Undersecretary of State for African Affairs Prescott Hyde tries to hire Philip to locate a large diamond mine in the dangerous Northern Eritea. In spite of showing pictures taken from the Medusa satellite that crashed a decade ago, neither Prescott nor partner Selome Nagast convince Philip that a lode as large as that in South Africa has gone undetected.

Philip's mind is changed when a group of Mid-eastern terrorists abduct Harry, threatening to kill him if the mining engineer fails to find the mine in six weeks. Philip races to Africa to begin to search for a needle that might not exist in a haystack overrun by terrorists, outlaws, and deadly land mines. Philip quickly realizes that a second group is also interested in obtaining the diamond mine. Both groups share the goal that Philip must die.

With novels like CHARON'S LANDING, VULCAN'S FORGE, and now THE MEDUSA STONE, Jack DuBrul is proving he is one of the leaders of adventurous intrigue novels. The story line of his latest thriller continually ebbs and flows, but each new spurt builds the tension even further until the audience realizes that this is a one sitting novel in spite of its size. Philip is a fabulous lead character and the support cast brings to life Eritea and some questionable activities in the Mediterranean area. However, in hindsight what makes Mr. DuBrul's novel a strong candidate for adventure book of the year is the brilliant infusion of Eritea, its people and customs woven into a dramatic plot.

Harriet Klausner


Good addition to the adventure-thriller genre   April 5, 2000
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

The Medusa Stone, by Jack DuBrul, is a fast-paced and exciting read. The plot involves a crashed super-surveillance satellite, and the reader is hooked quickly. The hero, the hard-boiled geologist Philip Mercer, returns from two previous novels along with a cast of humorous yet touching supporting characters and promptly gets himself and his pals into a slew of dangerous situations. The historical background on Eritrea was interesting to me, as I didn't know much about that part of the world. Fans of Clive Cussler and Stephen Coonts will find this one hard to put down!


Dirk Pitt--move over, Mercer HAS arrived!   November 3, 2000
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

My first 5 star review for Mr. Du Brul, and well deserved. I picked this up at the Orlando airport, disappointed that I couldn't find another book I had been looking for, but desperate to be able to spend my time on the plane reading SOMETHING, I grabbed 'The Medusa Stone' and began an incredible adventure that began thousands of years ago. I'd tell you WHAT they are looking for, but finding out is actually a very tantalizing adventure worthy of anything Clive Cussler has come up with or even Tom Clancy, for that matter. Mercer's drinking pal is abducted--but not by who you might think--and actually when you DO find out it sorta takes you by surprise--but that's by NO MEANS the ONLY surprise you run into inside the pages of this adventure masterpiece. Mercer is asked to help out a tiny little country in Africa in finding a diamond mine that could rival anything in South Africa, and in so doing help to bring Eretria out of the dark ages--literally. Phil is then linked up with a mysterious woman who may or may not be on his side, trust me it takes a while to figure that one out. All the while a mafia Don believes that the diamonds--should there actually BE any are HIS. Sound complex? It IS--but all in a GOOD way. Don't worry, Du Brul ties it all together in the end perfectly. I'm really anxious for the next Mercer novel--as much so as I normally look forward to the next Dirk Pitt novel. As much as I LOVE Cussler, Du Brul is fast becoming the NEW head of adventure in modern fiction. Give Du Brul a few pages of your time, and you'll be singing his praises, too--no matter if you can hold a tune or not.


Constant Action   July 24, 2000
 8 out of 10 found this review helpful

From the moment I started listening to the audio cassette of Jack DuBrul's new story "The Medusa Stone," I knew that I would have several hours of constant and rapt reading adventure. His novel reads like the best action adventures of such authors as Clive Cussler et al. Mercer is a hero in the same vein as Indiana Jones, and even when accomplishing the almost impossible makes the reader think that his actions are normal. In this novel, Mercer is called upon to prevent both Israeli terrorists and a meglomanical Italian industrialist from gaining access to one of the world's richest diamond mine deposits. The love scenes in the novel are quite steamy and yet the reader does not feel the voyeur. I would recommend this book and all the other novels by Dubrul for the reader looking for a new hero and an outstanding author.


Something more precious than diamonds   September 16, 2002
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

The U.S. has launched the Medusa, a super sophisticated surveillance satellite as part of the Star Wars defense initiative. It is capable of uncovering subterrean features such as bunkers and missile silos much like xrays reveal bones. An accidental collision with some space junk causes the Medusa to plummet back to the Earth's surface. Spinning wildly out of control the satellite manages to take photographs of a remote desert area of Eritrea in northeast Africa. The top secret photos disclose what appears to be a massive underground diamond bearing kimberlite structure that rivals that of the famous South African kimbelite.

Years pass and the clandestine photos come into the possession of the unscrupulous Prescott Hyde, an Undersecretary of State. Hyde attempts to recruit geologist, mining engineer and hero Philip Mercer to cover the cache of diamonds. In concert with Hyde, Selome Nagast, a gorgeous Eritrean national with diplomatic connections implores Mercer to lend his expertise to uncover the treasure. When Mercer refuses to comply, his best friend the hard drinking octagenarian Harry White is kidnapped by an armed group of Middle Easterers. Mercer is forced to cooperate and make plans to unveil and mine the diamonds in the brutal, unforgiving and land mined Eritrean desert.

As the plot unfolds, we learn that two rival groups are racing to discover the whereabouts of the diamond mine. A cartel lead by wealthy Italian industrialist Giancarlo Gianelli has designs on flooding the market with this new source of diamonds. The other group a syndicate of rogue Mossad agents lead by Israeli Defense Minister Chaim Levine believe the mine to be the resting place of an object more dear than a hoard of diamonds. Both groups will use any means to procure their prize.

Mercer using his vast geologic knowledge and guile and with the aid of the Medusa photographs leads us on a rollicking tale of adventure. Du Brul really steps up his writing skills and produces a superb and fast paced yarn that makes me beg for more of the same. Being a rockhound further ameliorates my interest in the scientifically based subject matter.