Burnett Books

This is the best suspense book I have ever read! I could not put it down and was disappointed when I was finished reading it. I wanted more. I can't wait for another one like this one.

I'm not too sure who is giving this book good reviews and 4 or 5 stars. It's an average plot and terribly written. The book deals with Billy, a barman who out of nowhere, starts to become tormented by a psychopath. Who the psychopath is, is almost painfully obviously. Koontz would have done better had he pared this story down to 50 page short story. In its bloated state --> it's quite painful, and the ending and conclusion, makes very little sense.

If you're a serious reader - I'd suggest you don't waste your time on this.

This was a pretty good read, and I was eager to see how it would unfold once I started it. Very suspensful and entertaining.

I pick and choose my Koontz novels... some just are not my genre. I loved Life Expectancy, Odd Thomas (1, 2 & 3), By The Light of The Moon, etc. If you follow my Koontz reading habits you'll love this book too. Way to many reviews here already, but I would encourage anyone who asked to read/listen this story.

I really enjoyed this book even with it faults. Billy Wiles is a great character who almost anyone could like. He's an average guy with an average job with a complacent life. Well..with the exception of a wife who's in a coma.

His routine is pretty much the same everyday. Wake up, eat, work, visit his wife, go home, drink a couple beers and do some house or yard work, and then sleep. Rinse...Repeat. He is ok with his life. Not happy, but not miserable either. Until one day when he gets a note. The note that will turn his life upside down. Someone wants him to choose something inconcievable. 2 people....one has to die...its up to him who does. If he goes to the cops one will die. If he doesnt...the other one will die. So even if he doesnt want to play the game...someone is still going to die....at midnight. Is this a joke? Sadly the next morning...he finds out the answer is no..this isnt a joke. As the notes keep coming, and the grisly murders keep happening, and the small clues keep appearing, the book keeps speeding up.

Up until the ending, I was really loving the book and thinking how could this book go wrong?! Sadly, the ending was a let down. By no means is it bad, but I just wanted more to it at the end. With a little more thought, the ending would've been great.

If you've never read Koontz and you are considering this book, then definitely go for it. I really believe you'll like it. And if you are a Koontz fan like I am, then I ALSO believe you'll really like this book. Being a fan of his, I usually read a lot of his writing. Some can be stinkers, but most, like this one, are really good reads.

Still though...my two favorite Koontz books so far are Intensity and Odd Thomas.

I was blown away by this book. Very dark and evil. However, because it was so evil, I really wanted it to have an ending to make it truly demonic. The ending was good, but I wanted more tragedy out of the end result. I almost expected a dual suicide similar to the way Hanks parents died, only inculding their daughter. THAT would have been more dramatic than the ending it had, although it does make you really evaluate your life.

This is quite simply the best thriller I've ever read. Not a word is wasted. Every scene contributes. Every plot point builds to the next in an exhausting concatenation until the visceral "ka-POW!" of the climax.

Having read "The Ruins", I can say that that novel did inherit some of this book's qualities, such as its relentless cynicism and conflicted characters. However, it exceeds it in every way by performing that trickiest of acts: getting you to sympathize with people who range from pathetic to revolting, all while reading between Hank's lines, for he is the quintessential unreliable narrator. Totally apart from the novel's action, the tension of the perspective alone is gripping.

A must-read for any suspense / pscyhological thriller fans.

A Simple Plan grabbed me from the start and pulled me in. The writing was good, the story intriguing, and the characters were interesting. Then about 100 pages in everything unraveled.

As the plot moves along, characters begin taking actions which make no sense and seem to be backed by no motivation at all. I found myself saying, "There is no way he/she would do that." And that really is the main problem with the book. Hank Mitchell and his wife start as a respectable, believable couple, and quickly disintegrate into a couple of idiots (if you judge them simply by there actions).

Hank's brother Jacob, starts as an idiot, and just as the author is weaving sympathy and depth into Jacob's character, Jacob blasts away a friend and you put down the book frustrated by yet another "no way" moment.

In the end, despite the books positives, A Simple Plan falls flat like a corpse.

FYI, I rate this 3 stars but Amazon somehow lists my rating as 5.

This book was very engaging - I was compelled to KEEP READING so I could find out WHAT would happen. Well written & suspenseful. You won't be disappointed.

