Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad Museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it. Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood. Their second very nearly is a UN investigator who, were it not for the timely assistance of Austin and Zavala, would now be at the bottom of a watery grave.
A beautiful young girl appears out of nowhere. A teenager with no past, no family no memories. Carol and Paul were drawn to her. She was the child they'd never had. Most mothers would die for such a darling little angel. And that's what frightened Carol most of all...
Barker turns from his usual horror to epic-length fantasy for this account of the Fugue, a magical land inhabited by descendants of supernatural beings who once shared the earth with humans. The Fugue has been woven into a carpet for protection against those who would destroy it; the death of its guardian occasions a battle between good and particularly repulsive evil forces for control of the Fugue.
I expected to be thrilled by this novel about neo-Nazis and their attempts to gain power using the spear that pierced the side of Christ, but it was an effort to work my way through this novel. I believe it's focus is too narrow-- it's missing a sense of international intrigue that you would get from a good spy novel, or a sense of awe that you would get from a novel that knows something about the occult. In short, it needed to have opened up a bit more, to have a more global perspective on what are basically earth-shaking events. It doesn't help that some of the action scenes are a bit awkward, either. An adequate time-killer, nothing more.
CODE NAME MULBERRY: The planning Building and Operation of the Normandy Harbours
Allied leaders and military planners realized early in preparations for the invasion of NW Europe that the massive forces required to defeat Hitler's armies needed constant re-supply of men, equipment, ammunition, fuel and other materials. These would have to come in by sea but it was known that the Germans would not only defend the few major ports but destroy them before withdrawing.
