Rating: 
Summary: All TOO Real
Review: In light of 9-11, this books depicts how easy terrorism has become. I fell in love with the unlikely hero (Jack) and have since read all the books with that particular character in it. It contains a lot of trade specific lingo and descriptions about the pathology. It's one of Cook's best books.
Rating: 
Summary: Vector
Review: Love Robin Cook. "Vector" had your attention but not an actual disaster. I was looking for how they would handle that the whole way through the book. It never happened. I like the ending though good enough, those two got what they deserved.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: When I select a Robin Cook book, I am not expecting great literature - just a good summer read. This book was pretty boring. The characters are very one dimensional and the technical detail gets very tedious at times. I agree with other reviewers who say that the dialogue is stilted. You never really get to know or like the main characters (the good guys)so what happens to them really doesn't matter. The bad guys are stale representations of stereotypical villains. All in all, a big disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: One of his better novels
Review: This is one of the better novels by Cook. The character of Laurie is not really credible. As a doctor she must be intelligent enough to judge people - at least rudimentary. As usual Cook's men are more realistic characters. The plot is very realistic - as we know now. And this is why the ending is a little disappointing. Maybe Cook was afraid of his own courage when looking into the future. We have to be prepared. This novel is not only highly political, reality has even overtaken fiction. This is why this novel should be read by those responsible for our security. Maybe they see the nightmare that is hinted at here.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I have ever read
Review: I am one of those people who dread to read books unless forced to. In this case I was forced to read Vector for summer reading in my high school. I have to admit the first couple of chapters sort of dragged, but then I was so into it I couldn't put it down. It sort of scares you the reality in this book how some people are capable of such disturbing things. I found this book to be one of the most interesting I have ever read. Robin Cook is an amazing author, especially in this book.
Rating:
Summary: It's entertainment, not literature.
Review: Vector, like most Robin Cook novels, is an entertaining, if somewhat disturbing, way to spend an afternoon. The basic premise goes something like this : disgruntled Russian immigrant with knowledge of boiweaponary hooks up with Aryan Army types, together they plan a major attack upon a government building using Anthrax. Two medical examiners come across seemingly unrelated cases of anthrax and botulism deaths. The challenge in this story is for these MEs to figure out what is going on in time to stop the bioweapon attack, hopefully without getting themselves killed by bad guys. I agree with some of the other reveiwers who have stated that they found the characters to be somewhat shallow and had a hard time caring about them. However, I was not disturbed by this as it has been my experience that Robin Cook has a sort of hit or miss method in character developement (more miss than hit). I find it helpful to simply look upon Robin Cook's characters as vehicles for the story, which, in this case, is compelling. Where this book, as most of Robin Cook's other books, really shines is in making very complex medical/forensic science issues accessable and interesting to the reader. As always in a Robin Cook novel, I found myself caught up and fascinated with the details of forensic science. For all of those who love and remember the old show Quincy, you'll know what I mean. Vector also serves a unique purpose of bringing to the reader's attention the very real issues surrounding the threat of biological weapons. Issues such as what some of them are, how they are transmitted, contamination issues, and treatment are all lightly covered in the book, with a good reference list at the end of the novel for those interested in pursuing non-fiction reading. Most importantly the reader is made aware of the frightening ease a terrorist group would have in aquiring and using biological weapons of mass destruction. Especially scary is the thought that this could be done by groups of relatively unsophisticated people who don't necessarily have access to large amounts of funds. It truly brings the threat home.
Rating: 
Summary: Don¿t be fooled by the topical topic - this is awful!
Review: If you could judge books solely by their covers, then Cook's novels would be great. Nobody can think up a good story premise like he can. Unfortunately, his novels never live up to their premise. Don't be fooled by the topical topic (bio-terrorism) - this is one awful read.
I've suffered through a couple of Cook's novels and this is the worst effort yet. It's frustrating that all of his characters have to be simplistic caricatures of athletes, Nazis, thugs, bosses, etc. Why can't he portray people who are appealing, believable, and carry on a plausible dialogue? Here is one example of poor dialogue:
Protagonist to close friend: "Am I to assume there was a little domestic violence involved in this relationship?" (p 219)
Another problem is the clumsy way he stuffs the dialogue and characterizations with patronizing, politically correct lectures on the benefits of gun-control, tolerance and bicycling, and the evils of bigotry, homophobia, hate-groups, and automobiles. There is always a sub-theme of harried civil-servants (who say things like "We're really here to serve the public, quite literally." p 195) who must fight evil bureaucracy to do their jobs. How dumb can we be?
