Altar of Eden by James Rollins Orion, HK$91
James Rollins begins his new novel in typically fright-inducing form. We are in Baghdad, 2003 - not a good place to be. Two young boys (Makeen and Bari) enter what is, literally, a lion's den. The bad news is the bones in the corner. The worst news is the creature that made them: 'The beast known as the Shaitan in the Koran ... At long last the devil had come to Baghdad.' The plot toys with the Biblical story of Noah - except the animals on this boat are horrible genetic mutations: simian Siamese twins; pythons with legs; featherless parrots. These are discovered by Jack Menard (field operations officer) and Dr Lorna Polk, a veterinarian researcher. The two share a grim past and a mutual attraction. It only takes a sentence for Polk to swoon at Jack's muscular frame, 'tanned olive' complexion and black stubble. More pressingly, one of the animals has escaped the weird zoo. Rollins spares no effort dispensing the science knowledge ('Pythons typically have thirty-six pairs of chromosomes') and then sends Lorna and Jack off after the shaitan. There is plenty of action and plenty of frights, not least in the prose. 'Jack stiffened beside her.' Blimey. But it's all as entertaining as a shaitan in a tutu.