This is a brilliant novel; uncompromising, disturbing, and extraordinarily well written. That said: there is no doubt that some readers are not going to like this novel. It's dark and depressing and is filled with unlikeable characters.

The plot: Three men stumble upon a small plane crashed in a remote orchard on New Year's Eve. Inside they find a dead pilot and over $4 million. They devise a simple plan. They will hold onto the money until after the plane is discovered. Once the plane is found they will wait until its safe, and then split up the cash. If the authorities get too close, they`ll burn the money. Simple. But it doesn't take long for the plan to spiral out of control when distrust and greed lead to violence.

The first person narrative is chilling. Hank Mitchell, a seemingly normal man, rationalizes each act of violence, convincing himself again and again that he had no choice. Each horrifying step he takes, makes the next easier, until finally he is lost.

This is a powerful novel about the destructive nature of greed and how the corruption of seemingly normal people rarely happens all at once, but through a series of small compromises and rationalizations. This is crime fiction; elevated.

A Simple Plan is one of the best crime novels I've read, but it won't appeal to everyone. If you can live without a happy ending and you don't mind a protagonist who has completely lost his moral compass, you'll enjoy A Simple Plan. This is an exceptionally good (but very dark) novel.

From the very first page I was hooked. I had never read any of Dean Koontz's books before but,for some reason this book caught my attention. The pace of this book didn't slow down for a moment. I really enjoyed how the author took special care in making sure that the reader understood the emotions each of the main characters were feeling. In return, I was able to better connect with each character on a different level, allowing me to enjoy the book even more. This book isn't hard to follow and throughout the whole book from beginning to end you keep asking yourself the same question. What in the world is going on here? I could not put this book down nor did I want to in the end so for this I say BRAVO to Dean Koontz.

Dean Koontz is a master of twists and turns and thrills. I loved this book. If you like Dean Koontz or thillers, then this book is for you!

I really tried to like this book. I am a fan of Dean Koontz but after four years since I bought this I still can't finish it. I was almost to the middle and still waiting for something explosive to happen but it didn't. It was not as entertaining as other books by Dean that I have read and enjoyed. There was a movie based on the book and I tried watching that and ended up changing the channel. Maybe I will try to read it again and see what happens.

i thoroughly enjoyed this book right up until the very end. a riveting and thought-provoking story overall. i wasn't sure what to expect in terms of an ending, but i was a bit disappointed by how koontz did this one. still, anything of his is worth a look in my opinion.

I just got done reading Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz and was overall disappointed. I read and own his book Watchers (which I think is an awesome book) and this one no where compares to it. Sole Survivor starts out slow, which is understandable because it is building the story line, but throughout the book it never really picks up a whole lot. There is a lot of rambling, and I had to keep reading parts over again because I would get lost in all of the scientific and off-topic jargon and unneccesary details and descriptions. There are some really good parts in the book that get you to the "edge of your seat" and some really decriptive scenes that play well in the story, but all in all I was just really bored with it. I almost quit reading it several times, but managed to finish it. I probably won't read it again.

I bought this book while on vacation. I don't normally get to read books because I have enormous amounts of professional journals and magazines to keep up with. But I was interested in the "teasers" and wasn't disappointed when I began to read. The plot and characters may be somewhat out there to many. But I've known people on the fringes of these communities and the characters in them and Flynn does a great job of describing their worldview. Hopefully we won't get to where we accept assassination as a way to deal with political gridlock, but Flynn knows the buttons to push to get us thinking about the questions arising in our declining republic. I think this book is a great read for fun and for thinking about our country.

Great Book, Vince Flynn is the king of the political thriller, then in his other books once Mitch Rapp is introduced, all great

Great Great reads, I highly recommend them, I have read all nine of his books

As a fan of Vince Flynn this was the last of his current titles that I hadn't read yet. Nobody that likes his other titles should be dissapointed in this one. The concept of the book makes, especially in todays economy, easilly grabs your attention.

If you want a real page turner, that you can't put down this is it. My only regret is that it ended. Can't wait for the next Vince Flynn book. He really knows how to keep it moving.

I've read two of Vince Flynn's thrillers (Transfer of Power and Third Option) and found them both mildly enjoyable. I started Term Limits and soon realized this was the first book he'd written. I was excited to find out about the origination of some of the reoccurring characters such as Congressman Michael O'Roarke and CIA operative Irene Kennedy.

