The Omega Factor

By: Steve Berry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

The Ghent Altarpiece is the most violated work of art in the world. Thirteen times it has been vandalized, dismantled, or stolen. Why? What secrets does it hold?

Enter UNESCO investigator, Nicholas Lee, who works for the United Nations’ Cultural Liaison and Investigative Office (CLIO). Nick’s job is to protect the world’s cultural artifacts—anything and everything from countless lesser-known objects to national treasures.

When Nick travels to Belgium for a visit with a woman from his past, he unwittingly stumbles on the trail of a legendary panel from the Ghent Altarpiece, stolen in 1934 under cover of night and never seen since. Soon Nick is plunged into a bitter conflict, one that has been simmering for nearly two thousand years. On one side is the Maidens of Saint-Michael, les Vautours—the Vultures—a secret order of nuns and the guardians of a great truth. Pitted against them is the Vatican, which has wanted for centuries to both find and possess what the nuns guard. Because of Nick, the maidens have finally been exposed, their secret placed in dire jeopardy—a vulnerability that the Vatican swiftly moves to exploit utilizing an ambitious cardinal and a corrupt archbishop, both with agendas of their own.

From the tranquil canals of Ghent, to the towering bastions of Carcassonne, and finally into an ancient abbey high in the French Pyrenees, Nick Lee must confront a modern-day religious crusade intent on eliminating a shocking truth from humanity’s past. Success or failure—life and death—all turn on the Omega Factor.

©2022 Steve Berry (P)2022 Grand Central Publishing

Excellent Read (Listen)

Well paced, interesting and tightly woven story. Descriptions are vivid. Characters are well fleshed out. Narrator is well spoken and pleasant toned.

Best book I've "read" in a long time!

I loved everything about this story, and the narrator was amazing! I highly recommend it for anyone who loves historical mysteries. 10/10

Enjoyable, if not predictable

Entertaining. Listened to it on a long road trip cross country. Exactly what you would expect out of a Steve Berry novel, not that there is anything wrong with that!

Hard to Follow

Agree with all who said this book was a real snooze. Names too close to catch on an audio book. Too much Catholic history. I felt like this was an expose on the last 2,000 years of the wrong doings of the catholic church. (And I am not Catholic). I returned the book.

Insert yawn emoji...

I'll give Scott Brick three stars for effort since I usually really like his work. This time, he was too melodramatic with the accents with little distinction between characters. Ugh! But it's hard to blame him. If your job was to doll up a tenth grade history class, you'd struggle too. This book is good enough to finish but the endless biblical references and history lessons cloud what could have been a decent listen.

Excellent

Great audio book..so much history..sometimes hard to follow ..story line great..narrator awesome..love Scott

Great new characters and story!

Steve Berry introduces new characters in this book. The story is compelling and I couldn’t put it down!

The new guy

Enjoyed the introduction of a new character while staying true to the niche. I did miss the authors between chapter interruptions. Nick and Cotton, looking forward to that as I had visions of Cotton during this story. Thanks to Scott Brick for another great read.

Omega Facture

As a Cathlic I am always interested in books involving my religion...this an interesting story from one of my favorite authors.

Interesting but went slow

Took forever to get to the point. Characters in/out like a revolving door. A bit harder to follow compared to typical woods novels.