The Valhalla prophecy Andy McDermott

Mandar's book review (31st April 2014)

Completed "The  Valhalla prophecy" by  Andy McDermott. This is the ninth book of  Nina Wild series. Published by Headline book publishing in 2014, it's 560 pages long.

Nina Wild, director of IHA (International heritage agency), and her husband Eddie Chase embark on a new adventure. This time the legend is from Norse mythology.

A rune stone is stolen from Sweden. It allegedly tells how to reach Valhalla (the hall of glorious dead) and from there clues can be obtained to reach Ragnarok (an event equivalent to world war of today) at the snake pit. The poison of snake pit is worse than chemical agents. It can mutate human genes to create monsters. Bad guys want it and Nina's team wants to prevent it by neutralizing the poison using Thor's hammer (a neutralizing agent created by Unit 201). But they don't know if it will work. Nina has unlikely allies in this mission.

What is this poison? Who wants it? Who is helping Nina to neutralize it? What are their motives? Can Nina save the world again? Is Nina and Eddie's relation strong enough to sustain the blows of incredulity. Will they be poisoned?

In the first half, the story toggles between present and past continuously. The 'past' part is a series of events in Eddy's life before he met Nina. These two stories run in parallel without any  apparent connection for good length till they eventually converge.

In keeping with the tradition of the series this book too is full of action, high speed chases, mercenaries, drama, violence and innumerable deaths. Eddie's smart ass comments and witty one liners serve as garnishing to the actions.

Norse mythology is not as well known as Greek or Roman mythology hence reader does not readily connect to it. The storyline has, however, become predictable. The element of surprise isn't there for the readers who have read previous books.

The actions in the snake pit are tantalizing but sometimes difficult to visualize. In the end Nina and Eddie save the world. Their resignation from IHA at the end has created the setting for the next book.

Read if you have read the previous books of this series.

Temple of the Gods by Andy McDermott

"Temple of the Gods" by Andy McDermott. This is 8th book of Nina Wild series.

The story starts in Zimbabwe where Eddy spirits away a prisoner in search of his enemy Staiks to prove his innocence.

He then reaches Japan where, the sky scraper he is in, is attacked and destroyed. He manages to save Nina but escapes with the three mysterious purple statutes that can channel earth energy.

Individuals and organizations are trying to obtain the statutes, the sky stone (no one knows where it is) and Nina, essential ingredients of channeling earth energy.

Where is the sky stone? Can Nina find it? Does Eddy save her again? Can Eddy patch up with his father? What happens to sky stone? Who gets control of earth energy?

Andy McDermott's books follow a set pattern. Dr Nina Wild (President of International Heritage Association) and Eddy Chase (ex SIS), who are also husband and wife, go in search of something ancient or some legend. There's always a mysterious organization that tries to stop them for one reason or another. There is lot of fighting, blood bath and numerous deaths. Fights are always action packed. Eddy always gets help from his beautiful female friends who are spread all over the world. Eventually they succeed in their mission.

This book is so full of action that you think you are watching final fighting of a movie for the entire duration. Andy has tried to close a number of open ends from his previous books and has brought an important thread to conclusion. This book is in line with and in the same style as other books of this series, fast paced, action packed and full of witty sarcasm.

A decent book. Read it only if you have read previous books of this series, if you have not read previous books you can not correlate and will not like it.