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Book Review of The Hammer of Eden

The Hammer of Eden
nrlymrtl avatar reviewed on + 297 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


Ken Follett gave Judy Maddox, FBI Agent, the best lines in this novel. Half Vietnamese, half Irish, only child of a cop father and dead mother, she is one tough woman. In her 30s, having dedicated her life to the FBI and putting bad guys behind bars, she suddenly finds her life a mess. Her boss took ill, and now her newly-assigned supervisor wants her fired and he is doing everything he can to make her look incompetent. He assigns her a crap job of checking into the terrorist group The Hammer Of Eden who are threatening to create earthquakes if nuclear plant building in CA is not halted.

Priest and Star have put nearly 3 decades into their valley, which is leased from the government. They founded, molded, and nursed this commune into a thriving community, without electricity, or running water, or paying taxes, or violence. Now, a damn is to be built one that will be used for power plants and will also flood their valley. A recent addition to their group, Melanie (mother of Dusty) is a seismologist. Together with Priest and Star, they hatch a plan to steal and use a seismic vibrator to set off earthquakes at locations of their choosing.

Not only did this book have a lot of action, there was also the romance side that was more witty than mushy (the way I like it). As expected with a Ken Follett book, the characters where mufti-dimensional. Priest was a joy to hate because I could understand where he was coming from without condoning his choices. Judy Maddox was awesome to watch walk into a room of men and take charge with hard work and logic. She also shoot with either hand, a skill I recommend gun-users obtaining.