Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Crucible cover art

Crucible

Written by: James Rollins
Narrated by: Christian Baskous
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $6.99

Buy Now for $6.99

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

In the race to save one of their own, Sigma Force must wrestle with the deepest spiritual mysteries of mankind in this mind-expanding adventure from the number-one New York Times best-selling author, told with his trademark blend of cutting-edge science, historical mystery, and pulse-pounding action.

Arriving home on Christmas Eve, Commander Gray Pierce discovers his house ransacked, his pregnant lover missing, and his best friend’s wife, Kat, unconscious on the kitchen floor. With no shred of evidence to follow, his one hope to find the woman he loves and his unborn child is Kat, the only witness to what happened. But the injured woman is in a semicomatose state and cannot speak - until a brilliant neurologist offers a radical approach to “unlock” her mind long enough to ask a few questions.

What Pierce learns from Kat sets Sigma Force on a frantic quest for answers that are connected to mysteries reaching back to the Spanish Inquisition and to one of the most reviled and blood-soaked books in human history - a Medieval text known as the Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of Witches. What they uncover hidden deep in the past will reveal a frightening truth in the present and a future on the brink of annihilation and force them to confront the ultimate question: What does it mean to have a soul?

©2019 James Czajkowski (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Crucible

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    53
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    47
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Terrible narration

Please stop using this narrator. Completely ruins the book. Clearly the narrator, have not pre-read the book prior to recording. Intonation is completely wrong in places. Accents sometimes mixed. Sudden drops in voice level , bordering on whispering cause you to miss some of the story parts. Sudden changes in tempo, in not always appropriate places. Please use another narrator. Rollins books are huge best sellers. Please stop diminishing their value by using such mediocre narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

would not recommend this one

very hard to listen to. narration was either very loud or extremely quiet. there was no way to have a constant volume setting. many times narration would stop, like at the end of a sentence, but when it started up again, the sentence continued. made things difficult to follow. overall very disappointed. not sure I want to risk another purchase

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Action Packed Thriller About Dangerous AI

An action-packed thriller with fanatical cults, sentient intelligence, and characters that will go to endless lengths to protect their families, CRUCIBLE is an exciting military adventure that long-time fans of James Rollins are sure to love.

Commander Gray Pierce and his best friend Monk have their worlds shaken when their lovers and children are attacked and kidnapped. While mounting a desperate rescue op, Sigma Force finds themselves facing off with a doomsday cult bent on using an incredibly powerful AI system to end the world.

CRUCIBLE can be read by longtime fans and new readers who don't want to read the entire series. There are clear references and Easter eggs, but I found that I could understand everything that was happening without previous knowledge. The characters are entertaining and adapt to truly terrible situations, pushing themselves to the limits. The story is fast paced and exciting, even as it enters truly mind bending territory.

A perfect read for anyone who is looking for something fast, entertaining, and filled with action!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

exactly what you'd expect from JR

like all sigma novels, once you pop, the fun don't stop! couldn't put it down!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

my favourite so far!!

this was a fantastic book, I couldn't stop listening!! it was action packed and made you think!! highly recommended! if there are any James Rollins books you wamt to start, then this is the one!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A.I. oh my

great listen, love that these books impart knowledge and inspire curiosity about whatever topic Rollins is interested in that time. Definitely recommend

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The worst James Rollins book in the Sigma series!

I could not get onto this novel from the get to. The story line was not compelling for me. The AI aspect did not interest me at all. I did not really bond with any of the characters that were not part of Sigma Force. The action was slow and limited. Not the usual suspense and pacing that I have loved in all of his novels. And don’t get me started on the narrator..... ewww. I stopped listening for weeks and had to relished because I forgot what I had listened to. I sped up the narration just to get though it more quickly. Hoping the next novel is way better!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Story, Hard to Listen!

I enjoyed the story line. I felt I learned things about AI that I didn’t know before. However, the narrator dropped his voice in many places, and then was screaming in others. It was dangerous listening in the car as I was constantly turning the volume up to hear, and then down to protect my ears. Surely, when producing an audio book there is some quality control that guarantees consistency in the listening experience. I didn’t find the performance in this audiobook to be consistently of high quality. Sorry to say.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great fictional and non fictional story on AI

this is a great story based on the latest advancement made in the development of artificial intelligence.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Get Ready, it's Coming!

If you are brave enough to learn something about the evolution of artificial intelligence, robotics, and medical practices that sound like sci fi, then read this book. The technical side is brilliant, the story itself no so much. It's a loose knit string of events so implausable it almost throws the science into no-way land.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!