This book still has the cluncky point of view problems that existed in the Third Option and Flynn's writing style in general is bland, but I the plot started off with a bang. Three well-known politicians were murdered by expertly trained assassins. Their demands are simple. The congress must not pass the president's bloated budged and must instead do what the American people want and enact needed spending cuts. Now, this sounds like an agenda I could agree with, but I certainly don't believe in killing congressmen to get it done.

Imagine my surprise when, early in the book, freshman Congressman Michael O'Roarke (a character in future books) agrees with the killings and believes they are justified. Imagine my surprise as I continue to read and find out O'Roarke may know who was behind the killings but refuses to go to the FBI with the information.

I wanted a hero to get behind and its hard to get behind a hero who advocates killing Senators. Flynn wanted this to be a plausible military thriller, but it fails at every corner. The omniscient point of view definitely detracts from the enjoyment. I also kept waiting for O'Roarke to save other Senators from assassination, but page after page O'Roarke stands behind the killings because he believes the killings are just what Congress needs to stop wasting our money.

Now, I'm a right winger who believes 100% Flynn's message that spending is out of control and must be stopped and that politicians of both parties are more interested in power than helping the country. I found it ludicrous for Flynn to expect me to buy into a hero that, as a congressman, advocates the killing of his co-workers to advance a political agenda.

After 350 pages, I have had enough. I kept reading, thinking O'Roarke would change. But it is obvious he won't and thanks to other Amazon reviews, I know I've made the right decision. I may read other Flynn novels featuring Mitch Rapp, because the first two I read were good, but his first novel is horrible.

Very pleased with the prompt service I received when I ordered this book. Will order from you again.

Debt of Honor is the next book in the Jack Ryan series, after The Sum of All Fears, and it was so much better. The book has a faster pace and the suspense builds up nicely from the beginning. The book is pretty long, more than 900 pages, but the story moves along quickly and it was very hard to put down.

In this book, a wealthy Japanese industrialist decides it's time for Japan to be a superpower and bring America to her knees. He convinces a small group of his peers to his scheme for dominance and power for Japan, takes control of the Japanese government, and goes on the offensive, first economically and then militarily. For this man, crippling the United States as a superpower is a personal revenge (that goes back to World War II and his family's death on the Mariana Islands), and it's this debt of honor he feels obligated to deliver payment by sowing chaos in America.

I read some of the negative reviews and some complained about going into too much detail on the financial side of things, how Wall Street operates, and using Japan as the main (although not the only one, India and China play minor roles) enemy was incredulous.

I didn't find reading about the financial markets and how they worked to be tedious and dull, it was quite fascinating to read how complex and intertwined the global markets were and how a disaster in one country, in this case America, could lead to a snowball effect in Europe and elsewhere. That is all very realistic and Clancy being the type of writer he is, he goes into meticulous detail about how the financial markets work. I thought the background information was necessary, because it makes more sense when you later learn about how the Japanese were able to intentionally hurt the American economy.

Then there was Clancy's decision to use Japan as the enemy in this book. Of course, if one were to compare this fictional world to our own real world, it does sound pretty crazy that a staunch U.S. ally such as Japan, a major trading partner, would suddenly become America's number one enemy. Well, if we look at a few of America's allies today, Germany and Japan are good examples of how not too long ago both countries were enemies. So while I'll admit Clancy's premise sounds outrageous, a strong U.S. ally becoming an enemy later, it's naive thinking to think it could never happen. I thought Clancy did a superb job of showing a "what if" scenario. Something that could happen as the world is always changing, leaders come and go, and no one can accurately predict who will be an enemy or an ally tomorrow.

This was a highly entertaining political thriller and Clancy sets up the story for the next book, Executive Orders, very well (there are certain parts where I could see some minor players that were introduced in Debt of Honor playing a key role in the next book). The ending of Debt of Honor ends on a major cliff-hanger so you best have the next book handy.

I have read every Clancy book and this one has got to be one of my favorites. A complex tale that reads so quickly, it is an interesting, plausible tale of how one man's dedication and determination to right how he was wronged, or at least thinks so, can loose hell upon the owrld. Again, Clancy seems to know what is going to happen, or at least I think bad guys get their ideas from him.

