I switched to ebooks several years ago, finding it quite convenient to pack my ebook reader with hundreds of tomes that I tote around with me to school parking lots while I wait for my kids to finish their practices, haircut establishments while I await my turn, the DMV while I wait…forever, etc. Nevertheless, I still have a backlog of physical books spread throughout the house and occasionally pick one up to read in-between electronic ones.

One of these I read recently was James Rollins’s The Last Odyssey. The Last Odyssey is a fast-paced, modern day adventure that pits a secret, U.S. government special operations team against the stereotypical bad people bent on sending humanity into the dark ages.

The thread that most endeared me to the novel was the interweaving of historical texts and mysteries–especially Homer’s The Odyssey–into the fabric of the story. I find it reminiscent of Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum or Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Or maybe National Treasure, if you’re not the reading type. The villians and protagonists are out to retrace Odysseus’s 10 year trek home, which turns out to be more true than myth (thanks to much literary license). What awaits at the end of the trek could spell doom for the masses in the hands of the wrong people.

If you’re like me, you’ll want to read the author’s notes at the end where he enumerates all the books and events from which he drew inspiration. I’ve already added several of these to my watchlist.

So, if you need a break from your daily grind, The Last Odyssey will entertain you without overly taxing your exhausted prefrontal cortex.