- Audio Cassette
- Publisher: Recorded Books; Unabridged edition (November 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0788771523
- ISBN-13: 978-0788771521
- Product Dimensions: 22.1 x 12.7 x 6.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
With an unbroken string of bestsellers dating from the early '70s (beginning with 1971's The Scarlatti Inheritance) and over 200 million books sold, Robert Ludlum is an acknowledged superstar of the political thriller. Gayle Lynds, who was compared to Ludlum after her 1996 debut, Masquerade, has two successful novels and a slew of pseudonymous pulp fiction titles to her credit. Together--after a fashion--they serve up book 1 of Ludlum's new Covert-One series of trade paperback originals, Robert Ludlum's the Hades Factor.
After three disparate Americans succumb to a hitherto unknown Ebola-like virus, the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) is pressed into service. Since the USAMRIID's top doc (and former military intelligence operative) Lt. Col. Jon Smith has yet to return from an overseas conference, the job of heading the medical research team falls to Smith's colleague and fiancée, Dr. Sophia Russell.
Upon Smith's return, he is sequentially treated to a life-or-death warning from a childhood friend (and rogue FBI agent), several nasty near-death experiences, and the viscerally graphic demise of his wife-to-be, an apparent virus victim. Enraged and bereaved, Smith flies into investigatory action only to discover doctored files, expunged records, and the distinct likelihood that he's dealing with cases of murder-by-virus. As more questions are asked, more deaths occur, official channels slam shut, and Smith finds himself a wanted man, battling his best friend, an evil-genius gazillionaire scientist, corrupt politicians, and Third World terrorists. In other words, it's Smith versus all the usual suspects.
Ludlum and Lynds cover no new ground here (and their prose is less than sterling). In fact, The Hades Factor owes as much to Tom Clancy's Op-Center series--cocreated by Clancy and Steve Pieczenik--and Richard Preston's The Hot Zone as it does to Ludlum's own considerable body of work. That said, The Hades Factor still delivers a respectable level of intrigue and suspense, will likely be snapped up by output-starved Ludlum fanciers, and will be right at home on the bed stands of Preston fans. --Michael Hudson --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
In his first book since 1997's The Matarese Countdown, onetime thriller superstar Ludlum teams up with Lynds (Masquerade; Mosaic) for a lackluster trade paperback original, the first volume in a Tom Clancy-like series called "Covert-One." The novel stars ace doctor (and former military spook) Lt. Col. Jonathan Smith, who now works for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Md. We first meet Dr. Smith in London, where a childhood friend and rogue FBI agent warns him not to get involved in USAMRIID's latest investigation; the institute is looking into the baffling deaths from an unknown killer virus of three people in three widely separated states. But Smith's colleague and wife-to-be, Dr. Sophia Russell, is already trying to link the virus with a mysterious disease that decimated the Monkey Blood tribe she had worked with during her student days in Peru. What she doesn't know is that the slickly evil scientist who investigated the virus then is now the head of a giant chemical company with links to Third World terrorism. When Russell herself falls victim to the virus early on, Smith must forge ahead with the assistance of her sister, Randi, a CIA agent in Baghdad. Ludlum and Lynds keep things moving at a capable pace, but the familiar plot and uninspired writing (Smith "wore his restlessness like another man wore his skin") do little to foment interest in future installments on the series. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hades Factor a quick start to the Covert One series,
By
This review is from: Robert Ludlum's The Hades Factor: A Covert-One Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
Despite being a long-term Ludlum fan, I had previously been hesitant to jump into the Covert One series. This changed when I picked up Cassandra Compact in an airport bookstore. Having enjoyed Cassandra Compact, I decided to go back to the beginning of the series. With The Hades Factor, I was not disappointed. The tale, although lighter and clearly not nearly as complex as the typical Ludlum, kept me turning the pages. This book, which grabs the reader early and does not let go, contains much of the suspense and plot twists that Ludlum aficionados have come to love in the conspiracy-thriller genre. If you are considering picking up the Covert One books, I would recommend starting with The Hades Factor. It is a very quick read and provides a nice foundation in terms of character building for future works in the series.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The start of what could be an exciting series,
By
This review is from: Robert Ludlum's The Hades Factor: A Covert-One Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
In the prolog three seemingly unrelated people dye of a uniquely fast acting virus. Prepare for gushing blood and more.Our hero, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jonathan ("Jon") Smith M.D. from USAMRIID, is warned by an old friend to be ware of the Ides of March. Oops I meat that the friend xxx warns him that he is in trouble. Evidently the warning is too little too late to save the love of his life. He spends the rest of the story with the help of some extraordinary friends, tracking down the culprits. All the characters are bigger than life. They can go anywhere and do anything whit out the annoying details that would make the story impossible. Of course Robert Ludlum is a tad over descriptive and fluffs a 100 page tale into a 400 page tale mostly with gushy stuff (I suspect the influence of Gayle Lynds). The very thing that makes this story surreal is the very thing that makes this story fun. I am looking forward to the next book in the "Covert-One" series.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The start of what could be an exciting series,
By
This review is from: The Hades Factor (Audio CD)
In the prolog three seemingly unrelated people dye of a uniquely fast acting virus. Prepare for gushing blood and more.Our hero, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jonathan ("Jon") Smith M.D. from USAMRIID, is warned by an old friend to be ware of the Ides of March. Oops I meat that the friend xxx warns him that he is in trouble. Evidently the warning is too little too late to save the love of his life. He spends the rest of the story with the help of some extraordinary friends, tracking down the culprits. All the characters are bigger than life. They can go anywhere and do anything whit out the annoying details that would make the story impossible. Of course Robert Ludlum is a tad over descriptive and fluffs a 100 page tale into a 400 page tale mostly with gushy stuff (I suspect the influence of Gayle Lynds). The very thing that makes this story surreal is the very thing that makes this story fun. I am looking forward to the next book in the "Covert-One" series.
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