DA VINCI CODE meets TOMB RAIDER in this multi-award-winning and #1 bestselling thriller that combines intrigue, history, science, and mystery into pulse-pounding action.
A computer-app designer. An encrypted relic. Can she and the VanOps team decipher the dangerous code before extremists trigger a high-tech apocalypse?
Broad-shouldered marine turned covert agent Bear Thorenson wants his girlfriend, Maddy Marshall, to join VanOps, but the software expert and aikido black belt isn't sure she's ready for a hazardous dark-operations role that might risk the life of AJ, the nine-year-old boy she wants to adopt. Things change when an armed Russian thief escapes over her wrought-iron fire escape carrying an ancient star chart. She chooses to join Bear in the pursuit, because if her royal family legends are true, the mysterious chart leads to a superconductive meteor capable of powering the ultimate quantum computer. Upon learning the lightning-fast machine would be used by fringe members of the Russian government to spark a global war, and those same extremists kidnapped AJ once before, Maddy’s heart drops and Bear’s arctic-blue eyes turn to ice.
Setting off on a mad dash to uncover the chart’s celestial secrets at a Mexican archeoastronomy site, the VanOps team unearths a clue dating back to biblical times. As they race across the globe through the dangerous bazaars of Morocco, fallen Turkish temples, and Egypt’s perilous Valley of the Kings, they must fight to stay even a half-step ahead of sinister assassins. Worse, the place Maddy sent AJ for refuge becomes the enemy’s testing ground, where hungry gangs roam darkened streets.
With millions of lives on the line, can Maddy and Bear rescue the boy and crack the chart’s secret code?
SOLSTICE SHADOWS is the second novel in the fast-paced, multi-award-winning VanOps thriller series. A standalone, it follows THE LOST POWER ("A masterwork of international intrigue." - #1 NYT bestselling author James Rollins). If you enjoy smart edge-of-your-seat suspense by James Rollins, Dan Brown, Steve Berry, or Clive Cussler, you'll stay up late turning the pages of Avanti Centrae’s "rousing sequel." Kirkus Reviews.
Genre Grand Prize Winner - Global Thriller Awards - 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards
"Unputdownable. Avanti Centrae packs a thriller parachute with endless suspense and a rip-cord ending. SOLSTICE SHADOWS is meticulously researched, the history, science, and locales offering a rare 'you-are-there' authenticity. Brew a large pot of java, as you will read through the night. Brilliant."
Avanti Centrae is a name to watch. I know that's cliché and you see that on blurbs on virtually every book out there. But here's the thing. Her words grab you like a python from the very first line and don’t let you go until they’ve squeezed every ounce of waking energy left in your soul, leaving you drained and desperate for more. She utilizes powerful, evocative, gripping storytelling with characters you immediately relate to, love, or loathe. If someone asked me how to write a good thriller, I’d say reading one of Centrae’s books would be a great place to start. Her understanding of the thriller genre and how to write for it makes me wonder if she’s even human, or some sentient AI thriller writer sent to give us otherworldly stories. Do yourself a favor and jump on this rocket before it takes off. You'll be able to say you knew her when.
"Fast-paced action adventure with an ancient mystery at its heart -- fans of Dan Brown and Steve Berry will love the VanOps thrillers."
"A tantalizing new series that combines historical mystery and cutting-edge science into a masterwork of international intrigue."
". . . delightfully capable and convincingly vulnerable characters."
"Fans of complex and highly detailed espionage and action thrillers are certain to dive right into this mixture between Indiana Jones and Dan Brown."
