Domain FROM THE PUBLISHER
Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid impacts the Earth, destroying the dinosaurs, forever changing the evolution of life on our planet.
Only the object wasn't an asteroid...
For thirty-two years archaeologist Julius Gabriel has investigated the Mayan calendar, a 2500-year-old enigma of time and space that predicts humanity will perish at the winter solstice. Julius believes the Great Pyramid of Giza, Stonehenge, the desert drawings of Nazca, the sites of Angor Wat, Teotihuacan, and the Kukulcan Pyramid in the Yucatan Peninsula—the site of the ancient asteroid impact—all represent ancient pieces of a global puzzle linked to the salvation of our species.
Ridiculed by his peers, Julius dies before he can solve the doomsday prophecy. Now, only one person can prevent our annihilation—Julius's son, Michael, a patient locked up in a Miami mental asylum.
Miami.
Psychology major Dominique Vazquez reports to the Miami asylum to complete her graduate internship. The new director assigns her to a special pantient—Mick Gabirel, a paranoid schizophrenic with a high IQ who attempts to charm her into believing his father's theory of the Apocalypse so he can escape. What Dominique doesn't realize is that she represents Mick's last hope of saving humanity.
Fall Equinox.
As it has done for a thousand years, a serpent's shadow appears on the northern balustrade of the Kukulcan Pyramid...then as a rare galactic alignment occurs, a deep radio trnasmission reaches Earth, activating the remnants of an object buried in the Gulf of Mexico.
It is the beginning of the end...
FROM THE CRITICS
Dale L. Walker - Rocky Mountain News
Domain is an eye-bugging, white-knuckle flight of a book that hurtles along with the velocity of an asteroid from the ancient world to the twenty-first century on an unforgettable doomsday mission.
Publishers Weekly
The author of Meg taps Mayan mythology and Old Testament lore in his sci-fi/fantasy take on the age-old battle of good and evil. Archeologist Julius Gabriel is ridiculed when his research shows that ancient wonders like the pyramids, Stonehenge and Angkor Wat were built with extraterrestrial help to play a role in an Earth-based Alien Armageddon on Dec. 21, 2012, the winter equinox. When Julius dies of a heart attack, his son, Mick, attacks Gabriel's main tormentor and former partner, Pierre Borgia, now the U.S. secretary of state, and Borgia has him thrown illegally into a Florida insane asylum. Dominique Vazquez, a part-Mayan psychiatric intern, is assigned Mick's case, but the plan to control him backfires when she reads Julius's journal and joins forces with Mick. She helps him escape, and they rush to the Gulf of Mexico off the Yucatan Peninsula, where evidence supports Mick's claims. As evil alien interference in human affairs triggers disaster, Mick learns he was born to lead the opposing alien forces for good in an apocalyptic battle. Alten's imaginative roles for the pyramids and Peru's Nazca peoples are the perfect springboard for what is set up to be a continuing series grappling with sweeping, Star Wars-like themes. Characters are worthy of the best role-playing games; sorcery aces technology every time; and Alten draws clever parallels with Mayan myths in this ripping space-age yarn equipped with a credible love story and strong Earth-bound side plots. (Feb.) Forecast: Meg had its fans--the novel was a minor bestseller--but not enough to keep sales of Alten's second novel, The Trench, from dipping precipitously (it's notable that Forge makes no mention of that novel in its publicity for Domain). This title is bound to do less well in hardcover than in its eventual mass market edition, which can excerpt any positive reviews. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
It's September 2012, and the end of the world is only three months away. At least that's the prediction in the ancient Mayan calendar, and archaeologist Mick Gabriel is the only person in the world who has the secret knowledge necessary to stop this apocalypse. Unfortunately, Mick is currently a patient in an insane asylum, locked up in part because of his violent efforts to warn others of his doomsday beliefs. Young intern Dominique Vazquez has just been assigned to his case. Can Mick convince her that he isn't insane in time to save the world? What follows is an entertaining (if somewhat predictable) race to save humankind, featuring plenty of action, romance, and suspense. Alten has matured as an author since his more cartoonish Meg (LJ 5/1/97) and The Trench (LJ 6/1/99), and this well-researched thriller will appeal to fans of Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. Watch for the sequel, Resurrection.--Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ., Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Internet Book Watch
Over three decades, archeologist Julius Gabriel investigated the theory that the Mayan calendar foretold the Apocalypse and ancient edifices were a global puzzle with the solution to saving the world. His peers laugh at Julius, thinking the so-called scientist is a paranoid lunatic for seeking ties between Stonehenge, the Giza Pyramid, and other similar sites.After Julius dies, his son Michael is taken away for attacking a former colleague now Secretary of State, Pierre Borgia. Under psychological observation, Michael persuades Dominque Vazquez that he is not only sane, but that the doomsday clock is ticking down its final days. Together, they forge a team trying to heave a Hail Mary pass that will thwart the evil alien conspiracy to destroy mankind even while government officials want them locked away or better yet dead. Domain is surprisingly an exciting, well-written science fiction-fantasy that works because the key characters seem genuine and the magical elements appear real. The story line entrenches the Biblical apocalypse predictions with Mayan myths into quite an action tale. Fans of SF, Fantasy, and end of the world novels will want to read Steve Alten's latest book that is the opening gamut of hopefully a powerful series reminiscent of the Invaders with an ancient mythos lending strong support.
Kirkus Reviews
Third novel by Alten, author of the bestselling Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997) and its sequel, The Trench (1999), the story of Carcharodon Megalodon, a 60-foot shark from the abyss that in the second installment spawned a whole family of monsters. Here, Alten sets aside his colossal heroine from the deeps, and turns to Mayan archeology and a mysterious forecast from 500 b.c. It dealt with an asteroid that impacted with the globe 65 million years ago and has to do with the end of the world now imminent in the year 2012. Linked sites around the planet, says archeologist Julius Gabriel, spring from an ancient species that foresaw the Apocalypse and registered these in Mayan glyphs in the Gulf of Mexico, glyphs that Julius and his supersmart son Michael have deciphered. Now Michael, incarcerated in Miami as a paranoid schiz, must convince psychologist Dominique Vazquez to free him to face and fight the alien plumed serpent that lands in a Mexican jungle. Alten aligns galactically with his audience but reserves his biggest delivery for Domain's forthcoming sequel, Resurrection: Part II. Then back to the immensely appealing Meg the shark?
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