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Black Order See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels/ArticleTemplate for template instructions if necessary

Black Order is a techno-thriller by American author James Rollins published in 2006 by William Morrow.

Plot introduction
Members of the elite Sigma Force, “scientists with guns”, investigating mysterious deaths in a Himalayan monastery and an equally mysterious interest in the purchase of rare scientific books at auction in Copenhagen, find themselves converging on the trail of an evil cadre of ex-Nazis on the verge of controlling one of humankind's greatest mysteries: the origins of life itself. With marvelous technological resources at their disposal the team members travel to far-flung locations, face harrowing dangers and uncover an intricate mixture of historical, scientific and religious facts influencing their investigation.

Explanation of the novel's title
~The title’s name Black Order refers to Heinrich Himmler’s inner circle of 12 SS officers who met at Wewelsburg Castle and performed unknown Nazi occult rites. Himmler imagined this circle of officers as a rebirth of the Knights of the Round Table, and the castle the centre of a new Germanocentric world following the "final victory."

Plot summary
At the conclusion of World War II, German Nazis try to dismantle their technological and scientific installations, and either destroy them or smuggle them out of the country. In the novel’s opening section they are shown trying to smuggle evidence of The Bell, their experiment in quantum mechanics conducted at the Wenceslas Mine, out of the country on May 4, 1945 in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland).

In the present day Sigma Force is conducting two separate investigations.
 * In Copenhagen, Denmark Commander Grayson Pierce investigates a suspicious interest in certain rare scientific books, when he hears of the upcoming sale of Charles Darwin’s family Bible at auction. Inquiries at the owners’ bookstore place him in the line of fire as a gang of unknown assassins bombs the store, kills the owner, and traps Pierce and the owner’s adopted 16-year old grand-daughter, Fiona, in the attic.  After a nerve-tingling escape Pierce, and his new-found partner Fiona, cause may-hem at the auction, and narrowly escape death in Tivoli Gardens and the streets of Copenhagen at the hands of a mysterious pair of snow blond twins.
 * At Temp Och Monastery in the Himalaya Sigma Force Director Painter Crowe finds himself crossing paths with Dr. Lisa Cummings, research scientist with an expedition scaling Mount Everest. The two have come there independently to investigate a mysterious wave of illnesses and deaths affecting the animals and people at the remote location.  Caught under fire by possible Maoist terrorists they partner up and flee on foot into the mountains, where they are caught by their adversaries—a group of ex-Nazi scientists, remnants of the German technology smuggling at the end of World War II, who have a base nearby, and have continued work on The Bell since the 1940s.  Anne Sporrenberg, leader of the scientists, makes a deal with Crowe and Cummings seeking their help, as the ex-Nazis’ eugencis experiments have been sabotaged.

It turns out that their investigations lead to a common thread-- the Waalenberg family in South Africa. On their remote estate bordering Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve in central Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the powerful and exceedingly rich family has been engaged in another crucial aspect of The Bell experiments. Unbeknownst to their counterparts in the Himalaya, the family has succeeded in producing Xerum 525, the necessary fuel for The Bell, has made scientific advances in controlling the effects of zero point energy produced by The Bell, and has conducted its own Lebensborn-style program creating perfect children from the genetic material of the family head, Baldric Waalenberg.

The ruthless family will stop at nothing to destroy their ex-Nazi competition, control the technology and dominate the world with their master race. Sigma Force and its allies battle the family, its army of snow blond assassins and a menagerie of genetically improved animal in the thick of the African jungle.

Characters in "Black Order"
The members of Sigma Force:
 * Director, Painter Crowe
 * Assistant Director, Logan Gregory
 * Commander Grayson Pierce
 * Monk Kokkalis
 * Kathryn (Kat) Bryant

Important allies:
 * Dr. Lisa Cummings
 * Fiona
 * Anne Sporrenberg
 * Gunther
 * Dr. Sean McKnight, head of DARPA
 * Khamisi Taylor, game warden at Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve
 * Dr. Marcia Fairfield, research scientist at Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve
 * Dr. Paula Kane, research scientist at Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve
 * Johann Hirszfeld

Adversaries:
 * Klaus
 * Warden Gerald Kellogg
 * Baldric Waalenberg
 * Isaak and Ischke Waalenberg
 * Skuld

Major themes
Major themes explored in the novel include:
 * Nazi mysticism
 * Quantum mechanics
 * Runes

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Map of Bones See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels/ArticleTemplate for template instructions if necessary

 Map of Bones is a techno-thriller by American author James Rollins, published in 2005 by William Morrow.

