The Cobra Event

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Summary: a real page turner i read it in one sitting
Review: Even better than the Hot Zone. Rrichard Preston has created yet another masterpiece. The cobra virus makes ebola look tame. An excellent look into the world of epidemiology and public health. DEFINITELY A MUST READ! I think I might wait a few days before i read it a second time. I hope Mr. Preston is at his computer working on another one!

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Summary: Reviewing Richard Preston's, The Cobra Event
Review: This book was one of, if not the best book I've ever read. It had action, sorrow, suspense, war, politics, and horror. Richard preston took all of these charactoristics and wove them together in a page turning unforgetable and belivable masterpeice, like only Richard Preston can!

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Summary: Couldn't put the book down!
Review: As a student interested in a career in microbiology, I picked up Richard Preston's The Hot Zone as new reading material. Not only were the details sickening, but highly interesting. So when he came out with The Cobra Event, my mother didn't hestitate to order it for me. Once I opened the book to the first chapter, I couldn't put it down. I have been a fan of Preston's books for three years now, and his works have kept my interest at the ultimate high!

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Summary: Educational reading delight!
Review: After reading The Hot Zone, I was prepared to be disappointed with Mr. Preston's next effort. Happily, I was wrong. Through his great character development and swiftly moving story, he informs of the dangers of bio-terrorism while providing an exciting read. His research is superb.

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Summary: A Good First Attempt at Fiction
Review: I read "The Hot Zone" when I was on a Business Trip in Corpus Christi Texas and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Cobra Event has a somewhat good meter, but could do better in character development. This, I believe, is due to Mr. Preston's background in Non-fiction. Fiction requires a different technique. He tries but slips at times. In several places in the book he over-uses certain words. Over-all, though, I liked it. I am giving it a 6 because this is his first work of fiction and I believe that Mr. Preston will improve his "fiction" skills now that he got his feet wet.

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Summary: Plot=8.5;Character Development=4
Review: Preston has done quite a job of scaring the bejesus out of the reader with this and his previous "Hot Zone." For the forensicly uninitiated, many scenes in this novel are graphic, intense, and quite literally visceral. Unfortunately, Preston has compromised the novel's effectiveness for a draft of a SciFi screen script sans character development. Still, I'm waiting for viral glass lozenges to appear at the HABA counter of my neighborhood druggist.

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Summary: Pretty scary for those who shop flea markets!
Review: I have read a lot of books, but the first chapter of THE COBRA EVENT and the first chapter of THE HOT ZONE are the only reading material that ever gave me the dry heaves. I was scared more by the HOT ZONE, not because the scenario was more "real," but because Preston's style in the previous book was more effective. THE COBRA EVENT has a great plot, but the long detours into facts, definitions, and explanations detract from driving the story forward. I prefer a story to be told as such, without the "data," which could have been placed in a separate section at the end of the book. I would still recommend it (with misgivings about the blood-n-guts) because of the timeliness and plausibility of the story.

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Summary: I enjoyed the book so much, I hated to finish it!
Review: As the leader of the bomb disposal team for Los Alamos National Laboratory, I can verify that Mr. Preston's book, The Cobra Event, is definitely on the right track. His knowledge in the area of Chem/Bio devices amazes me. The research he performed while writing this book was extensive. The book is must reading for all first responders to an emergency response of this sort. I lends great credibility to the threat of a biological terrorist event right here in our own backyard. His plot is well thought out. The characters are real enough to be lifted right off the page and set into their real life roles. I spent many a night reading into the wee hours unable to put the book down. Heed Richard Preston's warning. It is not "IF" a terrorist event of this sort will happen upon U.S soil, it's "WHEN"!

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Summary: Waiting for the movie.
Review: Since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, man has always freared the use of such weapons. But now we have something new to fear, biological weapons. The Cobra Event, while fiction, paints a picture of the day when (noticed I said "when" and not "if") biological weapons will be used in a major US population area. This was an excellent book that is grounded in the science and the threats of today. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good suspenseful book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent! A technical masterpiece, absolutely believable!
Review: After reading the Hot Zone, I needed to check the Cobra Event out....trully wonderful! The book describes the true possibilities behind biological warfare (and how scary it can be!) Wonderfully written. I highly reccommend this book for the lovers of medical science. It's makes you very aware of how scary biology can be.