Rating: 
Summary: Stick to journalism Richard
Review: The technical details were interesting, particularly about the nature of the virus & its effects on the human body. A high gross-out rating if you like that stuff (I do). Unfortunately, the plot was stupid and predictable. The characters were paper thin and uninteresting. Some authors have a great feeling for people and human nature. Some don't. Preston definately falls into the latter category.
Rating: 
Summary: Good suspense, with a few first-novel mistakes
Review: A fast and very good suspense read, and the nonexpert can learn a few things. What prevented this from being a full five stars is (a) the author's tendency to interrupt the story with silly explanations ("A knish is..."); (b) excessive reliance on serendipitous coincidences that accelerated the plot, but got in the way of believability (two involving the tracing of the murder weapon alone); (c) a theme that became hackneyed decades ago.
Rating: 
Summary: When is the movie coming?
Review: Loved it! Couldn't put it down untill I read it all. Scary but not as scary as the Hot Zone. Rcommended to anyone who likes smart fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book, hard to put down
Review: This book was an excellent fictional account of the devastating power of biological weapons. It portrays a truly frightening scenario that could so easily become reality.
Rating:
Summary: Very good, couldn't put it down!!!
Review: I loved THE COBRA EVENT by Richard Preston, which combines all of the deadly and common viruses together, in an EXTREMELY deadly bomb, planned to be set by an assassin....This book was great!!! I loved it...It was purely impossible for me to put it down!! I read it in one day!! READ THIS, no book beats it!!
Rating:
Summary: This book will keep you on the edge of your seat!!!!
Review: This book is just as compelling as The Hot Zone but is much scarier due to the added element of bio-engineered killers. It really makes you think of all the things the government hides from us and how uninformed we are about the things going through other people's minds. Great book, reccomended to all blood & gore lovers!!!
Rating:
Summary: must read
Review: preston scared the hell out of me.fast paced,non-stop thriller packed with very beliveable players.a real page turner!
Rating:
Summary: an ok book if you're into technical details
Review: I haven't read any of his other books but his writing in this book is driving me nuts. I don't think he should write novels. Some of the sentences he seemed to just throw into the middle of a couple of paragraphs were just stupid, and he makes his scientists look dumb by having one scientist over-explain something to another. Although I must say that I enjoy learning new things and his technical details are what kept me reading this book. The story itself is between mediocre to enjoyable, but again if I haden't been learning some things I didn't know, I may not have finished this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but no masterpiece.
Review: This book is easy to read, fun and flows well. That's about it. There is some modest success at character development, but nothing to shout about. Worth reading for the fun. Don't have high expectations. Not as interesting or exciting as THE HOT ZONE.
Rating: 
Summary: "Austin and Hopkins Tell You About Science"
Review: Somebody told the author he could sell more books by getting his work published as an Info-Thriller, than as a Current Issues piece. The recipe for success with info-thrillers is: information disguised as a story, high-tech gadgets, and sex. This is what the canny author of many factual Current Issues books did. He re-spun what he knows how to do (I recommend "American Steel") into a novel. However, I learned more about: How-to-Cook-a-Bio-Weapon, the Geo-politics and history of biological warfare, FBI police procedures, and epidemiology than "mans inhumanity to man" i.e. there was really no story, or sex either. If you want to learn about epidemiology and bio-war in a "Austin and Hopkins Tell You About Science" format you'll be happy with this book. If you don't need a tissue thin story draped around this information you might want to read Deshowitz's "The Malarial Capers" to get most of the same stuff without the police procedure.
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