Rating: 
Summary: Definately not John Case's best work.
Review: I liked the title of a previous reviewer: Stupid detective! John Case novels are by default intricate, thoroughly researched, and very well thought out. On the other hand with the Eighth Day the characters just sucked. There's a really good story here: billionaire wants to stop the spreading of rumors so he hires a PI. The problem is you throw in an immature kid who hardly seems the detective type and along way you plug in characters that seem like they'd be okay but never get developed enough. What you end up with is a poorly written, cheap novel. I hate to say it because I'm a BIG John Case fan but this one just didn't hit it. We only get a very superficial read on the characters themselves, especially the secondary characters, and as for Danny the main character it seemed like the author was trying too hard to make this goofy kid a real detective!
On the other hand I have to give the authors credit: they really knew their stuff, from art to the detailed geography many authors try to fake. I could visualize the places the characters were describing and I could imagine myself there with them. They did some great research for this. However in the end I just felt like the characters were thrown in hastily without any real development and it just turned sour.
On a side note: The new John Case book "The Murder Artist" is really good so I'd say if you were disappointed with the Eighth Day please give the new one a chance, it'll make up for it and then some.
Rating:
Summary: complete disappointment...
Review: I LOVED Genesis Code and recommend it all the time. I asked for this book for Christmas.However, I wish I had asked Santa (or Mr. Case) for something different. The nanotech "hook" is just that. The plot of this book has nothing to do with nano. If you want a nano-thriller, read "Prey" by Michael Crichton. Here, it was an afterthought. When it first crept into the story I eagerly anticipated the tie-in later on. It never happened. Forget the attempt to reel in nano-interested readers. I felt like I had gone on the "around the world" adventure with the protagonist, reluctantly. I hung on to the edge of this hopeful joyride, only to be shoved out of the plane after a somewhat abrupt landing, with not so much as a "thank you, come again" from the airstaff. All kidding aside, I will not recommend this book nor did I enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: OH DANNY BOY
Review: I was overall disappointed in this fourth effort from John Case. His first three novels were well developed, plausible and much more exciting.
In THE EIGHTH DAY, we get so many sidetracks and rambling passages, and all the chase scenes become redundant and ridiculous. Danny Cray is an "artiste" who moonlights as a private investigator for some firm. He's offered a rather good assignment to track down someone who's "badmouthing" a certain famous person. Well, needless to say, that's where Danny goes wrong.
Danny is likeable, but he does so many stupid things; things that I can't see a man of his limited expertise doing. He manages to get a bunch of people killed because of this naivete. He cheats on his girlfriend with an exotic spy and then tries to worm his way out of it when the video of his sexual exploits is e-mailed to his sort of fiance.
The global hopping gets monotonous; the plot incredulous, and the finale is right out of Indiana Jones.
It may entertain at times, but it's way beyond what I've come to expect from mr. Case. Dan Brown, if nothing else, has inspired let's do the mythical conspiracy stuff. Let Brown keep it.
Rating:
Summary: Average Effort from Case
Review: I'm an avid reader of Case's novels and have read all of them. I've even gotten my wife interested in them. They are all great page-turners that all seem to combine a bit of history and religion into good to great thrillers. However, this book didn't measure up to my favorites (Syndrome and Genesis Code) for a couple of reasons. First, while most of Case's heroes have a feasible background for getting involved in the typical intrigue, the lead character in this is a washed up, layabout artist who has trouble making up his mind whether or not to get married. After that introduction, it's hard to believe him as a character who is smart and, more importantly, driven enough to keep himself alive and a step ahead of the bad guys. Secondly, while I definitely didn't figure the "MacGuffin" out, this has to be one of the most far-fetched, twisted plots these Case has come up with.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun Run Through Rome, Siena, Istanbul and Eastern Turkey
Review: If you like your suspense hero to be a globe-trotting ingenue, then Case's Danny Cray is definitely your man. All of Case's books, 'The Genesis Code', 'The Syndrome' and 'The First Horse' as well as this one, utilize the same winning formula which seems to be working so well for Dan Brown in 'The DaVinci Code' and "Angels and Demons." A little technology is combined with myth, religion and human greed to create a fast-paced page-turner that is sure to please most recreational readers.
