Vector

Rating:
Summary: A hauntigly real work of fiction
Review: The plot is simple. A Russian imagrant, Yuri, hates America and wants to wreck revenge on it. In Russia Yuri worked in a chemical plant that produced Anthrax, and thus he knows how to make it. He teams up with two white supremest fire fighters, who provide him with the financial means and equipment to produce Anthrax. The three plan to release their weapon of bioterror in the federal building and at Yuri's instance in Central Park.

Before the group tries mass terror, Yuri tests his Anthrax on a rug dealer. When the rug dealer dies his autopsy is performed by medical examiner Jack Stapleton. Stapleton refuses to belive that the rug dealer contracted Anthrax from some rugs he has imported and invistagtes further. In the process he encounters Yuri and his friends and the novel becomes the classic tale of good versus evil.

The novel is certainly engrossing. This is in part due to the story and in part due to the similarites it has to current events. Cook also does a good job of making you realize what can be done with a weapon such as Anthrax.

Rating:
Summary: Thin on plot and character
Review: Anthrax attacks on the US? Cook picked a good topic for a thriller, and he has plenty of medical knowledge.

Unfortunately, that's about all that can be said for the book. The plot is weak and contrived, relying heavily on unlikely coincidences to point Jack Stapleton towards the terrorists. And he still doesn't figure it out - in the end, the villain explains it all to him, James Bond-style.

The dialogue is worse, stilted and over-formal. When people talk to one another, their words sound as if they've been taken straight out of textbooks. Cook needs to sit down and listen to how ordinary people talk to one another.

If you want to read about a terrorist anthrax attack, you _could_ buy this book - but it'd be cheaper to buy a newspaper instead.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Seem Like Fiction Anymore
Review: The anthrax letters sent to government and news organizations after 9-11-01 sent me reading Robin Cook's Vector. And I must confess, it is a page-turner! I picked it up in Penn Station waiting for my train, and I couldn't stop reading it all the way home. Cook's story line is frightenly similar to today's headlines; in Vector, Cook unites a disgruntled Russian emigre cab driver in New York and two domestic terrorists working in of all places, the NYFD, in a plot to release anthrax spores in a federal building's ventilation system and over Central Park. When bodies start appearing as the bio-weapons are being tested, Medical Examiner, Jack Stapleton, becomes the dogged, underpaid, public health professional who won't let the coincidences go away unexplained. Cook's knowledge of biotech lends credibility to the story. If it all seemed implausible when this book was first released, then the time to rethink those opinions has arrived. An easy read for anyone, you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A Haunting Harbinger
Review: The amazing similarities between this engaging bit of "brain popcorn" and today's headlines are exceeded only by the amount of useful and accurate information provided by Robin Cook in the course of the narrative. I encountered VECTOR, a delightful find for fans of medical fiction, years ago, and it was the first thing that came to mind when news of the first anthrax death was reported. My only objection to the book was the implausibility of a disgruntled immigrant's actions. Who would be evil enough to engage in so devastating a plot? Now I know such people exist... Don't miss this one!

Rating:
Summary: No longer Science Fiction
Review: I read this book in mid 2000, and I liked it then. I read it again this week after anthrax started making the headlines, and I liked it even more. For all of you out there looking for some good and entertaining book that can relate to what has been happening lately, don't look any further. By the way, I really hope that Bin Laden is NOT a Robin Cook fan.

Rating:
Summary: Trapped with this while camping!!
Review: 50 pages into this book I knew it wasn't worth my time, but I had nothing else to read on a camping trip so I persevered. At ~ 200 pages I again decided to stop.
With the recent (Oct '01) rash of Anthrax terrorism I dug the book out and finished it, hoping for some interesting insight into the mechanics of such an act.

Too bad.

Mr. Cook's writing is undoubtedly the laziest, most stereotypical and simplistic I've encountered. The bouncy dialog seems lifted from a Hardy Boys installment.

Everyone here is a stereotype of some sort. Cute women have "girlish figures". Bad guys consist of skin heads, disgruntled immigrant cab drivers and mysterious arms-dealing boyfriends. And guess what, the protagonist is a bike riding, hoops playing widower with a heart of gold and reckless disdain for bureaucratic red tape. Go figure!!!

Only benefit to reading this book is the discovery of a useful litmus test: "Do you read Robin Cook?"

Rating:
Summary: Great when I read it, simply astonishing now!!
Review: Ever since the recent epidemic of Anthrax laced letters, I have been thinking about this book. It is a must read! Robin Cook is not a prophet, but the instances talked about in this book are so similar to what appears to be happening now that I had to read it a second time. While it is purely a work of fiction, it's very frightening in light of recent headlines, and down right believable now!

Rating:
Summary: Great Last Summer but now....
Review: Another great page turner by Robin Cook. You don't want to put this one down. Robin Cook again throws fiction to the edge of "this could happen." However, the world climate is quickly begining to look like fiction. I prefer fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Quick listen on tape
Review: One advantage, among very few, to spending two hours a day driving to and from work is the time to listen to books on tape. I have the added good fortune to work a block from a large city library that carries a great selection of b-o-t. I don't know why, but I find many more 'bad' experiences with b-o-t than I do with the written word. Very few provide me with the sense of fulfillment that the hard or soft cover book does. Once in a while I listen to something that makes me wish I had invested more than a swipe of the free library card and had the chance to read the actual book. Six hours of abridgement didn't do justice to Vector. I would have liked to have seen more character and plot development - did the book provide this? I don't know. I felt the same sense of emptiness a previous poster did. What happened to everyone after the conclusion. Vector II, perhaps?

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I think All of Robin Cooks books are great from a medical point of view as well as thriller. I cant stop reading when i get to the last 50 pages. i am on the edge of my seat!