Rating: 
Summary: What is it?
Review: I don't think Jeff Long really knew where he was going with this one. Lot's of scenes transferred from other works (Outbreak, Cliffhanger, Timeline, Sum of All Fears, Road Warriors, Deep Impact, The Mummy, Seven Years in Tibet, Sparatcus, The Boys from Brazil, etc, etc -- it's a long list). He makes an effort to tie it together, but it doesn't wash. Characterization is good, just good enough to know that you don't really care about the people. He started out with a good premise but sold it down the river in an attempt to reach a higher philosophical level. It didn't work. The dialog is forced and the story, although physically going to a lot of places, really goes in circles and really gets nowhere, climaxing in a soft whoosh. Nothing resolved after much ado about nothing.
Rating: 
Summary: Author definitely gives bang for the buck
Review: I like The Descent and worried a bit at the editorial review that said that he didn't attempt to beat the scope of that novel with Year Zero.Boy, don't know what book that reviewer read, but the scope of this one goes way over the first book. Terrific book. If you can put it down, I'd be surprised. I'm now a fan of this guy's.
Rating:
Summary: To Hell and Back !!!
Review: I've been waiting for Jeff Long's next novel ever since The Descent, wondering what he was going to do for an encore to his expedition into hell.
Well, this is it, and a what a ride. The Descent was about a manhunt for Satan. Year Zero - naturally enough - is about a manhunt for Jesus. It's audacious and complex and even more gripping than The Descent, a little like Stephen King's The Stand but with a mix of science and faith that turns itself inside out. Los Alamos and crucifixions? Virus X and clones from the first century? At times I was sure there was no way Long was going to pull it off, but in the end the whole thing fit together into one great epic, an adventure at the end of history. Buckle your seatbelts. Forget sleep. This one rocks.
Rating:
Summary: A fast-paced story of a man who seeks redemption
Review: An archaeological manhunt in the holy land for the historical Jesus turns a respected American field researcher into a grave robber and a wealthy collector into a plague carrier in Year Zero, a fast-paced story of a man who seeks redemption. The action is swift and unrelenting and the tension high throughout this involving novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Complex, atmospheric chiller
Review: Nathan Lee Swift, an archaeologist hunting for the historical Jesus, succumbs to temptation and joins his brother-in-law, David Ochs, in relic stealing after a horrific Mid-East earthquake. Meanwhile, a private collector has obtained a holy relic concealing a vial of 1st century blood, which he opens, unleashing a doomsday plague upon the world. Swift, trying to save a remote Himalayan Neandertal discovery from Ochs' plundering, survives a murderous attack only to be cast in jail when he drags himself out of the mountains. When the guards abandon his Tibetan prison in the midst of the plague, Swift begins his odyssey back to his daughter in America, through emptied countryside, across Siberia and to Alaska. Meanwhile, new labs at Los Alamos hunt for a vaccine by cloning humans from Year Zero - crucifixion victims who may have antibodies for a less virulent form of the virus. Searching for Ochs, Swift finds his way from the Smithsonian to Los Alamos with a collection of first-century relics. While nobody seems to have any great regard for the human rights of the crucified clones (whose memories of their past lives and death are intact) Swift joins forces with a 19-year-old compassionate genius against the Ochs faction and starts getting to know the clones. It's all a bit more complicated, but the varying points of view keep the flow organized and easy enough to follow. Long weaves his threads with care, leaving only a few loose ends. His flawed characters learn (or grow more evil) as the novel progresses and the action scenes are gripping, building to a spectacular ending on a grand scale.
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: Best, most complete book I've read in a long while. Incredible story from beginning to end, that I devoured slowly. Excellent characters and writing, and a good second to the "Descent." Very much recommended.
Rating:
Summary: All the elements of a great book...
Review: "Year Zero" has all the elements of a great book - science, history, suspense, archeology, and romance. A fan of Jeff Long's "The Descent, I anxiously awaited the release of this new book, I was not disappointed. "Year Zero" is a well-crafted tale, which will keep you up reading all night.
Rating:
Summary: A badly edited epic
Review: This is one whopper of an epic, to my mind not quite as original in theme or exeqution as The Descent, but a well-paced, well-thought of tale nevertheless. Long's literary style can sometimes be a little overbearing and his dialogue can bog down in clumsy exposition, but when it comes to sketching a haunting scene in just one simple sentence, he is a true master. A note to the editor, however: To rush out a book this full of printing errors is a crime. In a story totally dependant on the suspension of disbelief, every mistakenly repeated word and spelling error is like a microphone showing in a Hitchcock film.
Rating:
Summary: swept away!
Review: Here it is, the ultimate Survivor episode, a thinking person's adventure tale. The writing hooked me with the very first sentence, "The wound was their path", and what a path it becomes, full of twists and surprises and Nathan Lee's heart full of hope. I've never seen a book like this, with such wild premises that seem to have no connection, but which by the end are woven into a single thread. On the one hand Year Zero is a novel about the virus from hell, the big extinction event that we humans think can't happen to us. Then there's the cloning of human lab rats that has echoes of Frankenstein and Brave New World. Nathan Lee's escape through the Himalayas is almost a story in itself, but Long keeps on spinning his web, and somehow, amazingly ties it all together in the end. I started describing the story to a friend, then just stopped and gave her the book to read for herself. This one defies simple description. All I can say is, dive in and get swept away.
Rating:
Summary: a very entertaining read
Review: I fell in love with Jeff Long after reading the " Descent". I've been a fan ever since. When I found this book by accident I was overjoyed. I didn't even know he was scheduled to have a new book out. I must tell you this...if you read a Jeff Long you will be up till 3am finishing the book. Like the Descent, I was sucked into it after the first few pages. It was fast paced & definitely a page turner. There were a few things that I felt prevented the book from being 5 stars. He seemed just a tad bit stretched to the limits. There were so many plots going at once. I don't think he gave them the attention they deserved. I wanted to know more about Miranda and her relationship with her father. I was always curious about her father & miranda' mentor. I wish I could remember her name. In all I really liked this book. I found myself debating the whole cloning thing. I wanted a happier ending but I was satisfied with it. I think you will be too.
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