The Event Group, a super-secret sect of the US government operating out of an underground bunker beneath Nellis Air Force Base, is called to action once again. This time, they face an enemy who has not only the desire to control the world, but the means to destroy it. The Juliai Coalition is a secret organization of the descendants of the City of Atlantis who have carefully preserved their bloodline while they wait for the opportunity to control the world. Now, with a device created by the ancient Atlanteans themselves, they are poised to make their move. Only the Event Group’s discovery of a treasure trove of old scrolls from the Juliai Coalition gives them a hint of the destruction that awaits the world, and only the Event Group can stop it.
There were some really good ideas at work in this novel, but they were not enough to save it. First, the idea of villains using sound waves in their attempts to control the world is not new. Craig Dirgo did it much more convincingly in “Tremor” and I seem to recall at least one other adventure book that used the idea, as well. Ancient Atlantis also isn’t a new theme, though this is the first time its people have been painted as villains. These are not the worst issues with this book, however. Probably the most glaring flaw is that none of the characters in the book have a personality. They are more than paper-thin and below one-dimensional. There are only three women in the Event Group, and even they were so flat it was hard to tell them apart. Forget it with the male characters. The only clues to telling any of them apart were their names.
Overall, it just felt like the author tried to cram too many ideas into this novel, and none of them got enough attention. The author went to the trouble of creating a sunken city linked to hundreds of miles of underground passageways full of 15,000 year-old artifacts, and I just told you almost as much about them as exists in the book. So many wonderful opportunities were wasted there while we were dragged through the usual Washington rigmarole with a stressed-out president and his advisers making the usual snap warmongering decisions they always make in second-rate adventure thrillers. There was also zero intrigue. The bad guys made a habit of standing around announcing their plans and discussing how to thwart the Event Group and then doing just that. The Event Group and the United States military were always a step or two behind, and always managed to be understaffed and outgunned, no matter how many times they were attacked by the Coalition. The scene where they dive on the USS Arizona was full of remarks about how it was a hallowed place deserving of respect…just before the Event Group blew it up and swam off to do something more important. It was just plain dumb, but no more so than any of the other poorly written action scenes. I’ve never been in the military, but the descriptions of the weapons and battle scenes were cheesy even to me.
Golemon sucked me in with his awesome debut, Event, but since has failed to impress me. His second book, Legend, was a disappointment, and this one was simply a mess. It felt like a high school student followed an adventure novel how-to flow chart, and what could have been an intriguing storyline missed on all counts. The publisher didn’t waste any time proofreading it, either. There were more pages with typos than without. I want to say this book felt a lot like Matt Reilly without the italics, but Reilley’s books are a whole lot better.