In this offering, Case launches artist and part-time investigator Cray into the spheres of influence controlled by a Turkish billionaire---the trail begins with a professor of ancient religions committing suicide in Washington DC and quickly leads tracking a laptop computer to the Eternal City, meeting the billionaire at a fabulous party during the famous Palio in Siena and then proceeds at a lightning pace in a run-for-your-life dash for Istanbul and Eastern Turkey to uncover a plot that leads back to the mysteries of the Silicon Valley in California.
I found the Italian and Turkish portions of the book thoroughly enjoyable; the science presented during Cray's dinner in California interesting but a little secondary to the overall plot---I felt as if the authors wanted to get in a little something about nanotechnology---which they do very well, but needlessly, as the science itself has little to do with any pivotal moments in the storyline.
As other reviewers have commented, the authors stretch the limits of coincidence, their melding of science within the plot was shaky and Cray's most perplexing moments (i.e. puzzling out the professor's password)were annoying to read as they were easily remembered by the reader.
But like "The Da Vinci Code", this book is out and out fun to read. Cray is likeable, we find ourselves rooting for him; we want him to convince his girlfriend of his innocence and we want his art show to be a success because we know he isn't a very good private investigator.
Recommended to anyone who found "The DaVinci Code" enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Run Through Rome, Siena, Istanbul and Eastern Turkey
Review: If you like your suspense hero to be a globe-trotting ingenue, then Case's Danny Cray is definitely your man. All of Case's books, 'The Genesis Code', 'The Syndrome' and 'The First Horse' as well as this one, utilize the same winning formula which seems to be working so well for Dan Brown in 'The DaVinci Code' and "Angels and Demons." A little technology is combined with myth, religion and human greed to create a fast-paced page-turner that is sure to please most recreational readers.
In this offering, Case launches artist and part-time investigator Cray into the spheres of influence controlled by a Turkish billionaire---the trail begins with a professor of ancient religions committing suicide in Washington DC and quickly leads tracking a laptop computer to the Eternal City, meeting the billionaire at a fabulous party during the famous Palio in Siena and then proceeds at a lightning pace in a run-for-your-life dash for Istanbul and Eastern Turkey to uncover a plot that leads back to the mysteries of the Silicon Valley in California.
I found the Italian and Turkish portions of the book thoroughly enjoyable; the science presented during Cray's dinner in California interesting but a little secondary to the overall plot---I felt as if the authors wanted to get in a little something about nanotechnology---which they do very well, but needlessly, as the science itself has little to do with any pivotal moments in the storyline.
As other reviewers have commented, the authors stretch the limits of coincidence, their melding of science within the plot was shaky and Cray's most perplexing moments (i.e. puzzling out the professor's password)were annoying to read as they were easily remembered by the reader.
But like "The Da Vinci Code", this book is out and out fun to read. Cray is likeable, we find ourselves rooting for him; we want him to convince his girlfriend of his innocence and we want his art show to be a success because we know he isn't a very good private investigator.
