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Mar 29, 2019maucarden rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Why not go for broke? In Catherine Coulter and J.T.Ellison’s The Last Second The Holy Grail aka Heaven’s Stone, aliens, and a errant satellite armed with a small nuclear bomb are the threads that make up this heart thumping new outing for FBI agents Michaela (Mike) Caine and Nicholas Drummond. The nuclear device is designed to emit an EMP-electromagnetic pulse designed to take out most of the earth’s electrical grid and as a side effect maybe cause a full out nuclear war. Too bad this was all based on the fake news articles about certain astronauts passing lie detector tests concerning their seeing aliens. Note the term lie detector-not polygraph; important difference. I say too bad because in Coulter and Ellison’s last book in the Brit in the FBI series The Sixth Day I was delighted with all of the cool scientific and arcane information presented. To catch up new readers and as a reminder to faithful readers-and yes I’m one-here is a quickie summary. In six months of book time Nicholas Drummond has gone from a Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard to being an FBI agent. He has made it through the academy (which actually lasts four months), partnered up with FBI agent Mike Caine, fallen in love with her, and saved the Queen, the Prime Minister, and the U.S. President. And I think the world a few times. He has been knighted and Mike has been made a Dame. The Knighthood might be a bit superfluous because eventually Drummond will become a Viscount. BTW, this is a rank of the Peerage, seldom of Royalty. But I apologize if Drummond is actually related to the Queen. In other words, they are typical FBI agents. Sorry, couldn’t resist. As always the story is at breakneck speed with a short timeline. Coulter and Ellison’s are as slyly convincing about the first alien encounters as they are for the recovery of the Holy Grail from the ocean floor. The also do a great job in documenting the former astronaut’s journey from off the chart genius to evil genius. The settings from a cliffside villa in Capri to the jungles of Malaysia are breathtaking. No surprise there. The information about EMPs seems to be accurate and well presented. EMP weapons are possible and may exist. But then again lightening strikes are a form of EMP's. Drummond totally treats Mike as an equal and never pulls the man card on her. Especially in highly dangerous situations. Without giving anything away, how she saves the day is pretty funny. I have a slight problem with the super bad girls being lesbians; I hope it’s not an editorial cliche/judgement making them the villains. Although no doubt there will be readers who are offended they even included a lesbian couple. I also have a problem with a secondary character sleeping with one of the baddies, kinda makes him a man-ho. I have another problem with their superlative healing powers. But this just goes with their almost super human adventures. If you are looking for a fun, action packed story, this will do very well.