I am a big fan of Clancy's novels, and although I have to say that he's had a lot of great ones, "Debt of Honor" is one of my favorites. Clancy's plot development is superb, always giving you just enough information to both keep your interest and pique your curiosity about what will happen next. As always, the tactical details and elements of setting (economic, political, etc.) are impeccable.

As to those readers who criticize Clancy for "picking on" Japanese culture or government, I've lived in Asia for several years and happen to think he's not that far from reality. But that discussion aside, keep in mind that this is a work of fiction, not a predictor of imminent political developments. The subject matter shouldn't be too much of a problem for anyone who's not a pedantic scholar of East Asian studies.

This is an awesome read! I disagree with any reader who claims it's length is imposing! This is typical of Clancy but his page count is always justified. His writing is so well-researched and dependent on finely crafted intricacies that it has to be this way!

I love that Clancy chose an unlikely enemy. It's extremely unsettling to think of Japan as an antagonist for many obvious reasons. Clancy is extremely bold and you have to love him for it!

If you like Clancy you will likely enjoy up and coming author Richard Friar's futurist vision, "The Keepers: WWIII." The Keepers: Part 1: WWIII

I've read many of Clive Cussler's novels. In general I enjoy them, even with the meglomaniacs and the machismo attitude which I ignore. I enjoy how Dirk and Al, and Kurt and his side-kick, Joe etc., work together and support each other. I enjoy the history info that is woven in, (intriguing). The underwater gismos--interesting. I enjoy the Geography lessons, usually getting out my atlas at least once per novel. The pace is usually good and holds my attention. The treasures found absorbing. The new tech stuff--if not based on reality, which I think a lot of it is, creative. However this is the first CC novel I've read that I'm finding tedious. I find this CC effort lacking in the writing style. The plot and info are good-- however, I am not finding the flow that makes a person want to keep reading. I have to put it down and for example go weed the garden or just become overwhelmed with boredom. I will finish it and will read other of CC's novels but have found this one long and tedious.

OK so this is my 16th Cussler book and this is my lowest review I've ever given him. I'm not sure if it's my taste as a reader changing or if maybe I've just read too many Cussler books.

To start off I felt that the book almost started off right in the middle of the story building process. The last book "Shock Wave" was before this book and finished only a few months before this one started. The author reminds you that he's tired from his last adventure a few times. From the get go you seem that you are in the middle of something without a lot of lead in and not a lot of development in the story. This beginning "action" last for around 100 pages before we get to sit back and get some plot/character development.

On the flip side the ending of the book ends about 100 pages shy of the actual ending. I had to force myself to finish reading after the climax has already happened. Cussler always starts his book with a prologue from the past and the last 100 pages of the book are just a "oh man I guess I should tie that beginning in somewhere" sort of feel to it.

Another problem I had with this book was the dialogue. It had no flow and seemed forced. The force was the author trying to make every character say something witty/sarcastic/funny to every situation and it just didn't work and seemed very amateurish for an author that I really like.

It took me over two months to finish this one off and actually read three books in between the start and the finish. I just couldn't pick it up for more than 10-20 pages at a time. I think it had something to do that the story was very standard Dirk Pitt and the Evil Bad Man's horrible plot just really wasn't that daunting to me.

Ok so after that review I just have to say that I really like Cussler and his books helped me become a bookworm when I first picked up Inca Gold about 8 or so years ago. After that book I went a picked up all the Pit books that had been written and only have about 3 left out of the 10 or so that I bought that day.

Flood Tide was my first foray into the world of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt. I expected much more from such a prolific writer, but what I found were contrived plot lines, underdeveloped characters, and prose loaded up with cliche phrasing (She stared up at him with pure hatred in her eyes), and way too many adverbs. I get tired of characters saying things caustically, shrugging smugly, and muttering contemptuously (all of which occurred on just one page: 78). I got to chapter 18 before I decided it wasn't going to get any better and put the book down. Thank God the copy I had came from my public library. At least I didn't waste any money on it.

I enjoyed this Book by Cussler as I have enjoyed the previous novels read. I did have one issue with the story from historical preservationists view point. **SPOILER** I did not like the fact that Cussler reveals the bones of Peking man to the open air due to their age after being submerged 50 years. Pitt acted very uncharacteristically when he orders the anthropologists to unwrap them for all to see. Not a big deal, but just something that bugged me as a historian. Other than that, it was a fairly new plot with interesting insight into problems America faces today with our dealings on the international level and the immigration issue. Cussler may be using his work to express his views on these matters which could detract readers who disagree. I will still read because I enjoy the plot and writing.

