The Cobra Event [Import] [Hardcover]

Richard Preston (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Random House of Canada, Limited (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679308806
• ISBN-13: 978-0679308805
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (327 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #763,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book that Frightened a President, April 22, 2003

By 

John Nolley II (Fairfax, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cobra Event (Mass Market Paperback)

Richard Preston's novel Cobra Event reads just like his nonfiction books on biological nasties, the Hot Zone and Demon in the Freezer--making it one of the most frightening things you will ever read, particularly if you've read either of those books as the similarities make the Cobra Event seem more like a nonfictional account than a novel.

The novel's story centers around a terrorist's creation and usage of "brain pox," a deadly disease derived from smallpox that infects victims' brains like encephalitis--combining the rapid and easy spread of the former with the deadly neurological effects of the latter in a horrifying biological weapon.

The characters and events laid out are so plausible that one must frequently remind oneself that the novel is indeed fictional, particularly in the historical and pseudo-historical accounts serving as background for the main story. Preston creates a believable team of investigators who must track down the terrorist behind the attacks--named by the FBI "the Cobra Event" due to their method of delivery. Although the motivations and character of the terrorist himself are somewhat flatter, overall the story could easily be featured not in a novel but on newspaper front pages.

Former President Clinton read the book and reportedly was both so fascinated and frightened that he began taking seriously the threats of biological terrorism not only from large, well-funded state labs like those of the former Soviet Union and North Koreans but also the lone, rogue terrorist, a very real threat considering the relative simplicity of creating terrible biological weapons as was demonstrated so recently by the anthrax attacks after 9/11.

Read this novel--it is a fast-paced page turner that will drive you to burn the midnight oil in finishing it--but one that will also leave you terrified as to the very real possibility of biological terrorism.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar work..., April 13, 2005

By 

H. J. Spivack (Yardley, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cobra Event (Mass Market Paperback)

If you've never read any of Richard Preston's other books about biology (The Hot Zone and Demon in the Freezer), you're in for a treat. The three books (Cobra which is fiction, Zone and Demon which aren't) comprise his black-biology trilogy and taken in total or in part, they're scary, fact filled and speak volumes about their topics. Don't think they sound boring. I bet you won't be able to put them down once
you start reading.

The Hot Zone, which was a NYT bestseller for practically ever, is about the emergence of Ebola in Africa. This is the story of the strains of Marburg that killed 210 people this week in Angola.

The other, Demon in the Freezer is a two step story about the amazing eradication of smallpox from Earth and the anthrax terror deliveries post-9/11. If you want to know the stories behind the story, this is a good place to go.

What stands out clearly in the Cobra Event is Preston's absolute authority on the topic of biological warfare. If his facts are true, and no one since had disputed a single one of them (including President Clinton who apparently, after reading Cobra Event, ordered a feasibility study), the Iraq clearly had WMD, biological agents, etc. Preston leaves no room for doubt. What's scary is who else had access. Simply everyone and there's lots of dangerous stuff missing out there.

Now to the story. For the first time, Preston has written a novel. The story certainly engages, although it is the facts that really scare you. I recommend it to any reader who likes facts behind their story.

The story is of a terrorist planning a live laydown of a viral brain pox strain in NYC and thereby killing millions. The book is about what happens.

Anyhow, the book will scare you but it isn't the kind of scare that goes away after you finish it. This is the kind of scare that makes you write your congressman and ask what in hell they're doing to prevent the problem.

If anyone decides to read...share your opinion!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A non-viable chimera of a book, November 23, 2001

By 

Ludwig A. Lettau, M.D. (Charleston, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cobra Event (Mass Market Paperback)

As an ex-EIS officer at CDC and a current specialist in infectious diseases, I read this book mainly out of curiosity. Preston's attempt at blending the non-fictional history of biowarfare with the fictional mad molecular virologist at large in NYC, didn't work for me. The long winded biowarfare essays and his heavy handed techno-explanations were too disruptive and just weren't meshed well with the story he was attempting to tell. The ending is a mixture of "Frankenstein" and "Silence of the Lambs". I had hoped for something more original. Other notes while reading this book: 1. The NYC health department did not exist. 2. Why did they bother to include smallpox in the chimera virus? (It didn't seem to play any significant role.) 3. Preston seems to have a morbid fascination that "hot" biological agents cause liquifaction of human organs. It's OK if his fictional brainpox virus turns a brain into mush, but that sort of thing just doesn't happen in real life. 4. Why did the female protagonist insist on an outbreak case definition by autopsy? (I guess because she was a pathologist.) One or two maybe to get samples but after that a case could have been defined by: unexplained acute brain dysfunction with golden eyes and missing mouth parts or fingers. Preston's non-fiction success obviously got this book published. Novelists generally improve with practice. Time will tell.