History Literature / SigmaForce

* IncestIsRelative: [[spoiler:In ''Map of Bones,'' Rachel's ''nonna'' tells her that she was forced to carry two children fathered by the Baron de Sauvage (grandfather of Raoul, TheDragon of the story.) This means that Rachel is expected to marry her step-second-cousin.]]

** ''The Seventh Plague:'' [[spoiler: Simon Hartnell]]

* BizarreAlienBiology: In ''The Sixth Extinction'', [[spoiler: an entire ecosystem is found underneath Queen Maude Land in Antarctica, filled with utterly alien species, including an eel that has an anglerfish lure which is coated in corrosive acid and a parasitic larval stage.]]

--> Painter Crowe: [[spoiler:We're not dealing with a new enemy here... [[WhamLine We're dealing with the same one.]] More Nazis.]]

-->'''Kowalski:''' "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck]] [[OhCrap me.]]"

** ''The Judas Strain:'' [[spoiler: Exploiting a bacteriophage that mutates benign bacteria into deadlier versions of themselves, and exploiting a survivor in order to develop a cure for it.]]

* HalfHumanHybrid: Factors into the plot of ''the Bone Labyrinth'' in several ways: the plot-driving MacGuffin is a skeleton of a first-generation ''Homo sapiens''-neanderthal hybrid, the half-neanderthal gorilla Baako, and [[spoiler: the half-gorilla half-''meganthropus'' engineered by the BigBad.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Cutter Elwes, in ''The Sixth Extinction'', is injected with the same prion he developed, which ends up destroying his higher cognitive functions.]]

* HonorableElephant: In ''The Seventh Plague'', [[spoiler: the elephants in Akagera Naitonal Park treat Jane, Monk and Gray with hospitality, and give them the key to curing the archea infection.]]

** In ''Black Order'', [[spoiler: is ''Die Glocke'' really capable of bending reality [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve based on belief?]]]]

* PastLifeMemories: Shows up in ''The Seventh Plague''. [[spoiler: The arcahea microbe's ability to live off of electricity allows them to absorb electrical impulses from the brain-- particularly memories-- and transfer them. Those who are infected (or take the cure, as Creator/MarkTwain notes towards the end of the book) see the memories of others affected by the microbes; when Safia gets infected, her visions of the past are presented as a PresentTenseNarrative.]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Robert:''' "[[PapaWolf No father should lose a daughter...]]"]]

* ThemeNaming: [[spoiler: All of the animals in the 'shadow biosphere' in ''The Sixth Extinction'' have an X in their scientific name to emphasize the '''x'''enobiological nature of everything down there.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Simon Hartnell; he wants to provide free energy to the world, following in the footsteps of his idol Nikola Tesla. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: his plan includes at least ''three'' different ways [[ApocalypseHow in which he can end the world]]: firstly, his power source is an electricity-breathing microbe that was the root cause for most of the [[Literature/BookOfExodus Ten Plagues of Egypt]], which breaks loose in modern times, and is often lethal. Those it doesn't kill are left as bearers of a potential SterilityPlague which could result in the extinction of humanity. On top of that, the energy output created by wireless energy generator has the potential to ''ignite the ionosphere''.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Simon Hartnell; he wants to provide free energy to the world, following in the footsteps of his idol Nikola Tesla. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: his plan includes at least ''three'' different ways [[ApocalypseHow in which he can end the world]]: firstly, his power source is an electricity-breathing microbe that was the root cause for most of the [[Literature/BookOfExodus Ten Plagues of Egypt]], which breaks loose in modern times, and is often lethal. Those it doesn't kill are left as bearers of a potential SterilityPlague which could result in the extinction of humanity. On top of that, the energy output created by wireless energy generator has the potential to ''ignite the ionosphere''.]]

* TheRainMan: Several autistic children figure into the plot of ''The Last Oracle'', and they're not portrayed in a terribly realistic manner.

* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler:John Creed. It only [[IncrediblyLamePun comes out]] after his death.]]

** ''Bloodline'': [[spoiler:It turns out that there is a BiggerBad to the entire series -- the eponymous Bloodline, a race of world-domination seekers who, tired with the Guild's repeated failures, decide to personally go into action by seeking immortality, manipulating the Guild's scientists into experimenting with women who can carry children with ''triple''-helix DNA before assassinating both President James Gant, who is married to one of their own -- Teresa -- as well as as his brother, State secretary Robert Lee Gant, allowing Teresa to exploit national mourning and sympathy into becoming the President and thus the Bloodline's external arm.]]

* BadassBookworm[=/=]GeniusBruiser: Sigma Force members are recruited based on both their military and intellectual prowess. Once drafted from the military, recruits are given crash courses on their chosen fields of study.
* BadassGrandpa: Gray's father, Jack, in ''The Judas Strain.'' See ObfuscatingDisability below.

