I took this book on the airplane to read hoping that I could get it done on the return home and leave it in the seat for another "lucky" passenger to read. However, they kept me so entertained in first class that I didn't get to the book until about 2 hours before we landed.I was quite impressed with how much I liked this book. I thought it would be another hokey far-fetched book about aliens, but boy was I wrong. The way that the author wrote this book and painted such a good picture through his writing made this book enthralling and kept me wanting to know more. It left off in such a way that you got to wonder what happened after the last page. The author kept your attention up, but also had a lot of suspenseful events that made you want to keep reading to see what the outcome was. Once you found out what happened, you wanted to continue reading on to find out what the next "suspensful" event was going to be. Overall, this book about Aliens taking over the world was presented in a very unique way that I almost felt like it really could happen. I don't believe in little green men coming down with almond shaped eyes and taking over our Earth - but the way that Robin Cook laid out this story seemed very plausible and very believable. I also really liked the character development and I liked how it wasn't a "happy ending" for every single person in the book - there really was tragedy (which I - once again - felt added to the realism of the book).So I have this book and am willing to lend it out to anyone would would like to read it.
Got this book in the dutch version of the 'favorite books roundabout'. I used to like the books by Robin Cook, at least I did several years ago. Now this one came along and I started reading it. I must say that it looks like the magic's gone. The first books were really good, or rather: they were new to me and I found it fun to read.Over time I found his books less and less fun. Every book was more of the same. There were a few variations in the plot, but not that much.When I received this book as a bookring I had mixed feelings. On the one hand I did not want to read it, bacause I do not like these books anymore. On the other hand I wanted to know what I think of books by this author / from this genre, but I will not read it till the end. Cook used the same polt again for this story. The loner / small group against the strong (pharmaceutical) industry / established docters, outbreaks, infections, unusual medical things. Additionally, the book also has also an SF side to it. And that's where I stop. I'm not an SF reader and the combination of medical thriller and science fiction is really too much for me.
***SPOILERS AHEAD*** I had high hopes for this book. I like Dr. Cook's work, mostly because of the combination of medical accuracy and female protagonists. However, this one, like Acceptable Risk, has a real disaster of an ending. The setup is reasonably original, a virus-based alien collective taking over humans. The suspense is well-maintained, and in spite of having more major characters than most of his books, Dr. Cook does a good job of differentiating them so that there is no confusion abo
—Teri
This is mostly a sci-fi book involving flying saucers and mutating aliens. After an episode involving a shower of strange objects, people in a locality in U.S.A start acting weird after a bout of flu. Cassy notices her fiance Beau acting strange after touching one of the mysterious objects.He becomes astonishingly strong and has a new perspective of the planet.So, its up to Cassy to find out what's happening and save the world from mortal peril. This book is high on action and I almost forgot if I was reading Robin Cook or Michael Chrichton. But so many unnecessary things could be avoided to make it shorter. On the whole, its a good read for sci-fi lovers and for those fed up with Cook's medical jargon.
—sushmitha
As always, Robin Cook doesn't fail to capture my attention and keep it throughout the entire book! Although, this book does require you to have both a background knowledge of biology and a love for it. I, thankfully, had both. The story is basically about microscopic aliens that arrive in mini spaceships that look like shiny black stones. They are so smooth but they can inject themselves into a human's bloodstream when the spaceship is brought into contact with the human. The way these aliens function is very similar to that of a virus albeit at an alarmingly faster rate. Once this alien specimen has infected the human, flu-like symptoms appear but they go away in a matter of hours. After that, the person is in a good mood, always smiling, and has a sudden itch to save the environment. After a while, those that are infected start growing scaly skin behind their ears that spread and they have no time for such petty human emotions such as love. All those that are infected with the alien specimen seem to work together as one body, not as a group. A number of people aren't infected and they try their best to save the planet from the aliens and their plan to infect the Earth and bring in others of its kind from different planets. Of course, the planet is saved and an antidote is made!
—Dana
