Matthew Reilly · 2005 · global

Matthew Reilly's 2005 thriller. A rare solar event nears, and whoever raises the lost Golden Capstone atop the Great Pyramid will command a thousand years of dominion. Its seven pieces lie hidden at the sites of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, and super-soldier Jack West Jr. leads a coalition of small nations in a headlong global race - from Sudan to Tunisia, Cuba and Babylon - to Giza.

1. 1
   Sudan

   With days to spare before the sun turns, Jack West Jr. and his ragtag coalition descend into a booby-trapped ancient mine deep in the Sudan to seize the first piece of the Golden Capstone - the head of the lost Colossus of Rhodes.

2. 2
   Tunisia

   The trail runs to the coast of Tunisia and Hamilcar's Refuge, where a fragment of the great Lighthouse of Alexandria lies concealed behind lethal traps, with rival American and European teams racing to reach it first.

3. 3
   Cuba

   The hunt turns violent and global, carrying West's team even into an audacious breakout from the American prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, as the coalition of small nations is pursued across the world.

4. 4
   Babylon

   In the ruins of Babylon in Iraq, beneath the fabled Hanging Gardens, another piece of the capstone waits - one more prize in a desperate treasure hunt spanning the wonders and the tombs of the vanished ancient world.

5. 5
   Giza

   It all converges on the Great Pyramid of Giza, the only wonder still standing, where the reassembled capstone must be raised at the instant the sun turns - and where the fate of the world will be decided in a final battle.