Sandstorm (2004)
Author: James RollinsAfter half a dozen or so adventure thrillers, Rollin's novels don't have quite the same kick to them. Which is to be expected.In SANDSTORM, a group of people are in search of the lost Arabian city of Ubar, a place from which legends had sprung. Among them are Lady Kara Kensington, whose father was killed by a strange desert twister when she was a teenager, her friend Safia al-Maaz, curator of a museum, Omaha Dunn, the Indian Jones wannabee (and former fiance of Safia), and Painter, an Native American government agent. For Kara, Ubar may have the answers to her father's death. For Safia, it's a link to her mysterious past. And for Painter, Ubar may be the ultimate source of unlimited energy-a chunk of antimatter imbedded in the Earth that has somehow remained stable for thousands of years.There are also the 'bad guys', and their leader is Painter's former partner, Cassandra, with whom he
Had a brief relationship with. They want the suspected energy source for themselves.I can see SANDSTORM as the beginning of a series of novels revolving around the secret government agency, SIGMA (which Painter is now leader of), which would give a good reason to go on these explorations of mysterious places. SANDSTORM is a good, quick read but nowhere near as entertaining as SUBTERRANEAN or AMAZONIA, which I think are Rollin's best books.