7 Deadly Wonders (Jack West Junior Series #1) » (Reprint)

Matthew Reilly is the international bestselling author of eight novels: The 6 Sacred Stones, 7 Deadly Wonders, Ice Station, Temple, Contest, Area 7, Scarecrow, and the children's book Hover Car Racer, and one novella, Hell Island. His books are published in more than eighteen languages in twenty countries, and he has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide.

The Golden Capstone atop the Great Pyramid at Giza offered protection from the global flooding and scorching sun that occurs every 4,500 years due to the Tartarus Rotation solar event. But Alexander the Great broke the Capstone into seven pieces and hid them in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now, in 2006, another Tartarus Rotation is due, and whoever places the reconstructed Capstone on the pyramid in time will gain absolute earthly power. Everyone wants the Capstone-from the most powerful countries to terrorists-and one daring coalition of eight small nations who think that no single country should possess such awesome power.

Publishers Weekly

Full-stop "Screams. Splashing. Crunching. Blood" punctuate and come to epitomize Reilly's (Area 7; Ice Station) latest video game-style thriller about a race to find the seven pieces of the Golden Capstone that once sat atop the Great Pyramid at Giza. Two millennia ago, Alexander the Great broke the Capstone into seven pieces and hid them in the seven ancient wonders of the world. According to legend, whoever finds and replaces them during a rare solar event called "Tartarus Rotation" (predicted for March 20, 2006) could secure a thousand-year reign of absolute power. The race is on, and among the contenders are the United States, a coalition of European nations (and the Vatican), an Islamic terrorist group, and a team of smaller nations (including Canada, Ireland and New Zealand) led by the novel's hero, Australian Jack West Jr., a next-generation Indiana Jones. The Europeans, goaded by evil Jesuit Francisco del Piero, and the U.S., headed by Jack's nemesis Col. Marshall Judah, want the Capstone for their own aggrandizement, while Jack's noble team believes it's too potent to belong to any one superpower. The "greatest treasure hunt in history"-a nonstop roller-coaster ride that lurches around the globe-might make a summer blockbuster-if American audiences will swallow their compatriots as the baddies. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.