Rating: 
Summary: If only these authors knew how to write
Review: This book is essentially the combination of the movies "Outbreak" and "Seven" except you never sense the hysteria in "Outbreak" and never identify with villain as you do with Kevin Spacey in "Seven". These authors have the writing ability of 5th graders. The charcacters are completely underdeveloped. At times it seems if the writers have a thesaurus at their side judging by the use of overly complex and trite vocabulary. The authors also have a serious problem in the overuse of the excamation point. Unlike Sphere, which was a far better book than movie, The Eleventh Plague would make a far better movie than book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good, but What It Could Have Been...
Review: I truly enjoyed the plot and the characters, although the latter could have been better developed. The style of writing was too scattered for me, but the medical depth was excellent. If you liked The Hot Zone you will like this book. I think it could make a tremendous movie.
Rating:
Summary: A good read but there have been better
Review: Theodore R.G. Kameron is a mad scientist who decides to avenge the world by unleashing a modern version of the biblical ten plagues against mankind. In Texas, Kameron sends killer bees to sting to death the local populace. He uses biological weapons such as anthrax and botulism to destroy an unsuspecting public. The FBI assigns agent Scott Hubbard to investigate the series of man-made disasters. Scott thinks that virologist Jack Byrne, whose theories go against the scientific norm, is the culprit. However, he has no evidence to prove his theory. If Scott fails to stop the killer soon, like in the bible, the deadlier plagues are still to come and they may turn out to be pandemic. The premise of THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE is brilliant, but the drama itself falls short as the feeling of terror just does not does not seem to increase as the plague numbers go up. Scott's suspicions about Jack don't not feel genuine, thereby further diminishing the impact of the story line. This reviewer suggests that readers go back to the original story of the biblical ten plagues for a more exciting tale. To Dr. Marr, this reviewer suggests he writes his theories on the secular causes of the original ten biblical plagues in a non-fiction book as opposed to the references throughout this novel - readers will be fascinated with Dr. Marr's conclusions even when they are buried in a fictional rendition. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Could Someone Actually Do This?
Review: Authors John Marr and John Baldwin have a disclaimer in this novel that this is'nt a how-to-do-it book on bioweapons. Nevertheless, the disturbing thing is that the ideas contained here would be very easy to put into actual practice. A lone scientist, somewhat crazy by thinking that god is talking to him and directing him to loose the Biblical plagues onto humanity, is the villain, one sick person indeed. Some of the deadly agents used are mycotoxins, ergot toxins, anthrax, Rift Valley fever, and several others. A scientist working with ProMED, virologist Jack Bryne, with help from others, discovers the Biblical plague connection and tries to track down the terrorist. Most of the book was mildly interesting, although I thought the novel was a bit too lengthy. Character development and plot layout were fair. To me this novel was barely worth reading, there are much better novels out there.
Rating:
Summary: Try another book
Review: I am about 1/3 of the way through this book and already see most of the problems referred to in other reviews: poor dialogue, clumsy foreshadowing, stereotypical characters and situations, etc. I WILL finish the book because of the subject matter. If you want intriguing stories and lot of suspense try these: The Hot Zone, The Coming Plague, Deadly Feasts, Secret Agents. And THESE are all nonfiction....
Rating:
Summary: Hokey premise, badly abridged for book on tape
Review: As mentioned in the title, I heard this book as a book on tape. It was abridged, as many are. Most are ably abridged - the listener does not even know that he or she is missing anything. In this case, it seems obvious that this one was rather clumsily abridged. For example, the listener does not know that Brynne and his wife are having marital troubles until 3/4 of the way through the book when she is unexpectedly cruel to him. The reason's for Kameron's insanity are edited out (I had to find out why in one of the reviews on this site) and most of the evidence for these plagues that is presented to the listener is so skimpy that you begin to wonder why anyone would even listen to Brynne and how he could even relate them to one another.
So, on to the premise of the book itself. A madman wants to re-create all of the plagues visited upon Egypt in the Old Testament. Lame. What is this - a Batman re-run? "Holy fever blisters, Batman! The Joker's re-creating the plagues and next week he's going to make an evil 12 Days of Christmas!" To be honest, I got this tape just to break up the monotony of the road. I hoped it would be better than it sounded and it was actually worse.
I'm giving it two stars because John Shea ('Lex Luthor' on the now-cancelled Superman show 'Lois and Clark') did an absolutely fabulous job of reading it.
Rating:
Summary: recreational read
Review: After Preston's Cobra Event, this one read pretty thin and scattered. A good story, and loads of interesting possibilities, but often stuff just gets thrown in without a lot of depth or background before a new 'zap' comes along. It is hard to know some of the characters well enough to care much. Mia, Bryne's wife, could have been left out completely; the reader can't quite figure out why these two are married, except that the author says so ... Bryne is a very interesting person, though, a whole book could have been written on his life's journey alone. However, for bioterrorist-novel fans, this is a good read ... but not late at night!
Rating:
Summary: Great premise, disappointing delivery
Review: A fascinating story of a madman who recreates the biblical plagues. Frighteningly real scenario, ably delivered but falling short of truly spectacular. The scientific explanations for the biblical plagues themselves are one of the most intruiging parts of the story. Where the book falls short is in the characters and the writing itself. I found it difficult to empathize with the hero and found the characters generally two-dimensional. Discounting that, the premise was excellent, and the scientific background disturbingly plausible. I think the authors show promise and can improve with a little more practice.
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Summary: Modern Day Nightmare
Review: The Eleventh Plague deals with the 10 plagues of Exodus. While visiting a zoo, a young boy finds a water pistol and shoots water at a teen girl then he shoots some water into his mouth. Shortly after, both die of a disease thought to be nonexistent in the United States. In Kentucky, thoroughbreds at the Churchill Downs are dying of a virus that cannot be identified, even by the most expert veterinarians. Called in to help is famed virologist Jack Bryne. He soon discovers that the two events are not only connected, they are deliberate acts. Soon Bryne's worldwide medical computer network ProMED is hacked into by the person who is responsible for the recent outbreaks. This unknown person has very dangerous knowledge of toxins and an obsession with biblical retribution. Bryne, now a suspect, must convince the FBI of his innocence and plead with them to help him catch this madman before it's too late.
I've read a lot of books that deal with biological warfare/terrorism and this book has to be one of the best. The Cobra Event by Richard Preston was my favorite but The Eleventh Plague is 10 times better.
Don't read this book when you're eating or about to eat. Some sections of the book were so vivid and repulsive that I thought I would be sick.
Rating:
Summary: PLAGUING BY THE RULES
Review: If you can avoid all the techno-[material] and long histories of some of the characters, you're in for a frightening look at how easy bioterrorism is. THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE revolves around a madman's plot to mirror the ten plagues of Moses and kill off vast amounts of people all in the name of God. Character-wise, there's no one here we haven't met before, and even the villain is rehashed from Dr. Phibes through Hannibal Lechter. However, the book has some terrifying scenes and some surprises, too. It's a little long in the tooth and is nowhere as realistically frightening as THE HOT ZONE, but it's still a scary read.
RECOMMENDED.
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