I thought this novel was a very entertaining story. The author takes the reader to numerous interesting places, such as the northwest, Mississippi River, the swamps and the Great Lakes. As I traveled to these places he weaved a great story that involved the practice of smuggling illegal aliens, the skill required to navigate the Mississippi river, the Great Lakes, and the skill required to recover sunken treasures. Dirk Pitt brings to the read a lot of action that makes this book a great action/thriller. Highly recommend it.

This was, I must say, my first Tom Clancy read. The plot was quite good involving a missing nuclear device from Israel; Terrorists of Arab and German extraction as well as a Native American accomplice. Many side plots including a duel between a U.S. and Soviet submarines. The book definitely shows how a real War could escalate out of control due to much confusion. Alot of good spy activity between the major players. The characters were well developed.The hero was CIA Deputy Director Jack Ryan. For my taste, though others may disagree, I found him to be a bit too much of a good guy and superhuman to be believable. I liked the book and found it to be a good -but even with the fine plot, at 914 pages- it was a ponderous read.

The movie with the same does not follow Clancy's original plot however the movie is also worth seeing.

The Sum of All Fears is one of Clancy's best stories. A plot based on the loss of a tactical nuclear bomb, an event that could occur in the fog of war. A somewhat similar event occurred recently involving a B-52 ferrying six supposedly unarmed cruise missiles that had nuclear warheads installed.

My only criticism is Clancy's description of how the terrorist rebuilt the old nuclear warhead. He went off the deep end describing very complicated technology. That said, I have read the book twice and a copy resides on my bookcase.

Can a terrorist really place a nuclear device in a city. The answers is yes, they can. But the device will probably be a gun-type, not an implosion device. The Rings of Allah, a story of such an attack. Set in the 21 Century, it is a tale of what can really happen. The reader is introduced to gun-type nuclear weapons technology in a realistic, accurate manner. Implosion weapons are also explained.

I could not get into Ben Affleck playing the role of Jack Ryan. I thought the movie was mediocre and just didn't do it for me. In my mind stick with the novel and pass up the movie.

If you like Harrisson Ford as Jack Ryan then Ben Affleck is surely going to disappoint in my mind. Doesn't live up to Ford's persona on the big screen.

Don't let the massive size of this book deter you from reading it (it is 912 pages in the paperback version). This is one incredible book, very detailed and a very good political suspense thriller that was fascinating to read.

There were a few negatives about the book I'll get through right now. The book has little action in the majority of the book. The action, the "thriller", doesn't appear until page 713 or 714. The book is told from several perspectives, Jack Ryan's character being one of them (the main character of the story), and all of the viewpoints do tie into the story (there's one from the Russians, a few from military officers one aboard a missile submarine), but it got tedious at times trying to read through scenes with little action. For instance, one side story being told is from the terrorist perspective, and just trying to read through pages of how the terrorists made a hydrogen bomb got very boring, technical, and I felt my eyes glazing over. Some might find detailed descriptions on how to make an H-bomb exciting, but it was all I could do to keep reading during these parts.

Other than that negative, the book was still a good read. I will say one good thing about the very slow build-up of tension and anticipation ("What's around the corner?") is it keeps you reading for more to see what happens. I also think the portrayal of politicians, government officials, and the military, and the interaction between various players was intriguing to read about. The inner-workings of the government and military was described in very accurate detail, not to mention the geographical area (being a resident that lives outside the Beltway I got a laugh out of reading about DC during the winter, like Clancy writes, the city and surrounding area screeches to a dead halt when snow hits the ground, no one can drive here in snow).

Anyways, this book was frightening in that the disaster depicted in this book (a terrorist detonating a nuclear device in a U.S. city) is something that could happen in the real world. Great read, Clancy is known for the technical accuracy and realism in his fictional books, and I recommend it for any fan of political/military thrillers.

Once again, Clancy has proven he cares more about trash than truth. This book is full of meaningless profanity and disrespect for Christianity (with a strange love for Islam.) The book also speaks quite disrespectfully of America in general, especially it's government. To top it all off, I read a review somewhere that this book had mature sexual themes in it too. So what's one to do? I quit this book... and I advise anyone who cares about their purity and soul do the same.

