Rating: 
Summary: Fiction?
Review: In New York City a 17-year-old girl heads off to her private school even though she has a cold. By art class her nose is runny and she's severely disoriented. Within seconds, she's in convulsions can't stop biting herself. Enter Alice Austen, a doctor with the CDC who realizes that Kate's nervous system had been virtually destroyed. The Cobra Event is a provocative thriller that makes you wonder exactly how much bioterrorism is taking place in the real world.
I had a difficult time forgetting the various scenes and I'll never think of a runny nose in the same light.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair
Review: I'm going to make this short and sweet. Stilted dialogue, shallow characters, good plot but Preston doesn't do it justice. I didn't get really interested until the last 5 chapters or so, and most people won't make it that far.
Rating:
Summary: Frightening
Review: Richard Preston has written yet another frightening book about the possibilities of bioweapons. About the world we now live in. This book centers on the testing and attemtped release of a biological agent in New York City. As the Centers for Disease Control, The FBI and the Military all scramble to identify the virus you see the daunting task that such an operation actually is. You see the fear and the concern of the experts. You see that even if you do everything right, it still may go wrong. This book is frightening because of its realistic possibility today. It centers around Dr. Alice Austen and her dispatch from the CDC to investigate the event in the early stages. The story line follows her through the tracking and identification process of the virus. The description of the effects of the virus are also frightening. Bottom line, this book is engrossing and reads easy. The author does a great job and communicating both the impact of the subject he is writing about and the depth of the characters that he is creating. A very good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Enthralling and Frightening
Review: You will probably think of biological warfare in a new light after reading this book. The Cobra Event is a work of fiction, but the possibility of biological terror seems awfully real, especially in light of recent events. The story details the spread of a virus, code named "Cobra", that has hideous effects on it's victims. Alice Austin, the CDC doctor called on to investigate the case of a young woman who dies suddenly of what seems to be a cold soon finds that the cold is no cold at all. Rather, she is the first of many victims of a literal "mad" scientist who has taken an experiment and turned it into a virus capable of destroying the human brain. This book will keep you enthralled with each page. You will not want to put it down - it is a real page turner and Richard Preston does an excellent job of making this work of Ficton seem perfectly real. A great book! I can't wait to read "The Demon in the Freezer". One small warning: there are some scenes described in this book that may not be appropriate for younger readers. One in particular deals with one medical examiner murdering a morgue assistant and then taking his own life in fairly graphic detail, while under the influence of this "cobra" virus.
Rating:
Summary: Awsome
Review: I read it in a day, and believe me I do not have that kind of time. It was awsome. Richard Preston keeps you totally captivated. This book scared the crap out of me and yet I want more. I am excited about his new book "A Demon in the Freezer" I read "Hot Zone" and if you are looking for terror, you need to pick this up also. We live in a scary world, let Preston narrarate it for you.
Rating:
Summary: Great bioterrorism thriller!
Review: Written in 1997, this book exudes an eerie prescience about today's most pressing events: biological warfare; genetic engineering; terrorism; the reemergence of smallpox; and Iraqi weapons programs to name a few. Although the work is technically a novel, it reads more like non-fiction, especially in the first half of the book when the author explains the basics about biological warfare and the terrifying actions of the people and countries involved. Indeed, one gets the feeling that the author has simply changed the names to save himself a lot of red tape in setting up the action/thriller part of the novel that unfolds in the latter half. The author's writing style is pedagogical by nature and, despite wielding a highly technical lexicon, the book is extremely accessible to the layperson. Highly recommended, as are all of Richard Preston's books.
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling!
Review: What a great read! I simply couldn't put this book down until I finsihed it. At first Preston's writing and style was, well, a bit fragmentary at best, but as you continue reading you'll become fascinated. Very good, indeed!
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: Preston has a way with words that makes one feel as if they are reading a great book and not a biology manual. the cobra event discusses the spread of a composed virus that makes people cannibalize leading to the total melting of the brain, and they ease with which it moves throusg its vectors to new hosts.
The story and characters are full of life and anticipation builds quickly. Alice Austin is a pathologist and it falls into her hands to recognize the cases of similar terryfing deaths. Once she puts her clues together she finds out that its a planned game, and starts to worry about ppl around her catching it....is she next?
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good -- not as entertaining as The Hot Zone
Review: Real simple review here -- I read this about the time that 9/11 happened. The book was good, but I enjoyed The Hot Zone much better. Don't know why, but it didn't have as much of a "Hollywood" pre-fab feel as this book did. Regardless, you'll enjoy the book and get a few goosebumps to boot. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing...
Review: After reading the book, I seriously reconsidered how safe it is to shake hands with unknown people, or be in a crowded place in a big city or even be in a big city. As recent events have shown, there are mad people all around who want to fight against the establishment, never-mind how many lives it costs - the more the better. This book contains a very graphic explanation of the after-effects of the Cobra virus. Though fiction, this book is known to have inspired some of America's bioweapon use/response policy, especially vis-a-vis Iraq. Along with Miller's "Germs: Biological Weapons...", this is a great read to understand the impact that bio-terrorism could have in an already scared world. The poor climax of this work of fiction is the reason for my not giving it full points.
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