Vector

Rating:
Summary: Bravo
Review: I think that Jack and Laurie are two of Mr. Cook's best created characters. When I found yet another book featuring them, I was ecstatic, and I wasn't disappointed. I can't wait for another with them included.

Rating:
Summary: How many story lines were there????
Review: I have enjoyed many of Robin Cook books and will always be looking for the next one to come out. This book however leaves me hanging without a complete end. I put the book down three times at the begining because it started out boring and slow but when I finally began to read the book it became more interesting. The main story line about bioterrorism was interesting and the unfortunate possibility is that it could be happening under our noses at this time. Many people die every day without the cause ever being known. Why? What I don't understand is why there were many minor story lines left unfinished. What happened to Paul? Is he going to continue to be a possible Love interest for Laurie? What about the other deaths being investigated at the same time. Laurie seemed to have an interesting case where readers were given more than a mere glimplse of and yet no conclusions were offered. What happened to Lou? All the sudden he became a forgotten character and again no good explaination was offered?? There did not seem to be a final conclusion to the book. Did the Govt. ever find who all the people were involved in the attack plan? What happened to them. What happened to Paul? Where was Lou? What happened to Warren and Flash? Did they ever get home? What happened to richard for doing such a shoddy job with Connie's death? I do not like to be inticed by characters and their events to find them never to be explained or finished. Robin, It seems like you got bored with your own work, ended it and sent it off to the publisher without caring if you finished all the minor story lines or not. Why? I have enjoyed all of your past books and will look forward to the next. I just hope you finish all the story lines next time.

Rating:
Summary: New York City cab drivers are dangerous to your health....
Review: This book certainly answers a question that was raised when the Cold War was finally over. The Berlin Wall had fallen, nuclear disarmament and Russian bio warfare weapons were reduced and eliminated through worldwide cooperation, but what happened to all of those people the weapons industry in Russia employed? According to Cook, at least one of them moved to New York City, became totally disillusioned by the American way of life and longed for a way to return home to mother Russia!

Encouraged by promises of riches and fortune, Cook's character, Yuri Davydov gets mixed up with a group of twisted extreme American terrorists that insist on calling attention to their cause. His experience working in one of Russia's bio weapons manufacturing facilities is put to use to manufacture two mutant strains of quick, efficient and invisible weapons: Botulism and Anthrax, which he manufactures in the basement of his New York home.

The infallible medical savior that Cook weaves into all of his stories is not found in the local hospital this time. He's found in the county morgue. He's a middle-aged medical examiner who has an understood romance with one of his co-workers, a beautiful, thirty-something woman with one eye on the biological clock and the other on any fellow to enter the picture with a marriage proposal. Her impatient determination lands her in a promise of marriage with the worst of suitors and drags Cook's infallible medical savior into the mess.

The story, although largely predictable is probably one of Cook's better creations. Dear reader knows what is going to happen but hangs around just to witness the action... just like all the other stories he's shared with us. Not a bad way to spend a little time under the reading lamp, dear reader, so give it a look-see and enjoy the show!

Rating:
Summary: My Word
Review: The mystery in Cook's writing lies less in the fiction than in readers like me who keep buying ridiculous books like Vector. Although the spectre of biological terrorism provokes valid interest, Vector provokes little more than boredom. The "terrorists" in this far-fetched goon show are so inept that few readers could imagine them succeeding. The medical examiner protagonist is believable as a pathologist but almost malignantly benign as a human being. He frequently exclaims, "My word!" as he rides his bike through a stupendously one-dimensional existence toward the novel's stupifyingly predictable conclusion. In my opinion, this is a truly bad book.

Rating:
Summary: Okay
Review: i was looking forward to reading this for a while but it was kind of flat. It was boring at times and I ALWAYS knew whatwas happening. There was no mystery. It wasn't really bad but, it surely didn't live up to the standard's of the previous books in the series, Contagion, Chromosome 6. It was interesting because I learned some about bioterrorism and militias but, like i said, there was nothing for you to try to figure out. But I will commend Dr. Cook on something he does in his books every once and a while and he did very good on this one. His little glossary, author's note, and bibliograpy. Those are always pretty cool. Although unfortunately during Vector those were the parts I looked forward to . I don't want to say 'don't waste you money and time' because it's fun to read about jack and laurie but for those of us with little patience I say don't read it. I was quite dissappointed and I hope Dr. Cook comes out with a better one soon. He's about due for one.

