Sacred Stone (Oregon Files novel) by Clive Cussler

Complex plotting but little character development, January 2, 2005***


This novel is better than the first Cussler/Craig Dirgo collaboration(The Golden Buddha)but not up to the standard of Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels.It provides an entertaining read but stretches the bounds of credulity in places. There are two major plot streams. One involves the discovery of an iridium meteorite in Greenland in a shrine built by Eric the Red and subsequent attempts by a vengeful American industrialist Halifax Hickman to use it to replace Abraham's Stone in Mecca and help bring about the destruction of three sites sacred to Islam. The other involves the theft of a tactical nuclear warhead from the Ukraine and an attempt by a radical Islamic group to destroy the heart of London on New Year's Eve. The schemes intersect in the first part of the novel but Juan Cabrillo and The Corporation (mercenaries with a conscience)track down the would-be perpetrators of a London massacre and avert disaster. Tracking down the meteorite and divining the identity and intentions of Mr. Hickman, and preventing the destruction of Islam's three holy sites, prove more challenging. But with a lot of luck and much ingenuity Juan Cabrillo and his team thwart the attempt to destroy the foundations of Islam.