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.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Despite its' name, this novel is predictable and too long. This is the first Case novel I have read but he has a habit of telegraphing his next move and gives hints which allowed me to figure this out halfway through. It might have been a little better if he developed his characters fully. Adrienne is especially dry and I found it hard to believe how she could be so businesslike in dealing with the death of her sister then witnessing the brutal murder of her friend. The ending was anticlimactic and not very satisfying.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, nothing great
Review: First off, as another reviewer pointed out, "John Case" is just a pseudonym for writer Jim Hougan and his wife. Using his real name, Hougan wrote another thriller called KINGDOM COME which is one my favorites of the last several years. Definitely get that one if you haven't already. And I have to say, it's better than this one. I thought THE SYNDROME was a decent enough read, but nothing spectacular. Interesting ideas that aren't developed into anything more. And I found myself constantly irritated by the characters' lack of worry -- big obvious clues turn up that things are amiss, yet the characters either dismiss or ignore them (I guess a forced way to maintain 'suspense'?) But there isn't much suspense, because Case made a major mistake with his opening prologue. He gave it all away. If he had just left that part out, the story which followed would have been a lot more mysterious. As it is, the reader is always several steps ahead of the characters and pretty much knows what it's all about. Not a good sign in a suspense-thriller. I'd recommned you pick up KINGDOME COME before this one. Then try Case's first book, GENESIS CODE, but avoid his second, FIRST HORSEMAN. That had the same kind of half-developed quality this one has. One last thing - this book features a plot-point involving a website. Try logging onto it -- fun stuff (but remember that access wasn't obvious in the book nor is it in real life).
Rating:
Summary: A Good, Fun Read
Review: I enjoyed this book, however I agree with other reviewers that Case's previous novels (The Genesis Code, The First Horsemen) were better. Having said that, I still really liked this book and it made for an exciting read. I would recommend it to others.
Rating: 
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: I enjoyed two of John Case's other novels, but this one was a big let down for me. Case spends way too much time describing minutia and details that aren't relevant to the story line, and it makes the book a chore to pour through. The dialogue isn't very believable. i was looking forward to this book, but it will keep me from reading any more Case material.
Rating:
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: I enjoyed two of John Case's other novels, but this one was a big let down for me. Case spends way too much time describing minutia and details that aren't relevant to the story line, and it makes the book a chore to pour through. The dialogue isn't very believable. i was looking forward to this book, but it will keep me from reading any more Case material.
Rating: 
Summary: A spellbinder the ENTIRE way through!
Review: I listened to unabridged audio version, which is 10 cassette tapes in all, during a long driving trip. When I picked up my daughter (in DC) at the beginning of Tape 6, she was hooked within minutes! She was so captivated that she who loves to drive said, "[As you know], I can't drive and listen to a talking tape at the same time, so why don't you drive until the tape [book on tape] is over," and I did. When I picked up my father, and my sister, (in Toronto, Ontario, Canada), halfway through Tape 8, to my surprise even they became hooked. I have played audio tapes on auto trips with my father for years; he usually isn't interested. In contrast, as I switched from Tape 8 to 9, my father and sister immediately bombarded me with a raft of questions about the part that they had missed. We arrived at our destination at the beginning of Tape 9, Side B, and spent four days there. On day five as soon as we started back, dad said, "Let's hear the end of book!" put in his hearing aid, which he doesn't like to wear, and we did. One particularly effective subplot is hearing the hero's (Duran) therapy session with Heinrich("The Worm") DeGroot twice, first when it happens and then several tapes later as Duran and the heroine (Adrienne) play it back AFTER they've both learned that Duran is not who he thinks he is. Due to what has transpired in the intervening 4 tapes or so, the second time around I understood that session in a whole new light. 8/24/01 addendum: Other reviewers have stated that the plot is implausible, unbelievable. As a 30-year veteran of Information Technology, it is as plausible as the genetic engineering premise of Jurassic Park. For example, about a year ago I read in the Washington Post that some group had enabled a person, (he was paralyzed, I think), probably with the aid of surgery, to move a cursor using only his brain waves.
Rating:
Summary: Psychological Thriller, doesn't
Review: I was really hooked into this book in the beginning, however it took 3/4 of the book for anything to really start happening. With so much time spent developing the characters, the ending was anti-climactic. And, predictable. Dare I say disappointing? I realize this is fiction, but shouldn't it seem plausible? Couldn't the bad guys have tracked them by credit card transactions? How could people on the run and in hiding have so many fancy dinners? Isn't it amazing how they escape every bad scenario without a scratch? They kept returning to locations they were known to frequent or would likely be and these places were never staked out. Why didn't Dr.Duran suffer any long term effects from having his brain messed with so substantially? Everyone is so multi-talented as to be sickening. The premise of the book was excellent and worth the read if only to broaden your mind as to how freaky things really are in the world. But, once you get halfway through, figure it out your self and put the book in your yard sale box.
Rating:
Summary: John Case does it again!!!
Review: I was really pleased when I saw that John Case had another book out, I was not disappointed. It is an exciting read and I couldn't put it down. There is something about normal people put in unusual or impossible situations that can grab a reader, and this book grabs you from the very beginning.Read this one, and if you havn't read the other John Case books, go back and read them!
Rating:
Summary: wow!
Review: I was unfamiliar with the author, but wow! I finished this novel in a single day, I just couldn't put it down. It has a great mix of thriller, conspiracy and chaos tightly woven together.
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