Rating:
Summary: Another haunting tale from the medical thrill master!
Review: One of the best characters I've read, Yuri Davidov (is that how you spell it?), is the centerplate of this book. He's disgruntled at the U.S.A.'s promise of prosperity, only to be turned down and lowered to cab driver. So, he decides to get back.

With solid characters and page-turning suspense and action, Robin Cook has created yet another book to get your mind thinking. Despite the somewhat cliched and abrupt ending, Vector is a chilling book about what ends people will go to to get revenge, no matter who on.

Rating:
Summary: YOUR AVERAGE EVERY DAY MEDICAL THRILLER
Review: It appears that Robin Cook has engaged himself in the process of voluntary retirement from his career as the master of the medical thriller. Novel by novel, it becomes more and more evident that his classic style is running dry. He is in the stage of decline. Apparently incapable of writing something worthwhile, unable to repeat his past success- enter Vector.

Unfortunately, this book is no different. Sorry, I know its disappointing, but just like all his other recent books, the word' average' encapsulates perfectly. The premises of the story; that much overused 'person A and B collaborating with a Soviet experienced in the field of biology to unleash a plague on the city of New York'. This is 'Contagion' revisited. You begin to feel the hopelessness; its all just so cliched and passe.

And the charcaters themselves really don't do much to help. With the exception of Yuri, they are all decidedly shallow as reflected by the poor and almost comically bad dialogue. Then there is the oversimpified portrayal of racism. Cook's application of this social problem is both badly executed and inconsistent. The so-called action fails as well. This all culminates into a book that seems like a poor mans imitation of his earlier triumphs.

Perhaps I am being slightly too harsh here. Amazingly, this book still manages to be quite readable. It still is expertly crafted and fast moving. There were sections I enjoyed to the extent that stopping was impossible. However, these good points aren't sufficient to overcome the bad. Let's hope his next novel is the stunner that's due.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I enjoyed this book. It has a very well developed plot, and characters, Yuri, the disgruntled NY cab driver, being one of the best. Incredible detail and research was used in this book, and it definately shows. It was also nice to see the Jack and Laurie again.

My opinion, Cook's best to date!

Rating:
Summary: Brain Dead
Review: Cook and his editors must be in a Coma. Not even the plot was original material, and the execution was extremely shallow and sloppy.

Let's see, a medical examiner tracks down a madman bent on unleashing a bioweapon on New York City. The bioweapon was cooked up in a basement lab...

If I were Richard Preston, author of Cobra Event, I would sue for copyright infringment. I'm glad I only read this one from the library, because I would not have wanted to pay good money for this bad book.

Rating:
Summary: A Satisfying Conclusion
Review: I admit that while reading Robin Cook's recent medical thriller, I was initially bored and only perservered because in the past I've enjoyed some of his work and I think I owe it to an author who toils at his craft to at least finish reading his work before I pass judgement.

I think Cook's purpose in writing this story, besides as a source of entertainment, is to warn the public and government agencies at all levels that bio-terrorism is real and the U.S. as a society needs to be prepared in case "an event" occurs.

With that being said, as the plot took shape and I was being taught and entertained, I realized the pages were being turned much faster than at the beginning. Cook reveals the plot primarily through the dialogue of the characters and we learn about their motives and psychological development through flashbacks of important events in their pasts.

Cook does not waste characters. They are all cleverly and conveniently connected and useful in making the plot work. He also educates the reader through conversations between characters, e.g. between doctors and police.

There were some parts of the story that seemed unbelievable at first. For example when the skinheads were diverted from stealling the pest control truck to chase "two fags-white and black". However, the more I thought about it I realized I was making an erroneous assumption that these 16 to 22 y.o. skinheads have more than an ounce of intelligence. Their behavior is actually closer to reality than I originally assumed.

Throughout reading the book I occasionally asked myself if it was mistitled. Knowing that one definition of vector is "the carrier of a pathogen" I couldn't quite determine the significance of the title. As the story neared the end, it all became clear and a silent approval crossed my lips. The story had come full circle and I was glad I'd perservered and continued reading to the satisfying conclusion.