Week 15 Review: Altar of Eden

From Goodreads:
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 crew is missing or dead, but the boat holds a frightening cargo: a caged group of exotic animals, clearly part of a black market smuggling ring.

Yet, something is wrong with these beasts, disturbing deformities that make no sense: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-toothed tiger. They also all share one uncanny trait—a disturbingly heightened intelligence.

To uncover the truth about the origin of this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses, Lorna must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her and is now an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, Jack Menard.

Together, the two must hunt for a beast that escaped the shipwreck while uncovering a mystery tied to fractal science and genetic engineering, all to expose a horrifying secret that traces back to humankind's earliest roots.

But can Lorna stop what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden before it threatens not only the world but also the very foundation of what it means to be human?

My first review of Altar of Eden
My Review:
Another fantastic James Rollins book! Just so fantastic, and it was really great to read it again! I enjoyed it so much again, and yeah, this time it gets a review all by itself, because last time, it was reviewed with The Devil Colony!

So most, if not all of James Rollins books, take place in pretty short time spans. But for me, this felt like one of the shortest, because the main part of the book takes place over the course of just over 2 days (not counting the prologue, the second last chapter and the epilogue) so it was really fast paced, and it was excellent!

So the whole bit about fractals, and how that works, was pretty fascinating! That they're everywhere, from inside our cells, to how tree's grow, and can make mountains, well, yeah, that's pretty cool! And the whole junk DNA thing, too! So cool and awesome!

What the first group of creatures did for the second group, their young, was a bit sad. They could've left the island in a different manner. And not interacted as much with their young. But they were tortured till they were insane because the people didn't fully understand how they linked. Which just sucked!

Favourite lines: "He had full confidence in Randy and his friends when it came to a down-and-dirty bar fight, but as to sticking to timetables, Cajuns seldom wore wristwatches." I just find this funny! "You go on in, dear. You're family now, too. Besides, if my boy wakes, he should see a pretty face first." Agreed on the pretty face, seeing as he almost died!

But oh, I enjoyed this book so much, just reaffirmed my love of James Rollins' writing!

Author: James Rollins
First Read: July 7th, 2011
Read: April 6th, 2015
Source: Own
Reason Why: Rereading! And it's a SAC 2015 Book!
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: December 29th 2009

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars