Right on time with the reality of the rumored approach of Planet X (Nibiru) towards Earth, Mr. Palumbo’s The Enochian Wars: Armageddon Unleashed arrives on the market. In the story, Planet Niburu approaches and electromagnetic nuclear bombs are deployed, leaving Earth devastated and defenseless. As New York City is brought to its knees, the Annunaki and their lesser brethren, the Nephilim, round up humans for slavery and their cannibalistic feasts. Thousands of rectangular space ships land and form a wall around NYC, and a centrally located tower that exceeds the height of every NY skyscraper. Jack Savage and his partner Gilmore Boyle, both NYPD, lead a stray group of survivors in a fight to free Earthlings from their alien invaders.

The story starts fast and doesn’t slow down, jumping through a series of chapters in which different characters or groups of characters react to the attack. Some survive and some don’t until mid-way through the book when Savage gets all the primary characters together for a final assault on the tower. How each of these characters comes together for the finale is plotted with great skill. Mr. Palumbo based his story on a well-documented mythology but sacrificed details for story pace.

The story of the Annunaki is fascinating, and I would have preferred a bit more cohesion and amplification of the myth into the storyline. The author also took a considerable amount of artistic license in describing the Annunaki and their subordinate brethren, the Nephilim, which made them far more awesome and deadly. Primary characters are all interesting and easy to empathize with, but Ol’ Willie-be-Good was (for me) by far the most intriguing and well defined. Mr. Palumbo also does a good job of describing scenes where human emotions range from anger to sorrow to fear and pee-inducing terror. His ability to describe action scenes is second to none for imagery and impact. For a fast-paced, action packed read, you can’t go wrong with The Enochian Wars: Armageddon Unleashed.