
Lura
What if people were used as biological warfare. Not IN biological warfare. Used as weapons basically. People as weapons. Scary thought.

Now imagine it's not just people being made into weapons. It's animals, too. Big cats, foxes, monkeys, even birds. Any kind of sentient animal. Only with increased intelligence. Increased to the point of sapience. Scarier thought. Something as vicious as an animal with near-human intelligence? Shudder.

That was exactly what veterinarian Lorna Polk had to face in J...more
T. Edmund
Despite injecting biblical quote and reference, this novel fails to reach such proportions. Instead the storyline kinda is an elaborate Lake Placid.


I shouldn’t be quite so harsh, the attempts at good science fiction are noteworthy and perhaps as my undergraduate degree is in genetics I am too sceptical.


The basic storyline is: The government is conducting genetic engineering experiments and creating intelligent monsters. A vet (animal doctor) and a vet (Iraq) team up to stop this evil experimen...more
Michelle♥
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Suby
Mr. Rollins is an excellent author. He bases his stories on scientifically proven facts and hypotheses. He researches his locations well. All is fine - but why must there be so much violence in his books. Here the violence involves animals which are 'genetic throwbacks' and also most of the characters some of whom are purely mercenaries. Is it because the readers need such violence to keep their attention span linger longer? I for my part hated the violence but still liked the book because there...more
Mickey DeCicco
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Travis
I've read (almost?) every bookJames Rollins has written, and this one is right up there with his best. I'm not going to say it's my favorite, but it was damn good nonetheless. It's incredibly fast-paced and action filled, with basically no lulls in the story at all - it's a one-shot read, from start to finish. In fact, that's how i read it - all in one night.

Rollins' last handful of novels (i think he's up to 6 or 7) have been part of a lose series called the "Sigma Force" novels, which are enjo...more
Sherri
Bad scientists create genetic throwbacks of various animals - birds with lizard-like skin, snakes with legs, humans of the Australopithecus-variety and saber-toothed panthers. All of this genetic creativity in the hopes of creating the ultimate fighting machine - a better soldier.

The animals are discovered by the police as they are being moved from one location to another and a local geneticist veterinarian is brought in to discover what she can about these odd animals. Little does Lorna know th...more
Claudia
Rollins was one of the authors I found as I waited for Dan Brown to write another book. I LOVE this guy...fast paced, almost plausible, with characters I care about.

This one is not about the Sigma Team but the setting of New Orleans and the swamps made up for the loss of my team. Lorna is a vet working to clone endangered animals and is brought in as a consultant to examine some strange 'wrong' animals left abandoned from a supposed animal smuggling ring...Wrong...as parrots with no feathers, a...more
Patrick Gibson
Our favorite veterinarian follow-up writer (he followed-up numerous Cussler novels with ‘Subterranean’ and ‘Sahara;’ and followed-up Dan Brown with ‘Map of Bones’) has now chosen to ride the coattails of Crichton (it’s okay this time, since ‘Next’ wasn’t very good). At least his take on genetic engineering doesn’t include dinosaurs. Although—there is one nasty saber-tooth pussycat keeping the first act moving along. Yes, our theater-challenged author has titled his sections ‘Acts.’ In deference...more
Jim
Oct 21, 2011 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2011
I've been meaning to read one of Mr. Rollins' books for quite a while. They looked like action/adventure without the politics and intrigue of so many other authors. Well, I certainly got what I asked for; with a spunky, independent lead (female!) character; a smattering of science; an assortment of action scenes; a grizzled, scarred bad guy; and a decent narrative.

This particular story involved genetic engineering, exotic animals, and mysterious military implications. The character development w...more
Liz
Mar 21, 2010 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: james patterson fans
Recommended to Liz by: alison cardone (stepmom)
Shelves: mystery-suspense
This was an interesting book with larger than life animals and hominids living in modern day. A boat unexpectedly is abandoned near an island in the gulf. Aboard are many strange animals, so Lorna (a vet) is called in to assist with the animals and to find out how they came to be what they are. They take the animals back to Lorna's place of work ACRES to care for the animals and to research them as well. These are no ordinary animals, in fact one of them an extremely large saber tooth tiger is l...more
Yaw
Capture my attention from the beginning. The genetically modified animals, genetic throwback that brings back those animals that had long been extinct to lives are very interesting.
I like it because it is not all pure fiction, many of the facts are really true and they all make sense. I believe in the genetic throwback, the snake with legs is true. The viral code in junk DNA is true and I also believe i what the author thought of the reason why the junk DNA are still kept for such a long time, w...more
Mattias
I have read all of Rollins work and I have to say that this is one of his best so far. The story about genetical engineering on animals and others is very interesting. And as usual you learn something when you read his books like in this case; fractal science which I had no idea what was before I read the book. But Rollins wouldnt be.....well Rollins if he didnt match this with great action and supense sequences. And as usual its hard to put the book down, I read it in 4 days I think. The charac...more
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James Rollins is the New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers, 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 h

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More about James Rollins...
Map of Bones: A Sigma Force Novel The Last Oracle: A Sigma Force Novel Sandstorm Black Order: A Sigma Force Novel The Judas Strain: A Sigma Force Novel

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