* {{Alchemy}}: In ''Map of Bones'', [[spoiler:The Magi that visited Jesus in Bethlehem were alchemists that created the M-State gold that's a major plot device throughout the book.]]

* TheBusCameBack: Safia al-Maaz reappears in ''The Seventh Plague'', after being absent since ''Sandstorm''.
* CanisLatinicus: In ''Map of Bones'', whenever the Three Magi are discussed, they're always referred to in the plural form, even when talking about a particular one, [[spoiler:such as the Fourth Magi]], despite the fact that the proper singular form is "Magus".

** ''The Judas Strain:'' [[spoiler:A disease that attacks the brain and causes a wide variety of symptoms, almost invariably ending in death.]]

** ''Map of Bones:'' [[spoiler:Raoul had this moment after his exposure to the blinding light of antimatter, where he is left a paralyzed, mumbling mess apologizing for his atrocities before Seichan shoots him out of his misery.]]

* ImmortalityImmorality: ''Bloodline''

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler:Atlantis, in ''The Bone Labyrinth'', has a sculpture with a view of the moon's dark side, something which would have been impossible for those who had been in the city to see in ancient times. One of the theories presented in the book is that the inhabitants of Atlantis were Biblical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel) Watchers]], a form of angel; whether they're actually this, or some form of AncientAstronaut, is never explained.]]

* TheMole: Featured in ''Sandstorm.'' [[spoiler:It's Tony Rector, director of Sigma at the time, who's replaced afterwards by Painter after the former chose to [[AteHisGun shoot himself]] rather than face trial.]]

* EverythingExplodesEnding: Happens all too often in the books, often at the expense of the destruction of one or more valuable pieces of history, including [[spoiler:Ubar]] in ''Sandstorm'', [[spoier:Atlantis]] in ''The Bone Labyrinth'', and [[spoiler:Simon Hartnell's Wardencylff Tower replica]] in ''The Seventh Plague''. A chapter-ending one occurs when Raoul firebombs [[spoiler:the tomb of Alexander the Great]] in ''Map of Bones''.

* {{Expy}}: Gregory Metcalfe, [[spoiler:(The new DARPA Director since ''The Doomsday Key'')]] seems like one of [[Series/{{NCIS}} Leon Vance.]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Kowalski, introduced in ''The Judas Strain,'' is basically Monk in the body of JackReacher.

* '''The Last Oracle''' (2008) -- A Russian cabal has been bioengineering autistic Roma children into psychic prophets... while hatching a plan to massacre world leaders convening at Chernobyl to witness the sealing of its contaminated reactor, leaving Russia powerful again. Painter would have to deal with one such child who somehow made it to America, Gray and Kowalski travel to Chernobyl to stop said cabal, and Monk [[spoiler:(who survived drowning in last book)]] has to accompany a cadre of such children to the area around the highly radioactive Lake Karachay.

* '''The Seventh Plague''' (2017) -- When an old colleague of Safia suddenly reappears, close to death, two years after supposedly disappearing in the deserts of Sudan, coroners were astounded to discover that he was apparently mummified ''before death''. When the same forensic team contracts a disease that began to spread rapidly across Cairo, however, Safia turns to her old friends at Sigma. Painter heads to disease-stricken Cairo, while Gray and Seichan investigate a MadScientist holed up in the Arctic, both of their travels bound by the mystery of Creator/MarkTwain's travels, the wisdom of UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, the truths behind the expedition to find David Livingstone in Africa, and said professor's own research to the historical plausibility of the Ten Plagues of ''Literature/TheBible''.

** ''The Seventh Plague'' has [[spoiler:Gray MercyKilling his father via morphine overdose, as his condition has deteriorated despite the aforementioned cure.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler:Atlantis, in ''The Bone Labyrinth'', has a sculpture with a view of the moon's dark side, something which would have been impossible for those who had been in the city to see in ancient times. One of the theories presented in the book is that the inhabitants of Atlantis were Biblical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel) Watchers]], a form of angel.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: The Guild's [[spoiler:(or rather, the Bloodline)]] principal modus operandi is manipulating any ambitious people into unwittingly giving them what they wanted through sleeper agents before making off.

** Unusually there really isn't one in ''Eye of God'' ([[spoiler:the end of the world the protagonists need to avert comes from an asteroid]]), but ''The Sixth Extinction'' features [[spoiler:an indestructible virus tailored to reduce humans to the intelligence of animals]].

* UndergroundMonkey: In ''The Sixth Extinction'', [[spoiler: an entire ecosystem is found underneath Queen Maude Land in Antarctica, filled with utterly alien species.]]

* WellDoneSonGuy: Gray's father, Jack, who has Alzheimer's (thus bordering on {{Deconstruction}} territory).

