Rating: 
Summary: Good Holiday Fare
Review: This book is about a journalist's quest against the FBI, CIA, Army, a religous cult and various scientists to uncover the truth about a dastardly plan to mutate a flu virus into a the mother of all biological weapons. As is all too often the case, the author has picked a subject in which he is obviously well read and has woven a rather elaborate plot to showcase his knowledge. As with many of his contemporaries, this book has the feel of a film script without the dialog. You find yourself imagining action scenes which the author scarcely describes. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing - I read this book on holidays and found it light, entertaining, and page turning; I even learnt one of two things. Overall, it is passable fare - plotwise it is almost instantly forgettable but entertaining nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: Realistic read.
Review: Excellent story, Well grounded in its scientific facts and sets the scene in our current political and social atmosphere which takes the plot to a whole new level of credebility.
Rating:
Summary: Well told
Review: While not as "shocking" in the end as Genesis Code, this is a good storiy told in a fast paced style that keeps the reader coming back. Short enough to be a great travel book. I highly recommend it as a story. The medical facts are solid and the story does make one think. The real question is who is John Case and how does he know so much? The uninitiated reader should know that Case is a pseudonym for some out of DC. Makes one wonder how much he writes is real.
Rating:
Summary: A good yarn
Review: Based very loosely on a true story, John Case has weaved a fast paced, can we save the world from a mad scientist/cult? type thing. Exciting throughout, if a little rushed at the end. Fourteen-year-olds would think this really good reading, the rest of us enjoy a simple story that flows easily.
Rating: 
Summary: Just a little off...
Review: While this wasn't a terrible book, it wasn't a great one either. The facts that Chase uses are intruiging, but I think that the Fed's would be all over a cult after learning what this reporter had uncovered. Biological weapons are certainly a threat, and I would hope the Government would be quicker to respond to such a threat than what was portrayed in this book. As for accuracy, just what kind of paint did they use in such a hostile environment as the arctic? And PCR, is not correctly defined in the book either. I know it's a little picky to find such flaws, but if the author is going to try to wow us with his scientific knowledge, he ought to get his facts straight.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Thriller
Review: Though not nearly as good as Case's The Genesis Code, the book is still engaging and has a lot of interesting scientific information that is simple enough for the layman to understand yet detailed enough to grab the attention of a scientist. It's slow-moving at times, has some shallow characters, and becomes kind of obvious towards the end, but Case manages to maintain our interest with his very good story telling, allowing the bits and pieces into place as the story progresses. And it has a neat ending (a subtle one, mind you; you need to think about it to realize its cleverness).
Rating:
Summary: Who is John Case?
Review: I think John Case may be Washington Post reporter Richard Leiby. The Post has a long history of reporting on cults and that element of the novel, which other reviewers have found unconvincing, was quite well done - Temple of Light meets Church of Scientology.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: I am a lover of thrillers, but The First Horseman had no thrills. The first third of the book was somewhat enjoyable, and after that it became one of the most dull books I have ever read. If you are trapped on the airplane with this book, be sure to watch the movie, even if Stepmom is showing!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, Action pacted novel
Review: Never have read such a plot which is false but plasible. Such a thriller, keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Rating:
Summary: Zero suspense, even fewer thrills
Review: You really have to like this genre to enjoy this book. My primary gripe with it is that I knew the whole story about a third of the way in, and so all the suspense was gone at that point. A really great book immerses you in the storyline, but this one made me feel like an outsider looking in the entire time. I spent the rest of the book waiting for the characters to catch on to what I already knew, hoping for some clever plot twist or two that would make it interesting again, but not getting it. And must every bio-villian be a crazed psycho bent on thinning the world's population? This was a total snooze-fest. Even though it seemed like a movie treatment at times, I preferred the Cobra Event in every way; its characters were better developed and more believable in their actions.
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