- Hardcover: 404 pages
- Publisher: Crown; First Edition edition (Oct 14 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0609603086
- ISBN-13: 978-0609603086
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 680 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (132 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#81,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #22 in Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Technothrillers
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Ken Follett shook the mystery world with his debut (now classic) novel, The Eye of the Needle, and now he's shaking the earth again with The Hammer of Eden. Or, at least his bad guys are shaking it. The novel begins with a series of flashbacks while Priest and his girlfriend Star plot to steal a seismic vibrator. Priest, an illiterate street tough turned hippie guru, is rallying his commune to fight back against the state of California. Living out of time and out of society, the commune grows its own food, makes wine, and smokes a lot of dope, but the lives of Priest and his cohorts are about to be destroyed by the construction of a new power plant in their valley. Priest takes his cue from Melanie, a seismologist who joined his commune after being shaken by marital difficulties. With their seismic vibrator and under the code name Hammer of Eden, they plan to rock California with earthquakes until they get a promise of work stoppage. Judy Maddox is on their case. Daughter of an Irish American cop and a Vietnamese mother, Judy's slight in form though a rising force in the FBI. Office politics have placed her on a ludicrous case involving an earthquake threat, but the more she looks at the Hammer of Eden, the more she is convinced that the threat is for real. Her contact, seismologist Michael Quercus, provides compelling evidence that a major catastrophe is in the offing. From there, the novel becomes a race between Judy and Michael and the increasingly deadly and desperate Priest and his followers. The Hammer of Eden isn't, in the end, as groundbreaking as some of Follett's earlier work; the commune's jump from peace-loving band of hippies to state terrorists happens just a bit too quickly. Nevertheless, Follett's gift for plotting and intrigue keep the cracks in the narrative in check, and the denouement is sure to send tremors through the most sturdy of readers. --Patrick O'Kelley
From Publishers Weekly
After 20 years of writing bestselling novels, Follett is enough of a pro to produce a reliable page-turner from a flimsy premise?as he does here. His working out of how a rural, socially radical California commune moves not heaven but earth to stave off the loss of their land to a government dam and the ensuing flood is smartly paced if nearly devoid of inspiration. What distinguishes it is not the communards' weapon, a stolen seismic vibrator generally used by oil companies to sound for liquid gold but also handy for starting earthquakes. Nor is it the mechanical progression of the plot, as the radicals, calling themselves the Hammer of Eden, escalate threats and consequent quakes in order to blackmail the state into halting the dam until the finale finds them about to devastate San Francisco. Nor is it the by-the-book chase of the terrorists by a headstrong female FBI agent who might have walked onstage from any of a dozen other thrillers. What does?other than its efficient telling?raise the novel above mundanity is the depth of characterization of its villains, a Follett forte since his splendid debut in Eye of the Needle. Follett devotes many pages to backstory, creating in Priest, once a smalltime hood and now the commune's leader, in Star, his hippie earth-woman, and in Melanie, a bitter young beauty who throws in with the commune, fully realized outcasts, crazed and desperate idealists whose actions are as believable as they are heinous. All else in the novel, including the perfunctory prose, serve only to push the story quickly through its paces, but Follett's troupe of lost souls makes it dance to a memorable, mournful tune. Agent, Al Zuckerman; major ad/promo; simultaneous Random House audio and large-print edition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Did Follett Write This??,
By
This review is from: The Hammer of Eden (Mass Market Paperback)
The caliber of writing of this book is far below Follett's usual standards. He was one of my favorite authors with books like Pillars of the Earth and Lie Down with Lions. (Surprisingly, Pillars of the Earth was first published in the same year as Hammer of Eden.) I find it impossible to believe he wrote this schlock. If I were Follett, I would be embarrassed to see my name on this book.I am convinced that it was ghost written. At least Clive Cussler puts the co-author's name on his books. Overall it's not terrible, just run of the mill stuff. We expect more from an author with the excellent books that Follett has written.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good reading for vacation,
By
This review is from: The Hammer of Eden (Mass Market Paperback)
I liked the book and would recomend it to others.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Long live the 'Cuda!,
By
This review is from: The Hammer of Eden the Hammer of Eden: A Novel a Novel (School & Library Binding)
Ok, so it might not be Follett's best books, but it's not that bad!I enjoyed it, pick up a copy and give it a chance!
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