Rating: 
Summary: A good conspiracy thriller fix
Review: "The Syndrome" is a good, solid book - something that will get you through an afternoon in an airport or a doctor's office, and keep you up later than you planned that evening. It lacked the kind of roller-coaster, white-knuckle thrill that I always hope for in this kind of book, but it is good enough that I am looking forward to the next John Case novel. Thumbs up!
Rating: 
Summary: Kept me up all night....
Review: I received this book from amazon.com yesterday. Last night, I intended to read just enough to find out the story line...boy, was I WRONG! Four hours later, I turned the last page and breathed a sigh of relief. I'm really sleepy at work today, but I'm happy to report that this 3rd novel by John Case (synonym for a husband/wife writing team) has lost none of the snap, crackle and pop of the first two (THE GENESIS CODE and THE FOURTH HORSEMAN). I liked the characters in this book and thought the psychological aspect of the story was well-presented. John Case is poised to take a seat next to the best thriller writers. The stories are current, compelling and raise the hair on the back of my neck. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling!
Review: A thriller from start to finish. ...Within the first 10 pages you'll be biting your nails, sitting on the edge of your seat, glancing over your shoulder, and speculating that the guy next door is in fact a programmed assassin. Case has a knack for making the farfetched seem oh so real. You're sure to suspend disbelief in record time. And by the final page you'll smugly say to yourself "I'll just bet this kinda stuff goes on all the time!" A must read.
Rating:
Summary: A SPELLBINDING PAGE-TURNER
Review: A young man doing research in Zurich walks into his supervisor's office and gives a detailed report of the project he has been working on, minutes later he is drugged, on an operating table, and had the skin removed from his face so the doctors can work on his brain. Years later in Florida, a young woman, Nico, enters her hotel room, and from the balcony she shoots, and kills an elderly man on the ground below. Returning home, Nico goes to see her psychologist, Dr Jeff Duran, a cutting edge psychologist who uses hypnosis to have patients re-live disturbing traumas from their past. After her session, Nico goes home, watches television, takes a bath, and kills herself! Adrienne Cope, Nico's half sister, blames Dr. Duran for her sister's suicide, claiming the Doctor put twisted thoughts of sexual abuse into her head. Nico remembers, as a child, her step father sexualy abusing her, and her two sisters, resulting in the one sister's death. Adrienne has no memory of this, and swears it did not happen. Explaining to Adrienne his work technics, Duran, is in for a tough time, but none so tough as what he is about to be thrust into...as an unknown assailant enters his office and tries to kill both Andrienne, and himself. Not knowing who was the target, Duran, and Adrienne will have to rely on each other, and work together to find out who wants them dead, and why? Also, the pair must find out why Nico killed the man in Florida, and what is the link to the researcher from Zurich. To find these answers, the pair will have to uncover secrets from Duran's own past, secrets he himself is NOT aware of! Duran, and Adrienne discover this conspiracy reaches around the world, and underneath it all is a sinister plot that could change the course of history. 'The Syndrome' is a heart stopping thriller, that grabs hold on page one, and doesn't let go until the explosive climax. With well drawn characters, carefully constructed plot, and one shock after another 'The Syndrome' succeeds on every level of being an entertaining read. John case is the bestselling author of 'The Genesis Code', and no doubt this new novel will sky rocket up the bestseller lists as well. Put this book on your must read list, it is an absolute page-turning beach read! Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 Stars
Review: After Adrienne Cope's sister commits suicide, her mission is to find out why. She confronts the psychiatrist that treated her, a Dr. Jeff Duran, and places all the blame on him. When she does some investigating of her own she finds out Dr. Duran is not who he says he is and could actually be a victim himself. Things soon start spinning out of control as the bloodshed begins and secrets become revealed. Because memory is not all it's cracked up to be. A thoroughly exciting story with a harrowing premise. Great locales and great writing do make for a great read. I do feel that the ending came rather abruptly with not quite enough closure. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A big disappointment!
Review: After reading The Genesis Code and thouroughly enjoying it, this book is a complete disappointment. I could not believe how messy and poorly developed the plot was. This book read as a weak attempt of amateur writers to write about profound matters. I guess, no more John Case for me: the duo is degenerating fast.
Rating:
Summary: Solid Page Turner
Review: Alright, every now and then I indulge my reading habits with some "pulp." And, I'd categorize this book as being in there with Ludlem, Cussler, Cook etc. in style of plot. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised with how solid this book turned out to be. While never rising above its genre, it is nonetheless a very good pageturner. Better, in my opinion, then the former two books Case has written, this book continues the combination of science and thriller. A few leaps in logic, but good, good, stuff.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT READ
Review: AS always, John Case does not disappoint. It was a great as his first novel, and even better than the second. I couldn't put it down
Rating:
Summary: Ending Peters
Review: As with the two previous novels this husband and wife team has written, this book starts off with a bang that carries the reader away in a tsunami wave of unbelievably and seemingly unconnected events. However, once the suspense climax is reached and the sinister plot puzzled out, the authors have a hard time keeping the reader's adrenaline pumping at the same heart wrenching pace. Somehow, the actual scene where McBride enacts his revenge seems trivial, a necessary part of the story, but one the reader flies through with the hope that there is a twist that will topple what he already believes to be true and again skyurocket his manufacture of adrenaline.
I read this book while traveling via plane; it is more than adequate to keep one's attention, the premise and the facts gathered to offer the denouement are plausible and sufficiently sinister to make one wonder where and when such events actually occur. I will read another John Case thriller in the future.
Rating:
Summary: False Memories
Review: Dean Koontz wrote a book called "False Memory" that introduced us to mind control through hypnosis. Using a Manchurian Candidate premise, it even used that book as a source of control. The husband and wife team that write together as "John Case" have given us a mind control story that uses mind control through technology as its premise. Very similar, and yet very different, from the Koontz book. In both cases, those under control have false memories, but in this book they even have false lives. Imagine being convinced that you graduated from Brown and did post-grad work at Wisconsin, only to find out that you didn't. Imagine going to a high school reunion where nobody knows who you are. Then to find out that your own name - or what you believe to be your name - winds up on a tombstone years earlier. Adrienne Cope investigates her sister Nico's suicide and it leads her to her sister's therapist, Jeffrey Duran. Only, as she finds out, all that glitters is not gold as Jeff, you see, isn't really "Jeff". One things leads to another and Adrienne, after finding a rifle in her sister's "effects" and realizing that "assasin" might be one Nico's false personalities, teams up with Jeff and they go from Washington to New York to Florida to Switzerland in pursuit of the group that initiates this Syndrome. Keep your seat belt buckled for non-stop action. You'll learn some extra benefits along the way, such as how to get out of a strait jacket and what pieces of skull are like falling from the ceiling onto the financial pages of Neue Zurcher Zeitung. You can't beat that! Characterization is great, too. You can see the change in both tone and language from Jeff Duran to Lew McBride. So why not 5 stars? I hate to be picky, but one character, when referring to the death of a gumshoe named Eddie Bonilla, refers to him as Bobby Bonilla. Bobby B. is a baseball player, alive and well thank you, not a deceased fictional hit man. Also, one of the characters, when talking about Pope John Paul I, says he was "...poisoned after Vatican II". Well, John Paul I died in 1979 while Vatican II took place in the early '60s. It's almost like my saying that my teenage daughter was born after the Korean War. Still, such minor gaffs, and a somewhat blah ending, don't deter from a roaring good ride on the Syndrome express. Enjoy.
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