Finally, the plot is contrived, boring, predictable, and the "happy ending" is arrived at by a long string of implausible coincidences. This is even worse than TV!
Rating:
Summary: I'm not usually a fan of Robin Cook
Review: but I chanced to read and enjoy Chromosome 6 a couple of years ago, and I picked up Vector when I learned that Cook brings back his attractive hero, Dr. Jack Stapleton and his partner, Dr. Laurie Montgomery. Vector not only deals with Cook's trademark medical disaster, but continues to outline their relationship in a satisfying way. Cook has written a precursor to this fall's anthrax scares, set in the heart of New York City. He adroitly gives the reader a picture of the "new Brooklyn", and its population of immigrant Russians, although Yuri, the scientist who creates the anthrax, is not atypical of the generation of Russians who have resettled parts of Brooklyn, and made it their own. He also introduces some surprises in terms of locating a sect of white Aryan supremacists in New York City, something I didn't expect, but, after all, this is the Big Apple, and it has something for everyone. Casting these folks as firefighters is kind of the final irony of the story, given the events after September 11 of this year. It is a good, fast-paced tale, somewhat moralistic, and well-defines the hazards of dealing with bioterrorism, both for the terrorists, and for the victims. The twist at the end, of Yuri's eventual doublecross of his partners, is unexpected and satisfying. A good read for Robin Cook, and almost scary in the way some of the plot angles played out, in light of events since the book was published!
Rating:
Summary: Boilerplate Cook with a few redeeming features
Review: Robin Cook recognizes that bioterrorism is a credible threat, and this book does help to inform the public about it. The facts about anthrax and botulism are accurate enough, but the didactic purpose could have been accomplished better in a short article without the typical political stereotypes. The scenario just isn't very convincing. We have reason to hope that the Good Guys won't be quite as dim as Jack, but they also will not be so incredibly lucky. We have no right to expect that the Bad Guys will be an undisciplined and drunken crew who nearly torpedo their own operation by gratuitously mugging a homosexual. Robin Cook seems to be a true believer in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. A person who holds any one of a certain set of beliefs (anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-big government, etc.) is suspect. A Robin Cook Bad Guy has a certain profile: capitalist, rich, white, beer-drinking, and gun-toting. A Good Guy is likely to be an African-American, an advocate of gun control, an avid bicycle rider, a person who is quite politically correct even if occasionally willing to violate the rules in a good cause. Predictably, the Russian accomplice is tormented by events that were not really his fault. He can almost be forgiven, especially after he ends up saving the day, rather amazingly, because he preferred to target common people rather than a government building. The root source of evil is on the Right: skinheads, one of whom actually has a swastika tattooed on his forehead, and their presumed allies in a vast network of militias. They are totally beyond redemption. Dr. Cook's facile political assumptions reflect those of the mainstream media. His political morality play does at least contain some useful information, though I wish he has included some of the advantages of better preparedness such as stockpiled antibiotics, better decontaminants, and better detection equipment. What we need to do today, in my opinion, is to hire people with a background like Yuri's who may have the information we need to protect ourselves against a really serious anthrax attack. In a sense different from the one in this book, people like him really could save the day. While certain groups in our own country objected to and obstructed to research at U.S. defense laboratories, the Soviets had an enormous enterprise employing thousands of world-class scientists for at least 30 years. Dr Cook performs a service in drawing attention to that effort in a medium that people do read.
Rating:
Summary: Good, But Not Great
Review: Well, I read the book as part of a school ISU study (Indipendent Study Unit). It was own choice and I grabbed this book. The plot was simple enough...terrorist attacks because of skinheads and crazy russians. Cook took this and made it into a decent medical novel. I didn't mind the book, but agree with other reviewers that the text was too formal between the Skinheads and Yuri (the crazy Russian). Cook should have researched the topic of gang conversation before writing the book. It might have made conversations more realistic.
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