I enjoy thrillers generally and am willing to suspend belief when it comes to works of fiction, so some of the things that other reviewers mentioned about some of the reaches did not bother me that much, but some did.

This book started off very well. The first few pages had me hooked, and had to finish off. The story went well for awhile but started to tail off. I found the anciallary charactors actually more enjoyable than the main ones, with one of the scientists being particularly good alebit a bit cliche. The main charactors by and large did not "grab me" as much. The television personality was good, the senator's daughter okay (started off strong then tailed), the senator and his aid never was enamored of, the President was okay.

The book did let me down though as the action really progressed - in other words when the scientists make some further discoverys. Just a tad bit over the top. Do not want to play spoiler on this, but will leave it as that there was too much extreme things happening at convienent times with mother nature. Just a bit forced overall and some gaps in the flow of the story to me. I liked the idea and some places alot, others not so much.

Overall it was okay reading, good for plane flights, but I would recommend Brown's other books more. There there are general parallels in some plot points with the Da Vinci Code, I found the Da Vinci Code more enjoyable in terms of the writing and charactors.

This is my least favorite Dan Brown book, but still a decent story. I was a little bored with the paragraphs of imagery and found myself skimming to the action at times.

After the first few pages, I should have known right off that Dan Brown still has that bigoted, narrow minded chip on his shoulder when an obvious Bill Clinton-type smarmy presidential candidate is labeled as a Republican. Because in Dan Brown world anybody remotedly conservative, or religious, is bad,bad bad bad and every liberal is good. Well I guess there is a reason this is under fiction!

Very convuluted....preachy and pretty much boring....the book started sounding like Charlie Brown's teachers...wah wah wah wah wah.... If you LOVE Dan Brown, you might like this -- and as is typical of all his novels, make sure you have a heavy, heavy dose of suspending your disbelief (and that's just in the first few pages)!! Not worth buying, but maybe checking out at the library....only if you're on a desserted island and there's nothin' else to do..

Like others already wrote, i enjoyed the beginning of the book. I have read "the Swarm" and this reminded me a little of that great book. I got excited cause I thought this will be great. Unfortunately it cannot compete with "the Swarm" in any way because things just get too crazy, there are too many twists.
Everything is just confusing. I didnt enjoy this book as much as i have enjoyed Angels and Demon.
If you really want a phantastic read with lots of knowledge and a great plot then read "The Swarm" by Frank Schaetzing. Its an amazing book.

I was already a fan of Dan Brown's from The Da Vinci Code & Angels and Demons, two books I absolutely loved & devoured. I don't think I have ever read books as fast as I read those two. They are brilliant. Deception Point has the same fast-paced style that keeps you turning the pages incredibly fast. Structure-wise, I like how Dan Brown uses short chapters to make the pace feel even quicker.

Like many of you, after reading those two books I immediately sought out anything else written by Dan Brown. Once an author grabs you, you want more of what they have to offer. Deception Point is an excellent thriller in every way. It kept me riveted the whole way through. Not only does it have Dan Brown's trademark excellent research, but it also has wonderful character development & engaging relationships between the main characters. They seem like real people, and you care about them. I honestly did not want this book to end. It has twists and turns, and kept me guessing the whole way through. The story itself is utterly fascinating, a very clever thriller that is fantastic but also has enough to ground it to make it believable. A truly excellent read, highly recommended.

Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands

Well, I thought this book had a pretty good plot idea. I gave it only 2 stars because I didn't care at all for the main character. Basically, he was a wuss. Guess I expect a bit more from a guy who owns an international investigations company. Example...He walks into his hotel room and there's some stranger sitting there looking at his computer. He stands there and gawks at him until this guy walks right up to him and beats him up. He was saved my a screaming maid. Later on in the book, he hires a bodyguard FOR HIMSELF! He has no fighting capability at all. And he also had absolutely no personality.

This book is hard to put down. Makes you think about what could actually happen when science gets out of hand.

i feel like im reading the DaVinci Code....i JUST want to get to the point. I think im finally getting there now. The first half was just alot of nuthin. I dont need all the detailed description of every cobblestone in Italy, i just want to know who, what where and when....slow moving book...The good reviews ive read here have made me stick with it.