Plot introduction
Members of the elite Sigma Force, “scientists with guns”, alongside the Vatican investigate the brutal killings of all participants at the Feast of the Three Kings midnight mass service at the Cologne Cathedral, Germany, during which the bones of the Three Wise Men were stolen from the priceless gold reliquary. Their initial investigation uncovers that the bones may not be all what they appear to be and that they hold a secret power which an unknown adversary wants to control.

In spite of the uneasy alliance between Sigma Force and Vatican, they embark on a treasure hunt, to search for the true power behind the bones, all the while being dogged by the Dragon Court, an evil secret society bent on harnessing the power to dominate mankind.

Explanation of the novel's title
The title’s name Map of Bones refers to a map which the Sigma Force/Vatican alliance discovers during the course of their investigation into the secrets of the bones. The original map, which was only visible to them for a short while, pointed the way to their next destination. Later, they were able to use a modern-day map of the same geographic area, along with clues discovered along the way, to figure out the final destination in the treasure hunt.

Plot summary
Commander Grayson Pierce, Monk Kokkalis and Kathryn (Kat) Bryant, members of the elite Sigma Force, are called in alongside Monsignor Vigor Verona, of the Vatican’s Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology, and his niece Lt. Rachel Verona of the Carabinieri Corp’s art and antiquities theft unit, to investigate the brutal killings of all participants at the Feast of the Three Kings midnight mass service at the Cologne Cathedral. During the course of the massacre the culprits stole the bones of the Three Wise Men from the priceless gold reliquary, but left the valuable gold and bejeweled reliquary behind.

Even before leaving Rome to investigate the scene of the crime, Rachel and her uncle come under attack, and barely escape to Cologne with their lives intact. Finally, at the Cathedral they join forces with the Sigma team and draw preliminary conclusions from the evidence at hand before they find themselves again under assault by heavily armed adversaries. Presumed dead after the attack, the alliance forces manage to escape, and drive through the night to Milan, where they are to take custody of a small cache of bones of the Three Wise Men, which had been safeguarded at the Basilica of Saint Eustorgio. Once again their enemies have beaten them to the scene: the residents of the church had been brutally murdered, and the alliance falls into a trap. They escape again, but before they do, they come into possession of a small amount of bone.

They also find out that they have a tenuous ally on their adversaries’ team, Seichan (referred to as The Dragon Lady). Seichan, who represents the mysterious Guild, has been operating as a member of Baron Raoul de Sauvage’s Dragon Court army of assassins, stalking the Sigma Force, but has helped them escape from Milan.

Seichan also leaves them a clue from a stolen fourteenth-century illuminated copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Their solution leads them first to Rome’s |Crypt of Lucina in the Catacombs of Saint Callistus, then to the lost tomb of Alexander the Great and finally to the hidden treasure of the Knights Templar at the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France.

Characters in "Map of Bones"
The members of Sigma Force:
 * Commander Grayson Pierce
 * Monk Kokkalis
 * Kathryn (Kat) Bryant
 * Director, Painter Crowe
 * Assistant Director, Logan Gregory

Important allies:
 * Monsignor Vigor Verona
 * Lt. Rachel Verona
 * Seichan, the Dragon Lady
 * Cardinal Spera
 * Dr. Sean McKnight, head of DARPA

Adversaries:
 * Baron Raoul de Sauvage
 * Dragon Court
 * The Guild
 * Prefetto Alberto Menardi
 * General Rende of the Carabinieri Corps
 * Camille Verona

Major themes
Major themes explored in the novel include:
 * The Sack of Milan by Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1158, and the capture of the bones of the Magi in 1162
 * The properties of monatomic gold and other transition metals
 * Vesica piscis
 * The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
 * Enlightenment and the safeguarding of secrets and dangerous knowledge

Allusions/references to other works
The novel alludes to or refers to the following writers and literary works:
 * Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy
 * Gospel of Thomas
 * The Egyptian Book of the Dead
 * Papyrus of Ani

Release details
~*year, country, publisher ISBN 1234567890, Pub date DD Month Year, binding~

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