Was the purpose of the Domesday Book other than what is traditionally assumed by mainstream historians? And did the word “wasted” inscribed in it, as well as the peculiar red-inked markings, indicate something more sinister that could possibly rear its ugly head in our time and somehow threaten the world? And does the island of Bardsey hold a clue to saving the world? If you're a James Rollins fan, you know that the answer will almost certainly be a resounding "yes."
Rollins' newest Sigma Force action thriller opens with a handful of mysterious events: a strange and loathsome disease wipes out an English village in the spring of 1086; an archaeologist is hunted down and killed inside the Vatican for the contents of a tiny satchel; and a U.S. senator's son working on genetically engineered crops in Africa is murdered in a brutal attack on the GM project site. The link between all these compelling events? A mysterious symbol in the shape of a cross, branded into all of the victims.
Part of what makes Rollins' thrillers so enjoyable is the way in which he weaves ancient legends and symbols into myths entirely of his own making by including modern day plots and technological threats. In The Doomsday Key Rollins not only treats us to the ancient evils and myths of the English Isles, which hide the secret to the Doomsday Key, he unleashes modern day dangers of genetic crop modification and bioprospecting into the mix.
Genetically modified crops are an area that's open wide to all kinds of experimentation, much of which is not as far out as the storyline in The Doomsday Key seems to suggest. For instance, in 2001 a biotechnology company called Epicyte created a crop with the ability to reduce human fertility. This is one of the facts that Rollins sprinkles throughout his yarn. How far off are the events of Rollins' story? And what abuses have been enacted but slipped undetected? One can only speculate. Bioprospecting offers its own possibilities for danger, too: think long-buried plagues brought back to life. Though most of such research is motivated by noble motives, Rollins asks, what if the wrong people used the technology in order to advance their twisted aims?
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