Rating: 
Summary: Good book but a little drawn out
Review: *Spoilers below*
I listened to the Abridged 7-hour CD version of the book. I've enjoyed movies based on Robert Ludlum's books, namely the Bourne series, and thought this might be a good read. I was not disappointed.
The book's plot was interesting. Captivating storyline. It is fairly standard international spy-thriller material, but well done. I found myself engrossed in the book and was very interested to watch the story unfold, and find out what was happening to the story's main characters.
There are a few problems with this book:
1. Simply too long. Although the first 75% of the book flew by, the last 25% dragged. The entire "space" section didn't add much to the quality of the book. I understand the need for the smallpox to be used, the nasty effects illustrated, etc -- but the entire section was just too drawn out.
2. Although this is expected and common in a lot of books, movies, in the media, etc the authors were sloppy in describing technical things. Example: Jon talking about the "firewall" on the computer. Get your terms straight and do research before using them. You can't try to be "high-tech" AND confuse basic terms -- sticks out like a sore thumb. The fact that this was written early, was it 2001?, is no excuse.
3. Even though Jon Smith and others poured over the passenger manifests for the three flights from Russia, Jon never noticed Adam Tralore's name on the list? He had already met Adam Tralore earlier, and certainly someone involved in Megan/Dillan/Jon's line of work should stick out. Why were they not looking for a bald guy on the flights after they arrived? (yes, I know JS was on the same flight, but that doesn't mean Heathrow would stop/should stop looking) Even if the bald guy had nothing to do with it, it can't hurt to question all the bald guys on all the flights, especially given the magnitude of the situation.
These problems didn't detract from the overall quality of the book, and I would suggest it to a friend.
Rating: 
Summary: Robert Ludlum's "The Cassandra Compact"
Review: A sorry science fiction book (not a mystery novel in my judgement) not written by Ludlum but his name is on the cover to sell books (my viewpoint). The book takes advantage of todays terrorist threats and smallpox concerns to stir the readers interests but nothing in the book reflected the writings of Ludlum. I strongly suspect that Ludlum did not even write the outline for this book and the sorriest one, "The Paris Option".
Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 stars Cassandra Compact worth a look
Review: As a long-term fan of Robert Ludlum and not knowing how involved Ludlum really was in the actual composition of the Covert One series, I had been hesitant up to this point to give the books a try. Not knowing exactly what to expect, but having read an enjoyed the previous solo works from Philip Shelby, I decided to give the Cassandra Compact a try when faced with a need to pick up a book at an airport bookstore. In short, I was pleasantly surprised. The tale, although lighter and clearly not nearly as complex as the typical Ludlum, kept me turning the pages. This book, which grabs the reader early and does not let go, contains much of the suspense and plot twists that Ludlum aficionados have come to love in the conspiracy-thriller genre. Upon final evaluation, the Cassandra Compact made my four-hour plane ride easy duty. My first experience with the series will make me go back to the beginning to try some of the others.
Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 stars Cassandra Compact worth a look
Review: As a long-term fan of Robert Ludlum and not knowing how involved Ludlum really was in the actual composition of the Covert One series, I had been hesitant up to this point to give the books a try. Not knowing exactly what to expect, but having read an enjoyed the previous solo works from Philip Shelby, I decided to give the Cassandra Compact a try when faced with a need to pick up a book at an airport bookstore. In short, I was pleasantly surprised. The tale, although lighter and clearly not nearly as complex as the typical Ludlum, kept me turning the pages. This book, which grabs the reader early and does not let go, contains much of the suspense and plot twists that Ludlum aficionados have come to love in the conspiracy-thriller genre. Upon final evaluation, the Cassandra Compact made my four-hour plane ride easy duty. My first experience with the series will make me go back to the beginning to try some of the others.
Rating:
Summary: A Timely Thriller About The Horror of Smallpox
Review: As a scientist, I view smallpox as I would a rattlesnake. For centuries, smallpox was the world's leading cause of death, and even survivors were left horribly disfigured. We got rid of it by vaccination, but kept two stocks, one in Russia and one in the United States. Now, most of the world's population is no longer immune to smallpox, and news media are full of worries of some group stealing smallpox and unleashing it upon us. Ludlum and Shelby constructed a scenario in which a combine of high-ranking American and European military, industrial, and government zealots steal smallpox from Russia and develop it into a terible weapon, able to kill in minutes. Russian and American operatives work together to try to track down the culprits and destroy the smallpox before it is too late. You know the identity of the bad guys early on, but that doesn't stop the story from building tension right up to the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok, not Ludlum
Review: I believe that this book was published after Ludlam was dead, that doesn't make it awful I just don't think his name should be attached to it Basically the premise is the same as in the Hades Factor, except this time the autistic computer hacker has been replace with some Russian kid. Smith and his buddies must stop an international conspiracy before it kills a significant part of the population(I read this somewhere before didn't I?). The only reason this book is getting 3 stars is because of Peter Hoyle the British spy it was his activities in this book that, in my opinion pervented this from being a really bad book. It is still not up to snuf with the stuff that Ludlam was putting out when he was alive but it is not horribly awful. To sum it all up: The delivery system is different some of the names and faces have changed but if you didn't like the Hades Factor your not going to like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Topic ahead of it's time---now is the time to read
Review: It has been awhile since I read a Ludlum thriller. However, the reader of 2003 might very well pick up this book looking for a typical thriller from Ludlum and some modern day world events. When the book first released, many readers would likely think the plot and scenarios of a bio-terror threat to the world to be a stretch. Not today! With the threat of terrorists, willing to do anything to obtain biological germs, be interesting today...you bet! So if a smallpox scare and a space shuttle thriller is on your mind...take a few hours and fly through this one. I recommend it the time to be worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Soapy Core, Wrapped in some Delicious Product Placement
Review: Ok, I knew it was going to be a trashy novel. It's meant to be a mindless read, and in that respect it does a passable job. But the story isn't really compelling or well thought out; after the fifth "terrorist just barely escapes the closing net" scenario, credibility begins to suffer. The authors give a very lazy impression. Rather than coming up with a realistic way for someone to beat a trap, the character just does something superhuman and escapes only seconds before he or she would have been captured. I understand that this type of literature is basically a novelized comic book. But the writers could at least make the escapes plausible. Be inventive! Write one great one, not ten blah ones. The writing is at times rather juvenile. Every woman character is described as looking like a model. There are soap-opera bits about various women "sizing up Jon Smith" and "liking what she sees". It's like every ... show you've ever seen, particularly due to the blatant product placement found throughout the book. Characters eat Egg McMuffins, drink Pepsis, and buy DVDs conveniently on Amazon.com. Mentioning corporations or product names isn't a big deal, but it is rarely necessary for a story. Inserting them obviously to place a product or service is just crass behavior. It's a book. It's a cheap, trashy, dime-store novel, for which I paid $[amount]. I don't want commercials. I give it two stars because it was a better diversion than whatever was on TV that night. You know, between the commercials.
