"Non-stop thriller"

Archeologist John Ackerman working on a millennium old Vikings excavation in Greenland uncovers a meteorite. He realizes that the stone is radioactive, struck earth around 50,000 years ago, and that Eric the Red and his followers must have buried it in this cave because they must have learned first hand the danger it posed.

Two deadly opponents want to possess the Viking meteorite to use in constructing a devastating super- bomb that can wipe out an entire city in a blink. Aleimein Al-Kahlifa and his Muslim group see this as an omen from God to use with a nuclear device stolen in the Ukraine to destroy London; billionaire industrialist Halifax Hickman sees the opportunity to use the material with his industrial know how to destroy Islam. Juan Cabrillo, Chairman of the Corporation, sends his experts to stop both factions from succeeding in their respective plots of mass destruction.

As with the first Oregon Files book, GOLDEN BUDDHA, Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo provide an action-packed thriller filled with incredible amounts of technological elements especially of nuclear and naval factoids. The gun blazing story line never slows down until the final confrontation to include an unnecessary adventure, the return of a second stone (Abraham's Stone) to the Kaaba at Mecca. However, the action to the nth degree oriented story line lacks the deep characterizations of the NUMA novels so that readers never care whether the good guys win. Those fans who do not mind casting in the pits as long as one escapade follows another will appreciate this non-stop thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 10, 2004

Summary

Clive Cussler debuted his new series, The Oregon Files, with the incredible adventure of Golden Buddha. Now he follows that triumph with Sacred Stone, a rollicking new tale featuring the enigmatic captain of The Oregon, Juan Cabrillo. In the remote wastes of Greenland, an ancient artifact possessing catastrophic radioactive power is unearthed. But the astounding find puts the world at risk. Caught between two militant factions bent on wholesale slaughter, Juan Cabrillo and his network of spies known as The Corporation must fight to protect the stone-and prevent the outbreak of World War III.