As we endure the Coronavirus Pandemic, I am impelled to read novels and nonfiction about Plague events, pandemics, and wildly mutating evolution. Whether or not Coronavirus is a "black swan event," I found THE SEVENTH SUN (a reference to the ancients' view of the final Extinction Event) highly apropos. With a protagonist of high moral integrity and an adrenaline-driven, near-fearless, female evolutionary scientist, this tale of rampant conspiracy, genetic manipulation, corporate greed, governmental emptyheadedness, seems very real and tremendously up-to-date now that we seldom can predict what even the next day might bring.

I always try and give a book at least 100 pages before giving up on it, not to say that I got 100 pages in but if I have not gotten interesting in whatever was occurring then chances were that it was not going to change. I got about 38% though The Seventh Sun before reaching this point (but I had been trying to read it for over 3 months though).

Even though I did give up on this, it started out really promising. Scientist Dan Clifford has created a program that an predict ‘black sheep’ events. A black sheep event is those rare metrological events that cause major catastrophe like a tsunami. Since this machine can predict these extreme events, it can also accurately predict the weather for 2 weeks. Imagine knowing exactly what the weather was going to do 2 weeks in advance!

Once we are explained the basics of this program and its capabilities, things grind to a halt. Dan goes on holiday and finds a murder victim. This is where I ended up as nothing seemed to be happening and since I had been trying to read it for about 3 months, I figured that it just was not for me.

The writing style for what I read was very in-depth. Lester was able to explain a complex machine that can predict extreme events in an easy-to-understand manor. Not only was he able to explain it extremely well, he made it interesting! Unfortunately this did not continue forwards and I quickly lost interest in what was happening.

As this book is a stand-alone you may enjoy it more than me but I was not drawn into the story enough to continue with it.

The Seventh Sun was an interesting look at how our thoughtless raping of the environment may very well turn on us. Within pages of starting it, I was telling one of my friends about it because I had this feeling it was going to be an awesome ecological thriller. I told her "It hasn't gelled yet, but when it does, it's going to be great!" I was all excited for it to happen, eagerly cataloging characters, facts, etc.

But, unfortunately, The Seventh Sun never quite gelled. The pieces came together fairly well, and the story was competently told. However, it never took that step beyond 'competently told'. It was informative, interesting, but never engaging. 

One of the problems that really held the book back was the main female character, Rachel Sullivan. She was just not well-written. You could feel the whole woe-is-me act coming from a mile away, so when one of the big revelations in the book happened, it had me yawning. Actually, this happened quite a bit and not only with Rachel. It was one of those deals where the characters never got more than mildly interesting because you'd seen them so many times before. A great writer can take a typical character and still make them interesting. Kent Lester isn't quite there in The Seventh Sun.

Another problem with The Seventh Sun was the dialogue. It was never horrible, but there were several times when I was frustrated with it. It was very methodical and unimaginative. It just felt like Kent Lester was afraid to take chances, and wrote a very 'safe' book as a consequence. 

Safe books don't do much for readers. This one fled my mind so quickly after I finished reading it that it was almost a day later before I remembered I hadn't written up the review for it. The only things that really stand out in the book for me are the things I didn't like so it's really hard to put much positive in here. I'm sorry for that. 

The Seventh Sun is not a bad book. I didn't hate it. It just never comes close to being the 'edge-of-the-seat thriller' that the blurb promises.

This book was just not keeping my interest. Nothing bad to say about the writing or the author, but this wasn't my type of book.

First things first - this is ridiculous! The author suggests that all of the science discussed is accurate, and as I am not a scientist, I can neither confirm or deny that assertion. What I can say is that it reads as completely ridiculous. However, that is not necessary a problem. I like conspiracy theories that are ridiculous, the more ridiculous the better in some sense, because it takes skill to create a theory and imbue it with enough internal logical to seem plausible in the structure of the narrative. The author has almost succeeded here. There are portions of the book that fly by, very compelling in terms of plot and, although the dialogue is clunky and the prose is sometimes awkward and exposition heavy, I generally enjoyed reading the novel. So yes, it is ridiculous, but for the most part, it is the kind of ridiculous that I like.

A geologist doing research in Honduras finds something major in a mining core sample that may win him a Nobel Prize. Dan Clifford, a scientist specializing in "black swan" events, generally unpredictable catastrophic disasters such as earth quakes or tidal waves, decides to stop off at his company's computer plant in Honduras on his way to a scuba vacations and unknowingly sets a series of events that could take down his company. When diving he discovers a body that has links to his company. Rachel Sullivan, a daredevil scientist returns from a frigid near death experience and teams up with Dan as he figures out what is going on and races time to prevent a domino effect leading to the next global extinction event. This is a real page turner. You won't want to stop reading until the last page is turned. It has somewhat the same feel as Jurassic Park by Crichton or Preston's Hot Zone with the combination of science and suspense.

Government officials have been doing what they do best – sneaky, underhanded dangerous things. A string of murders leads scientist Dan Clifford down a path that uncovers a global conspiracy off the coast of Honduras, where illegal undersea activity has resulted in calamity. Something hidden beneath the sea floor has been disturbed and now threatens to wreak havoc on life all over the planet. The CDC frantically looks for the source of the deadly outbreak, but is unable to find it. Dan and marine biologist Rachel Sullivan are left to try to quell the damage, they must find a way to stop the Seventh Sun. Part environmental cautionary tale, part ancient mythology, this is a non stop action thriller that will appeal to fans of James Rollins