Rating: 
Summary: Not the best by Follett, but a worthwhile read..
Review: ...A man spontaneously wakes up in rags on the floor of a Washington DC bathroom not remembering who he or where he is. Throughout the story we learn more about this mysterious man who is known as Dr. Claude Lucas. The background has to do with the cold war and the race into space between the Russians and Americans.
Rating: 
Summary: Code To Zero Stars
Review: An amnesia victim, with no sense of his identity or personal history, goes to the library and, within an hour or two, determines that he is a rocket scientist. He pulls books from the shelves, determines that he understands many scientific principles, and out of all the known professions and occupations concludes that he is one of the world's top rocket scientists. C'mon !! This is ridiculous. Coincidence after coincidence makes this Follett spy-novel a concocted farce. This book does not come close to "Eye of the Needle" or "Pillars of the Earth."
Rating:
Summary: Fast, engrossing spy story
Review: Ken Follet, in his usual style, tells a good, old-fashioned spy caper in "Code to Zero". Follett does not overload his stories with too many technical descriptions, nor does he insult the reader's intelligence; thereby creating a quick, entertaining read. Set during the time of the space race and Cold War of the 1950s, Follett dissects the loyalties among college friends who met and came of age at the dawn of World War II. Although predictable and littered with clichés, I still found it highly engrossing.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't He Have an Editor?
Review: The story wasn't bad, but I was appalled at all the anachronisms and mistakes. People making Xerox copies in 1958 and working for National Public Radio 15 years before it goes on the air. Most glaring is Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon in 1968, one year before it happened.
Rating: 
Summary: okay, but not great
Review: I've read most of Follett's earlier books and truly enjoyed them, but I do not think he took much time to research the time period for this book nor the culture of the time. My biggest gripe is the dialogue--it is too British, and I do not believe swearing so easily slipped off the tongue in 1941 and 1958 as Follett delivers it in the dialogue--especially from ladies. We had a much more polite society in the U.S. back then than we do now. Manners were important, even if only for show.Follett's ealier novels such as The Man from St. Petersburgh, and The Key to Rebecca were much better researched. One glaring error in this book was his description of "sandspur grass" with grass blades that slashed at the ankles. Not so--snadspurs may be from a grass, a weed actually, but the spurs are the seeds that stick into or onto just about anything that touches them. They can be very painful. I know, I am from Florida, and I hated sandspurs as a kid. I think Follett was so successful as an author in his earlier works that he doesn't pay as much attention to it anymore and only produces something that will sell when he needs to pad his bank account a bit more. Too bad. Even so, it is an entertaining read to pass the time with.
Rating:
Summary: Workmanlike, but far from Follett's best
Review: This suspense novel, set in the late 1950's, is driven by a plan to sabotage the first American satellite launch. The principal characters have backgrounds in the OSS of World War Two. Beginning his story with a man suffering from amnesia, Follett works through the plot in a reliably workmanlike way, but without much flair. The purported consequences of a launch failure seem wildly exaggerated; failures were common in the early days of the space program, but did not cause the U.S. to give up on competing with the Soviet Union. Making the most heroic women members of minority groups while the villainess is from the white upper class smacks of modern day political correctness. Did American men of the 1950's really wear Chinos and say "whatever?"
Rating:
Summary: pleasantly predictable
Review: Ken Follett does an excellent job at gaining the readers attention in the first couple of pages in "Code to Zero". Once you start it, you'll find it's a quick, easy read. Follett moves the story along at a nice pace. However, if you're in the market for something out of the ordinary, you won't find it here. Although one might argue that the characters are well developed, they are ho-hum individuals with little or no personality. I can't recall one good line from the entire book. Good news for those hunting for mindless entertainment, you've hit pay dirt!
Rating:
Summary: Bad Reading
Review: Just simple as that: The worst of Ken Follet.
Rating:
Summary: Don't these people watch television?
Review: The book was ... okay. There were parts that worked just as they should; but, in others, our heroes were by turn really smart and really, really stupid. Don't they watch television? The bad guy always does the same obvious things; why doesn't the good guy know it if I know it?
Rating:
Summary: Fun read but, ultimately, dissapointing
Review: This book is a perfect paperback airplane read. It moves quickly, is entertaining and is easy to put down and pick back up without losing anything. And that, in the end, is what's wrong with the book. It is too superficial with character development and secondary plot lines to offer the reader any depth or flavor. The book seems to be written as a precurssor to a TV movie script. A fun book to read but ultimately you will be disspointed (especially with the hammy ending).
|
