Counter-terrorism has been a consistent theme over the first four books of this series but that doesn't mean the stories have been repetitive. Joe Ledger and the DMS have actually faced quite a variety of adversaries so far, including zombies, super soldiers, and vampires. In each case there has been a scientific rationale to explain the existence of these seemingly supernatural creatures thus Joe Ledger has learned the hard way that he must keep an open mind if he wants to stay alive. However, all of those lessons don't seem to help much as he begins to uncover the facts in his latest case. It all starts with an impossibility - the President of the United States is abducted from the White House and not a single secret service agent saw anything. The only piece of evidence left behind is a crop circle on the White House lawn but that has to be a hoax. Right?
It turns out that the "real" arms race is not nuclear in nature at all. Instead, the various governments of our planet have been engaged in a secret arms race to collect pristine parts from alien craft that have crashed on earth over the years. The first country to successfully re-create an alien engine will have a power source/weapon that no other country will be able to stand against. This is a deadly game with extreme consequences when things go wrong. The Kunlun earthquake in 2001, the Ruichang earthquake of 2005, and Sicuhan earthquake of 2008 were all caused by research failures as the Chinese government attempted to re-construct the alien engine. The Haiti quake of 2010 and the Mount St Helens eruption were rumored to be caused by American failures to do same. Which country is closest? Is it even possible? Does 'impossible' even mean anything any more?
The one person who seems to have some actual insight into what is going on is Junie Flynn. She hosts a conspiracy podcast but also claims to have a copy of the Majestic Black Book which is rumored to have a list of every crashed alien craft ever discovered on earth. This becomes very important when the book is demanded in return for the President. With the President sidelined, Vice President William Collins is back in power and that never bodes well for Joe Ledger and team. Collins has been trying to shut down the DMS for a while now so Joe must find the book and sort out what is going on before Collins can disrupt the investigation to stay in power.
Even though the action is over-the-top and the story is a bit out there this was my favorite book of the series so far. Once again Jonathan Maberry takes well known events from our recent history and gives them unexpected causes to put the DMS to the test. Fans of the series should definitely pick this one up and audiobook fans can trust that Ray Porter does another excellent job on the narration.