* '''The Bone Labyrinth''' (2015) -- Two near-simultaneous attacks in Croatia and the USA -- the former at an underground chapel holding the bones of a Neanderthal woman, the latter at a primate research facility near Atlanta -- trigger Sigma's latest journey of discovery, one that will take them through 50,000 years of human history and across South America, leading not only to a Neanderthal graveyard, but also what could be their greatest challenge yet: an ancient force revived by 21st-century genetics which may either bring about the evolution or eradication of humanity.

* '''Map of Bones''' (2005) -- The first book to introduce the series protagonists -- [[TheHero Gray Pierce]], [[TheLancer Monk Kokkalis]], and [[ActionGirl Kat Bryant]]. After the massacre of an entire congregation attending mass in Cologne Cathedral in Germany, during which its most prized treasure -- the bones of the Three Magi -- were stolen, Sigma joins up with [[AdventurerArchaeologist Rachel Verona]], a beautiful Italian archeologist, and her uncle [[CoolOldGuy Vigor]], a priest and custodian of the Vatican Archives, to find the bones and discover a mysterious substance that may have been the source of Biblical miracles while clashing with the Dragon Court and its enforcer, Raoul de Sauvage. The series also introduced [[DarkActionGirl Seichan]], an agent of the Guild with unclear allegiances. The book also features a rare benevolent Vatican secret society.
* '''Black Order''' (2006) -- While Gray goes to Denmark to find CharlesDarwin's family Bible, Painter heads to Tibet where he finds a Buddhist monastery full of dead monks and a swastika painted in blood. Both their teams find themselves in a battle between [[BlackandGrayMorality two groups]] of ThoseWackyNazis intent on uncovering research on creating {{Super Soldier}}s, delving into UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's real-life genetic and nuclear experiments.

!!Books

!!Side Stories
* ''The Skeleton Key'' (2010): Seichan awakes with a metal collar rigged with explosives around her neck and a strange boy by her side. Forced to fight for her life, she and the boy race through the streets of Paris and beneath to stop an apocalyptic cult.
* ''Tracker'' (2012): Before they met Sigma Force, Tucker and Kane rescue a woman fleeing three assassins on the streets of Budapest, only to realize that she holds the key to a terrible secret originating from UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's final days.
* ''The Kill Switch'' (2014, with Grant Blackwood): The first full novel starring Tucker and Kane. A simple mission to rescue a Russian pharmaceuticals magnate with knowledge to a bio-weapon becomes complicated when Painter contacts Tucker, desperately urging him to find MadScientist Abram Bukolov before a shady general who's also after everything he knew about a dangerous superweapon from the recent past.