"The Genesis Code" opens in a quiet Italian village with the local parish priest hearing confessions. Ministering to his flock with a jaded stultifying boredom born out of years of listening to the same sins repeated and confessed over and over again, the priest's life is suddenly shattered when he hears a confession so shocking that he knows it will reach to the very roots of the Roman Catholic religion.

Despite his lowly status in the political heirarchy of the church, Father Azetti instinctively understands that this problem can be dealt with only by the Vatican's Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Ominously, the reader is told that the CDF - as it is popularly known - is responsible for the investigation of heresy and threats to the faith.

Some months later, in Washington DC, Joe Lassiter, a former police detective and now CEO of one of the largest private investigation agencies in the world, is shattered to hear that his sister and young nephew have died in a fire in their home. The news is made even more stunning when an autopsy determines that they had been murdered before the fire which was, in fact, the work of an arsonist. Determined to discover the reasons for this heartless brutal murder, Lassiter uncovers a series of similar crimes and a conspiracy that takes him on an international chase and slowly but surely leads him to a medical clinic located in a certain small Italian village.

Science vs right-wing religion? Hmmm ... haven't we heard that somewhere before? While Case's basic theme certainly has the flavour of a Da Vinci Code novel, readers will be pleased to learn that's where the resemblance ends. "The Genesis Code" is a first rate thriller and an excellent police procedural. The plot line, while being reasonably predictable as the climax approaches, is nevertheless exciting and actually quite thought-provoking. Anyone who enjoys a good thriller, as I do, will be unable to avoid some fast-paced page turning. The dialogue is quite extraordinary and stands head and shoulders above the competition. It is absolutely razor sharp and I believe outshines virtually any novel that I've read in any genre for clarity, flow and an absolutely natural and realistic sound that is appropriate to every circumstance in the story.

And that ending little twist in the final sentence ... positively brilliant! Readers will ponder that one for a long time after they've closed the book.

Highly recommended.

PLOT: A confession made in a small remote town in Italy shocks the priest so much that he informs the Vatican about it. Even if the Vatican is shocked as well they agree that all is God's will and decide not to interfere. But a small religious conservative group does not agree. Soon the first killings start. Near Washington D. C. a mother and her small child are the first victims. Her brother Lassiter owns an investigation company and starts digging for the truth while the death toll slowly rises. Soon Lassiter finds himself involved with murder and fleeing a country...

The basic plot revealed on the book's reverse instantly grabbed my intention. Unfortunately the story development is pretty slow - it takes almost 200 pages before the story gains momentum. Basically this is because the reader only learns as much as Lassiter knows since only his steps in the investigation are followed. Therefore the story could as well have been written in the I-narrator style. The view is limited but also more thrilling because you have to guess a lot more about what comes next.
The title of the book offers an idea what the confession might be about - especially in connection with religion. But what is so bad today that a religious group is ready to kill for it? Artificial insemination or cloning would hardly be a reason to kill for - not even uncommon when the book was published in 1997. So what could it be? The longer I read the more I started guessing.
Everybody has to judge for himself if the solution is plausible. To me it was plausible but also a bit far-fetched. (And maybe the reason would have been more shocking if I already had read the book in 1997?!)
The showdown is not as rewarding for my patience as expected or hoped for. And the ending is too quick. In the short epilogue after the showdown I had a feeling of missing answers - even if they were only to minor aspects of the story. (E. g. suffered injuries are not mentioned any more as well as what happened to Lassiter's company and the employees or his contact to the police.) After all the long pages until the showdown and the ending I had to expect more. A few more pages would have been good.
As a minor aspect one could also argue if the name Lassiter is the best choice due to the famous western character.

Due to the interesting plot and good language skills of the author I liked the book and would recommend reading it but my expectations were pretty high. Thinking about the short showdown, open questions and the long story development I have to rate it with 3 stars only instead of 4. Nevertheless I already bought another book by John Case.

No more Trojans, please.


I am sure I am all Trojan-analogued out with all the various pieces I have read over the last couple of years, and while I really like Simmons and some of his books and stories are among my all-time favorites, I have picked this one up twice and tried to read it, no joy.

(Book is actually 0-4 in this house, as the spousal unit has done the same thing).

Just one of those things, I suppose, so on to his next book, as this one is too tedious and uninteresting to be finishable.


1.5 out of 5

this long, boring, full of not finished ideas and stories will waste a lot of your time. beware. i bought it after reading the hyperion books. it never comes close! dan simmons, i will never read any of your books again.