Recommended to anyone who found "The DaVinci Code" enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: story line always goes at hyperspeed
Review: In his mid twenties, Danny Cray cringes at the image of the starving artist as he has chosen to supplement his meager earnings as a sculptor with sleuthing. His latest customer, charismatic and wealthy attorney Jude Belzer hires Danny to do some research into whom and why someone has been attacking the reputation of a client. Danny easily succeeds and in return receives a nice fee. Jude asks Danny to dig deeper so the part time detective flies to the Vatican to conduct more research as lure of the first class accommodations are too impossible to resist. However, Danny uncovers a lot more than he was supposed to and he now knows the deadly game his benefactor plays. His discovery leads to Belzer sending his thugs to dispose of Danny, who now flees for his life. When it comes to an action-packed thriller, the writing team of John Case is as sure a bet as fans will find out. The latest tale, THE EIGHTH DAY, never eases off the throttle as readers follow Danny walk deeper into trouble one step at a time. Though this theme of relative innocence deluded by glamour into a deadly scenario is as old as the bible, readers will root for Danny to defeat his much more powerful foe even if it takes unrealistic spins for him to have a slim chance. The case on this book and previous novels by this writing duo (see THE SYNDROME and THE GENESIS CODE) is that the story line always goes at hyperspeed driven by a likable hero in over their head against a clever villain. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: A Walk on the Wild Side of Nanotechnology
Review: It take a very special and unique kind of mindset, I think, to anticipate a literary trend and create speculative fiction that's on the cutting edge of tomorrow's headlines before the concept itself becomes passe from overexposure. By me, that's one of John Case's fortes. Having successfully broken new ground in bio-technical medical thrillers with "Genesis Code", he subsequently turned his attention to spine-tingling Armageddon theses in "The First Horseman" and "The Syndrome", and now "The Eighth Day" offers his fans possibly his most exciting and fully-realized adventure to date: a far-ranging walk on the wild side of nanotechnology and intrigue where, once again, he tests his hero to his utmost limits and lets us have the fun of watching the bad guys get their comeuppance in an oh-my-gosh-he's-actually-gonna-pull-it-off! denouement. On the way to getting to that point, however, his hero Danny Cray is in big trouble. He's your Hitchcockian innocent caught up in a game plan he doesn't understand that has suddenly turned lethal. An artist and part-time private investigator, Danny initially accepts what looks like a fairly simple assignment from wealthy lawyer Jude Belzer: for a sizeable fee (which he needs badly), an unlimited expense account and first class accommodations all the way, he is to track down the European source and then do damage control on rumors that are maligning the reputation of Jude's client, a mysterious billionaire. "Things are not always as they seem/skim milk masquerades as cream" abruptly becomes Danny's modus vivandi because the more he probes into the situation, the more nothing checks out as it should. Suddenly, with his life in ruins, he's on the run himself in a desperate game of international cat-and-mouse trying to keep just one painful...very! as his encounter with some Greek thugs graphically evinces...step ahead of an amoral, ruthless killer who, having successfully perpetrated sacrilegious fraud against an ancient and powerful cult to gain access to their treasury, will now stop at nothing to maintain the deception and thereby achieve world domination. Once Danny decides to fight back, it's impossible to put the book down. It's also extremely difficult not to make this utterly engrossing and compelling thriller a one-sitting read. John Case has an amazing talent for devising whitewater scenarios that inevitably and immediately engulf both his characters and his readers in a veritable maelstrom of suspense and hairbreath escapism set against exotic yet intensely realistic backgrounds. Possibly because his central characters are so thoroughly viable and believeable, it also becomes extremely easy "to believe six impossible things before breakfast" and accept his premises about their motivations and behaviors without question or doubt.
Rating:
Summary: Terrifying fun
Review: John Case continues to blow me away. The Eighth Day has that Case trademark brilliance. He is plausible, informative --but never dry. This one makes almost every other thriller seem nerdy and naive. His style is seductive --almost too seductive. I found myself racing through The Eighth Day, even though I hated to see it end.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven storytelling
Review: John Case, the pseudonym of a husband and wife writing team, has written a pseudo-thriller that not only meanders in its narrative, but manages to insult the reader's intelligence as well. If I had actually purchased this book instead of finding it on the shelf at my local library, I would've been angry at having wasted the cover price on "The Eighth Day." While the premise is excellent--nanotechnology as global takeover--it's mired in repetitive and uneven storytelling. The ending is so contrived and ridiculous, I wondered if perhaps the authors had watched one too many Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis movies. It wasn't a total waste of time, though, as I found myself drawn deeper and deeper into it, despite the sloppy and amateurish writing. With better editing and some severe tightening up, "The Eighth Day" might've been a really good story. As it is, I would recommend reading their first novel instead, or something else altogether.
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