Rating:
Summary: A time-passer
Review: OOPS! REVIEW MODIFIED TO REFER TO THE FIRST BOOK IN THE COVERT-ONE SERIES, THE HADES FACTOR (NOT THE PROMETHEUS DECEPTION AS INDICATED IN THE FIRST REVIEW). I happened to really like the Hades Factor (HF), and therefore, fully expected to like this book too. Like the HF, you'll find action, suspense, and diabolical characters. However, unlike the HF, this book just didn't add up. It's more like a movie that you go to see that has so much action going on that you don't realize that there really is no compelling story until the end. The plot was a familiar one and decent, but the events that took place -- at times, seemed a little far-fetched. There wasn't a lot of character development, but what was done was sufficient. However, the inclusion of characters from the earlier book seemed to be just to show continuity -- which isn't a bad thing, but it didn't seem necessary since there was no in-depth interaction among them. Despite its "faults", the book is entertaining enough to pass the time with and it is a decent read. And, there were some pretty good suspenseful scenes in the book that kept me on pins and needles. If you read the book and don't expect the caliber of story you typically get from a Ludlum book, you'll be okay.
Rating:
Summary: A quick, cool novel...
Review: Summary:
Jon Smith is a special agent for the president's top secret intelligence group Covert One, headed by Nathaniel Klein. When a former Russian KGB agent who now works in BioOperat (where the Russians store their biological weapons, etc.) decides he needs to get out of Russia to tell Klein something he has found out, it is Jon Smith who is sent to help him. Unbeknownst to Klein and Smith, this escape begins their involvement in a plot to steal a sample of smallpox and mutate it into a super virus that is virtually unstoppable. The plot is being perpetrated by the head of a major pharmaceutical company who is providing the scientific know-how and is working with several members of the US military who are providing cover, location, and muscle to get the job done. Apparently the Cassandra Compact was dreamed up by all involved in order to give the US a super powerful biological weapon and once again place it at the top of the world's superpowers. But the Compact didn't count on two things - Jon Smith and his ability to uncannily show up in the right place at the right time (lots of coincidences). As a result, Jon Smith slowly foils the Compact and in so doing saves most of the good guys. My Comments:
I have to admit that the book kept my attention up until it entered outer space. At that point there were two problems. First, the CD started skipping so I missed some of what happened and second I began to think this story was never going to end. Well, the CD skipping isn't the authors fault, but the incredibly unwieldy and rambling story is. Like any good spy novel, this one jumps from continent to continent as though they were rocks in a pond resulting in so many locations that you eventually just give up on keeping them straight. I always find it funny that money for travel is never an issue and Jon Smith, like so many other uber-spies, doesn't seem to ever need to sleep or go to the bathroom. Also, there are so many characters involved with the plot that it takes almost 1/3 of the book just to be able to keep them straight. Though the resolution of the plot is for the most part satisfactory, there are some problems. For instance, two of the major bad guys, a US military general and one of the leaders of the NSA die in a car crash, literally. Sure, they were trying to escape being caught, but they are so preoccupied that they forget how to drive. It's pretty silly actually. Also, there are so many things that have gone on behind the story (like the building of the top secret hangar for destroying the space shuttle) that have to have happened in order for this story to take place that the story has a remarkably contrived feeling. Of course, as an international spy thriller it's okay to be at least somewhat contrived, but this one really pushes the limits. My last problem with the novel was the main character. Though there were some attempts to develop Jon Smith as a character, by the time the novel ended I really had no idea who he was, just that he was super good at figuring things out, shooting people, and that he had lost his wife/girlfriend to a virus in a previous novel. There is almost no effort at backstory (though this could be because the version I listened to was abridged). The only person I really ended up liking was Smith's friend, Peter Howell, who actually seemed to be a well-trained spy and was witty to boot. Smith came across as more of a bumbling Mr. Magoo who slowly puts the pieces together but never actually seems to be a step ahead of the bad guys until the very end, and that is only by luck. Overall, though the story kind of starts to grab your attention at the beginning, with such a non-developed character as Jon Smith on the loose, you quickly begin to lose interest. Also, with the book ranging around the world and with so many other characters to try to remember, the scope of the novel is more what you would expect from a 1,000 page James Clavell treatise rather than a relatively short Ludlum novel. Because it's so short, it just doesn't work. Perhaps the actual novel is better, but the abridged CD version just didn't cut it for me. I don't recommend this book.
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