The Cobra Event : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A YAWNER mistakenly billed as a fast-paced thriller!
Review: Although I enjoyed "The Hot Zone," it took a lot of effort to get through this one. No page-turner here. The novel reads like a 101 biology textbook. I found it more grotesque than "frightening," more academic than "authentic." I was hoping to learn something new while enjoying a few thrills and chills; what I found here was a predictable police mystery with an over-fascination with forensics. When you can't entertain, dazzle us with research -- is that it? I hope this is the last obligatory autopsy scene we see in a detective novel for a while -- 80 pages and counting! A record? Preston seems fixated with shocking us with soupy organ specimens and repeated descriptions of the same gross symptoms. And I won't get into his paper-thin characters. Where's the editor when you need her? Worse, there's nothing new here. Joseph Massucci covered the same genetically-engineered, bioterrorism scenario six months earlier with his roller-coaster ride "CODE: ALPHA." Now I'm spoiled for a thriller I can't put down! Preston, please stick to your textbooks and leave the thrillers to the pros.

Rating:
Summary: An odd, poorly told story
Review: The premise, biological terrorism from a rather prosaic source, had the skeleton of an enjoyable plot. But the author's odd temdency to break out of narrative and simply tell you what was going on or what something meant, broke the old fiction writer's rule of "Show, don't tell." The law enforcement characters seem to have been taught technique by the detectives who investigated the Jon-Benet Ramsey case (missing some obvious sources of information to track down their man). As the review above mentioned, the characters are rather cardboard --- the main character, Dr. Alice Austen, appears to be sleepwalking most of the time. And there are several gruesomely detailed autopsy scenes that even Bevis and Butthead would characterize as gratuitous. Rather than calling this book a "page turner" we found it to be a "page skipper".

Rating:
Summary: If Only Preston Could Write Fiction
Review: The Cobra Event had the potential to be a good story but, unfortunately, it lacked an author who could write fiction. While Preston definitely is familiar with all the details about biological warfare, he has virtually no ability to develop and sustain a plot and in creating rich, interesting characters. All of his characters are cardboard-like figures. The publisher would have been more honest in marketing this book as a scientific documentary on biological warfare than as a suspense thriller. Save yourself the time and possible expense and skip The Cobra Event.

Rating:
Summary: A wild ride
Review: This book is just far-out. Not for the faint-hearted, it's very graphic, in the "Hot Zone" style. Incredibly readable, tight, engaging. If you want a creepy book about the potential of a biological disaster, this is it. I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome and intriquing, and realistic book
Review: An incredible book that kept me riveted to my chair while I was reading. A story that really could happen. Expect to want to read this book without putting it down!

Rating:
Summary: Intese Exillerating, Wonderful and Frightening
Review: The Cobra effect is a very intense novel. Although a fictional work, it is every bit as gripping and chilling as was richard prestons "The Hot Zone". Preston has done a great deal of research, and it shows, his story is so packed with detail, that it makes it all the more realistic. I highly recomend this book!

Rating:
Summary: gripping and real hooks the reader from the 1st page
Review: this is 1 of the best novels i have ever read beacause of the stunning realism of a neuclear attack on the us!two thumbs up!!

Rating:
Summary: Deliciously enthralling
Review: Oh, this was one most enjoyable book! Admittedly I have a penchant for anything to do with scary diseases but this is one of the books which I keep coming back to. Wonderfully graphic descriptions, likeable characters and real-world horror all on a base of unflagging science... yep, this is great stuff! Best of all, it's so believable it could have been pulled out of any newspaper today. Read it now!

Rating:
Summary: A very bloody thriller, worth all the money in your pocket.
Review: If you read The Hot Zone, and liked it, than you will love this book. For those of you who haven't read The Hot Zone, beware for extreme blood and gore. A long novel with very strange and exiting parts. YOU WILL LIKE THIS BOOK!!!

Rating:
Summary: Eerily Real
Review: Richard Preston was excellent in "The Hot Zone." He definitely doesn't disappoint with "The Cobra Event." It gives you the shivers when you contemplate how real it is based on current world events.