The Last Second

October 15, 2018

Meant for communications, the satellite launched by the private French space agency Galactus actually carries a nuclear electromagnetic pulse that when activated could devastate Earth. It also means that treasure-hunting Galactus owner Jean-Pierre Broussard could grab the Holy Grail, the immortality-granting stones of the heavens. That's where special agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine come in. Sixth in a New York Times best-selling series.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2019
Aliens communicating from outer space and a search for the Holy Grail seem the stuff of science fiction, but in the capable hands of Coulter and Ellison, they become an Indiana Jones-style, high-concept adventure thriller about a race to save the world. Brilliant astrophysicist and astronaut Dr. Nevaeh Patel is convinced that when her tether broke on a spacewalk, her life was saved by the Numen, aliens who offer to bring peace to Earth. Enraged over being subsequently grounded by NASA, Patel becomes second-in-command to Galactus, the French equivalent of SpaceX, whose founder, Jean-Pierre Broussard, is consumed with finding the Holy Grail to cure his terminally ill daughter. FBI Agents Michaela (Mike) Caine and Nicholas Drummond, now partners in every sense, become involved when their friend Grant Thornton heads a team to protect Broussard, who may have found the Grail on a sunken ship off the coast of Sumatra. Patel, seeking immortality and reunion with the Numen, wants the Holy Grail, too, as part of her crazed plan to set off a nuclear electromagnetic pulse from a Galactus-launched satellite. Determined to thwart her, the intrepid FBI pair sets out on a chase by air, sea, and land. Nonstop action and a delicious final twist should keep readers from worrying about the over-the-top premise.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)