I'd like to say that Dan Simmons is one of the best pure writers in science fiction, but that would pigeonhole him into a genre. In fact, he's also written his share of mysteries, horror stories and even a couple non-genre works. The last book I read by him, The Terror, can be described as a supernatural historical novel. Completely different from The Terror (and written a few years earlier) is Ilium, the first part of a science fiction epic that concludes with Olympos. Though different than The Terror in subject matter, it is equal in quality, which is to say it is really good.

Ilium takes place a couple thousand years in the future, at a time when most of humanity has disappeared from the Earth. A higher race known as post-humans had taken over, but now they seem absent. On Earth, only a few hundred thousand people remain, living an Eden-like existence. That is to say, they have all their needs attended to by mechanical servants, are free from harm and even death (until they reach age 100), and they are around as ignorant as five year old children. One older woman, Savi, has existed outside the system and has been able to say alive for fourteen hundred years; now she has recruited a few others to go on a mysterious mission, shaking them out of their blissful stupidity.

Meanwhile, on the moons of Jupiter, several sentient robots known as moravecs are gathered together to go on a secret mission to Mars, where large amounts of quantum activity is causing alarm. The moravecs include Shakespeare-loving Mahnmut and his friend, Orphu the Proust fan. They will be the only two to survive an attack when they reach the terraformed Mars; though they will continue the mission, they are not really sure what it is, only that they need to get to Mount Olympos to activate a mysterious device.

It is around Mount Olympos that the third and central storyline takes place, the reenactment of the Iliad. Thomas Hockenberry is a resurrected 20th century Iliad expert whose job is to monitor the events and see how much they correspond to Homer's epic. That means dealing with heroes like Hector, Achilles and Odysseus as well as Greek gods. Hockenberry is coerced by Aphrodite into a secret job, but eventually he will get his own ideas, threatening to derail the legendary history that only he is really aware of.

As just described, this is a complex story, filled with literary references. You don't need to have read Shakespeare, Proust or Homer to understand the story, but at least a familiarity with Greek mythology is helpful. And at 700+ pages, Ilium is an epic in its own right, even if only the first half of a longer saga. Though long and complex, it is also a real page-turner, well worth five stars, though the concluding volume will actually dictate the true quality of this tale. Simmons again demonstrates why he's one of the best writers around.

A scholar from the 20th century is brought back to life by Greek Gods to watch the ongoing battle of Troy. A group of robots is sent to Mars to monitor suspicious activities. A few friends are enjoying an idle life on Earth, in the distance future.

Mister Simmons has a lot of ideas. I suppose you could draft several good movie scripts, or even a good TV show, just by adapting a couple chapters. And he seems to have a true fondness for classic authors, so he's throwing also some chunks of Shakespeare, Proust and, of course, Homer. Mister Harold Bloom, the scholar who wrote so much about the "influence" as a key element in literature, would have a field day observing Mister Simmons's rewritings of Homer's Iliad.

The books is not as much choral as built on parallel lines. So you may have the feeling, from time to time, to have three novels in your hands and not one. Fortunately, the story, at one point, gets some momentum and heads for a big finale, that is, a tremendous cliffhanger. Next stop: "Olympos", the second part of this tale.

Overall, it was a good reading. The book is a page-turner. Mister Simmons is not very crafted when it comes to words, but he has a great eye for scenes, twists, hooks and cliffhangers. The personal dramas could have been more elaborated. But I'm off to "Olympos" now - so, he got me asking for more. That's a rare gift.

The concept of this book was what drew me in, being overly fond of both the Iliad and science fiction. And now, both -- combined! Huzzah! The thing is that I couldn't stand any of the characters. More to the point, I couldn't stand the one and only character, since everyone introduced had the same voice. Imagine, if you will, watching a movie. The 1st character on the screen is one that you do not in any way like. Now imagine that each following character, when they open their mouths, has exactly the same voice -- the same manner of speaking, the same inflections -- as the 1st character, differing in only superficial ways. Not only that, but the voice belongs to a bad actor reading from a bad script. Now, I don't expect brilliance from a mass market pocket book, but I couldn't slog through more than 75 pages of this book with its obnoxiously incomprehensible techno jargon even with a much reduced goal of being mindlessly entertained.