* ''Sandstorm'' (2004) -- In many ways a prequel novel, ''Sandstorm'' follows [[BigGood Painter Crowe]], future head of Sigma Force, on the mission that led up to his promotion. After an explosion at the British Muesum, Painter teams up with the wealthy Lady Kara Kensington and her foster sister [[AdventurerArchaeologist Safia Al-Maaz]] to find the lost city of Ubar in Oman and the lake of antimatter it rests on. They are pursued by former Sigma agent, Cassandra Sanchez, who works for the mysterious [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Guild]].
* ''Map of Bones'' (2005) -- The first book to introduce the series protagonists -- [[TheHero Gray Pierce]], [[TheLancer Monk Kokkalis]], and [[ActionGirl Kat Bryant]]. After the massacre of an entire congregation attending mass in Cologne Cathedral in Germany, during which its most prized treasure -- the bones of the Three Magi -- were stolen, Sigma joins up with [[AdventurerArchaeologist Rachel Verona]], a beautiful Italian archeologist, and her uncle [[CoolOldGuy Vigor]], a priest and custodian of the Vatican Archives, to find the bones and discover a mysterious substance that may have been the source of Biblical miracles while clashing with the Dragon Court and its enforcer, Raoul de Sauvage. The series also introduced [[DarkActionGirl Seichan]], an agent of the Guild with unclear allegiances. The book also features a rare benevolent Vatican secret society.
* ''Black Order'' (2006) -- While Gray goes to Denmark to find CharlesDarwin's family Bible, Painter heads to Tibet where he finds a Buddhist monastery full of dead monks and a swastika painted in blood. Both their teams find themselves in a battle between [[BlackandGrayMorality two groups]] of ThoseWackyNazis intent on uncovering research on creating {{Super Soldier}}s, delving into UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's real-life genetic and nuclear experiments.
* ''The Judas Strain'' (2007) -- Gray teams up once again with Seichan and Vigor to seek out the key to stopping a strange disease that has broken out aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Indonesia (where Monk is representing Sigma in the relief/investigation efforts) that threatens the entire world. The series also introduces [[TheBigGuy Joe Kowalski]], a hulking ex-Navy soldier. The first book in the series to have a TwistEnding, meaning most plot threads from future books will invariably spoil the previous highly serialized installments.
* ''The Last Oracle'' (2008) -- A Russian cabal has been bioengineering autistic Roma children into psychic prophets... while hatching a plan to massacre world leaders convening at Chernobyl to witness the sealing of its contaminated reactor, leaving Russia powerful again. Painter would have to deal with one such child who somehow made it to America, Gray and Kowalski travel to Chernobyl to stop said cabal, and Monk [[spoiler:(who survived drowning in last book)]] has to accompany a cadre of such children to the area around the highly radioactive Lake Karachay.
* ''The Doomsday Key'' (2009) -- Three murders separated by distance (the Vatican, Mali and Princeton) are connected by the victims sharing the same Celtic cross seared onto their chests. Meanwhile, a Norwegian corporation is making questionable genetically modified crops. Gray, Kowalski, Rachel and Seichan travel across Britain to find connections between said company's crops and 800-year-old cases of "death with a full stomach", while Painter, Monk and newcomer John Creed travel to Norway to investigate the company itself.
* ''The Devil Colony'' (2011) -- A cataclysmic explosion in Utah portends an even greater catastrophe: the long-overdue eruption of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera the Yellowstone supervolcano]]. Blame for the blast is pinned on a radical Native American youth organization protesting the "desecration" of a sacred graveyard by an archaeological team -- among whose ranks is Painter's niece, Kai Quacheets. Gray and Kowalski must infiltrate Fort Knox to uncover secrets related to the blast, Kai must fight for her life and prove her innocence, a Japanese research team affiliated with Sigma is on the lookout for strange stirrings in Europe, and Painter discovers a truly horrifying secret -- one which extends all the way back to the origins of the Mormons and the founding of America.
* ''Bloodline'' (2012) -- Somali pirates kidnap Amanda Gant-Bennett, the pregnant, runaway daughter of President James Gant. Gray and Seichan set out to rescue her and her unborn child, accompanied by Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his combat dog Kane, Kat and Lisa get in on the action by investigating rumors about a fertility clinic in Charleston, South Carolina, and Painter, Monk and Kowalski investigate links between Amanda's kidnapping, the Guild, and a staff said to have been used by Jesus himself -- reputed to hold the key to immortality.
* ''The Eye of God'' (2013) -- An American satellite used to conduct research on the dark energy contained in a comet crashes somewhere in Mongolia, setting off a wild scramble to find it, but not before relaying a horrifying image of the Atlantic coast of America in ruins. Meanwhile, Vigor Verona receives a mysterious package from a colleague who supposedly disappeared a decade ago -- a skull etched with Aramaic writing and a book bound in human skin, both of which are identified to be UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's. Sensing something is afoot, Gray and Sigma reunite with the Veronas to investigate links between the crashed satellite, relics of the Khan, the fall of the Roman Empire, and rumors of an ancient superweapon -- while forcing them to question the very nature of reality itself.
* ''The Sixth Extinction'' (2014): A military research station in Utah suddenly experienced a blight, killing any living thing within 50 square miles. To keep it from spreading, Gray and Sigma travel the world in search of clues, leading them to a map salvaged from the Library of Alexandria and clues of a time when Antarctica was not the frozen wasteland it is today.

* ''Black Order'' (2006) -- While Gray goes to Denmark to find CharlesDarwin's family Bible, Painter heads to Tibet where he finds a Buddhist monastery full of dead monks and a swastika painted in blood. Both their teams find themselves in a battle between [[BlackandGrayMorality two groups]] of ThoseWackyNazis intent on uncovering research on creating {{Super Soldier}}s, delving into NaziGermany's real-life genetic and nuclear experiments.

* ''Tracker'' (2012): Before they met Sigma Force, Tucker and Kane rescue a woman fleeing three assassins on the streets of Budapest, only to realize that she holds the key to a terrible secret originating from NaziGermany's final days.

* MadLibThrillerTitle: Most of the novels do this, starting with ''Map of Bones''. ''Bloodline'' breaks the trend.

* ''The Eye of God'' (2013) -- An American satellite used to conduct research on the dark energy contained in a comet crashes somewhere in Mongolia, setting off a wild scramble to find it, but not before relaying a horrifying image of the Atlantic coast of America in ruins. Meanwhile, Vigor Verona receives a mysterious package from a colleague who supposedly disappeared a decade ago -- a skull etched with Aramaic writing and a book bound in human skin, both of which are identified to be GenghisKhan's. Sensing something is afoot, Gray and Sigma reunite with the Veronas to investigate links between the crashed satellite, relics of the Khan, the fall of the Roman Empire, and rumors of an ancient superweapon -- while forcing them to question the very nature of reality itself.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Historical figures have figured into the stories of several novels in this series, such as Marco Polo, the Oracle of Delphi, Thomas Jefferson and Genghis Khan.