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Crucible cover art

Crucible

Written by: James Rollins
Narrated by: Christian Baskous
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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

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    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.

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3 people found this helpful

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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

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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exactly what you'd expect from JR

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

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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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!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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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

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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!!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    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.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    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.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    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.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Narrator is terrible IMO

I have been reading the sigma force for years and to reflect Gray’s voice as it was just didn’t fit. It was so wrong I had trouble finishing the book. If they continue to use this narrator this will be the last book from this series I will purchase.

The story is good as the characters continue to develop.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2019-02-04

Volume

Story was great. Performance was good but constantly going from shouting to whispering a problem. I had to adjust the volume continuously.

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18 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Michael J. Herzog
  • 2019-01-27

Thriller? Maybe a Third of One

There were parts of this story that I found exciting enough to carry me through. Unfortunately, these parts were only about 1/3 of the story. There are a lot of subplots and side-diversions that drag on. The reader Christian Baskous, is fine. I think this may be the first book I've had where he is the narrator. I think under other circumstances, I would enjoy his reading. I just found this book to be too boring to push through. This is just my opinion. I'm kind of stuck in a thriller-only mode these days. If every page isn't burning or exploding, I can't do it.

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16 people found this helpful

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  • mike
  • 2019-03-11

this is the most boring book I have ever purchase

this is not worth the time. i listen to all of his books but this one was awful.

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9 people found this helpful

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  • Clarie DeWayne
  • 2019-01-24

Not Sci Fi, but would have been 20 years ago

An intriguing dilemma for Sigma Force and the real world, complete with cutting edge technology, history and plenty of intrigue from secret societies and evildoers. While characters from previous books are included, this book can stand alone outside of the series.

The narrator is annoying at times, as if his voice is more important than the story he's reading.

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  • Mike Jeffery
  • 2019-01-26

Wow....wow.....wow

I'm rarely ever really scared by a story, but this one has me SERIOUSLY spooked. So good.

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7 people found this helpful

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  • rosella
  • 2019-01-23

and he scores again

Mr Rollins has the perfect way of combining action with detailed science and history. I had a hard time putting this one aside.
I would add that the narrative goes a long way in making this happen .

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  • L. Johnson
  • 2020-04-05

Unpleasant to the ears

I LOVE James Rollins and have all his books but this is the first audiobook of his work I’ve had - the narrator is terrible and SUPER annoying. Maybe everyone else loves him, this may just be me - but it is nails on a chalkboard for me. I’m gonna finish it just because I love Rollins and I’m stuck inside during the quarantine, but I’m very disappointed in the reading. Listen closely to the sample before you purchase

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  • j. simmons
  • 2019-01-25

yet again another gem from mr. Rollins

this book is thought provoking and suspenseful! yet another gem from mr. Rollins. can't wait for his next one!

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  • Mark Irons
  • 2019-05-28

Reader was a bit melodramatic for me

The reader often got in the way of an interesting story. He often overemphasized parts that need not have been and at other times, read some very intense parts without any emphasis at all. It was distracting and unnecessary.

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  • Marisia Robus
  • 2020-01-05

Did not enjoy anything

I have enjoyed James Rollins in the past, but this was utter nonsense. Witches, AI ......
No thanks. You have now lost me as a reader. Narrator also poor, to get through it I listened at 2x speed

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