Customer Reviews

The First Horseman (Bookcassette(r) Edition)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Whoever he may be, he ranks with Michel Creighton and Robin Cook. His mixture of fact with fiction gives his story both suspense and credibility. There really was an expedition to Norway to hunt for the virus. The 1918 flu was pandemic. My 90 year old grandmother lived through it and to her flu equals death. She would no sooner take a flu vaccine then I would an AIDS vaccine. Anyone who has worried about biological terroism should read this book. Lets just hope Saddam Hussain doesn't get hold of the copy. As for those who compain about this not being a "thriller" they must be addicted to gun battles and car chases. This is a psychological thriller based on the very real capabilities of anthrax brewing terrorists. If you want blood, gore and ridiculous story lines go back to Dean Koontz.

If you're going to skip the classics and look for a mainstream type of book you might as well look for something by John case. I find his books to be a step above your everyday Grisham and James Patterson novels. This book touches on a very real and dangerous topic in today's world. Biochemical warfare is not talked about much by the government because the results of which would be devastating. Overall with all the books i've ever read I would probably drop this rating to a three.... but I choose to rate books based on the type of books they are; this would make a good tavel type of book.

Genesis Code gripped me from the beginning and kept me. Each chapter drew me to the next. The First Horseman had an intriguing intro., but then I just couldn't get Op-Center out of my mind. Clancy makes me believe he knows what he's talking about. I come to trust him. He makes me feel that he's been in the rooms, he's seen the files, and he's seen the technology. I also got that sensation in Case's Genesis Code, but The First Horseman made me long for some character depth from the beginning, and wish that I hadn't started the book. I was very dissapointed that I couldn't get Clancy out of my mind.

Oh, and what's this with the "F" word? Why so much? Use it this much, and the characters become weak. Better word choice makes for more intelligent and deep characters.

This is the second book by John Case that I have read (after The Genesis Code). This author, who uses a pseudonym, is very skilled in the suspense/thriller genre.
The First Horseman is a riveting read that, just like The Genesis Code, is not only entertaining but also scary, because it could happen. The characters in the book are very well developed while the story continues to move; you all of the sudden feel like you know these people and can't figure out when it happened.
The book tends to move around a lot; there are several story lines that intertwine and all of it fits perfectly for a climactic finish, but it can get just a little confusing if you don't pay close attention to names. If you see a name early in the book, rest assured, it will come back up before the end; even if you have forgotten.
All in all, a fantastic read about an all-too-real topic. I will definitely read all of John Case's works. This book is almost a 5/5; I would give it 4.5/5, it is a great book.

This is not a book that is part of the genres I generally favor. Therefore, I have little else to compare it to, and read this one based on its own merit.

I found this book highly suspenseful, well paced and concise, full of fascinating scientific ideas and therefore, even somewhat educational (although I would have to scrutinize the science from second sources before taking it too seriously). Definitely worth losing some sleep while compelled by the plot to read this one in one sitting.

While the book covers a lot of ground (environmentalism, foreign policy, bioterror threat domestic and third world, ecoterror, cults, science, responsible journalism...) it neither delves into substantive social observation nor devotes any more space to character development than necessary--this one's 100% plot driven. Expect to be entertained and (thankfully) not lectured!

While not as "shocking" in the end as Genesis Code, this is a good storiy told in a fast paced style that keeps the reader coming back. Short enough to be a great travel book. I highly recommend it as a story. The medical facts are solid and the story does make one think.

The real question is who is John Case and how does he know so much? The uninitiated reader should know that Case is a pseudonym for some out of DC. Makes one wonder how much he writes is real.

A lot of times when I read a medical thriller, I always tend to get a little paranoid. Every cough, sniffle, or sneeze takes on serious overtones. I think of books like this one, where millions became very sick or even die, and get antsy. I also start to think of the possible implications of going out to a movie, a concert, or any other place where large groups of people gather. I'm a student at a large university, and people are ALWAYS spreading around some illness or another there. Therefore, these types of books scare me more than most horror/suspense/psychological novels do. "The First Horseman" is one of these scary books. The author of "The First Horseman," John Case, is actually a pseudonym for a husband and wife team. They haven't written a lot of books, but this one must be one of their best.

The story incorporates several real life events into a fictional account about a potential viral Armageddon. The story starts out with an unusual incident in the backwaters of North Korea, where a small village suffers a high death toll from a strange illness that causes its victims to turn blue and suffer a host of ills before they die. A doctor from the capital, Pyongyang, visits and cryptically refers to the "Spanish Lady" before he leaves. One of the villagers, while out collecting wood for dinner (this is North Korea, after all), witnesses the destruction of the village by North Korean military officials. His defection to South Korea and his report of the incident set off a high level investigation involving the CIA, the FBI, and various intelligence services. Caught up in the unfolding events is Frank Daly, a reporter form the Washington Post on a one year assignment to a specialist magazine, and Annie Adair, a scientist who is on a mission to excavate some Norwegian miners buried in the Arctic Circle in order to look for traces of the influenza pandemic of 1918. Also emerging into the storyline is Solange, the mysterious leader of a religious cult called, "The Temple of Light." The resulting story lines are all weaved together into a taut, suspenseful thriller that kept me captivated until the last page.

Although the cover of my copy of the book says this is a novel of suspense, it is more than that. It is also a book about journalism. A good portion of the book is about Frank Daly investigating a story. We see how a journalist works to uncover facts. Frank makes phone calls to sources, digs through satellite images, tracks down names and numbers, wrestles with his publisher and his expense account, and occasionally deals with dangerous people who wish he would quit digging around where he's not wanted. For some reason, I kept picturing Daly as a certain Fox News channel talk show host-persistent, unflappable, and with a swaggering sense of humor. I guess most journalists have that type of commitment to their stories, but I couldn't shake the image.

Character development in "The First Horseman" is uneven. Daly is drawn well, with good background into his childhood and his interaction with other characters. The Annie character is not as well done. I didn't seem to have the connection with her I got from Daly. Annie is supposed to be this brilliant, big shot scientist but she comes across as a shy, giggling teenybopper type. She's always blushing about something and always putting her foot in her mouth about something she says or does. Solange, the cult leader, is portrayed as a psycho with little development outside torturing someone or giving orders to people.

I still got a thrill out of this book and found it difficult to put down. Not only does it have a novel type of torture (shook up Pepsi shot through someone's nose!) but it also moves at a fast pace, which is essential for a thriller. If you like thrillers, especially of the bioterror/medical type, pick up this book and give it a go.

In the North Korean village of Tasi-ko a medical officer, who is scared witless, gets out of the village just before North Korean troops raze, then bury the village. The CIA is afraid that the North Koreans are developing a weapon based on the Spanish flu which killed something like twenty million people in 1918. They need a sample of the virus to get a vaccine.

And it just so happens that a couple miners who died of the disease way back when are buried in the permafrost is Spitsbergen, a Norwegian island in the Arctic Circle. Doctors Benton Kicklighter and Anne Adair are sent along with Washington Post reporter Frank Daly on an expedition to retrieve a sample of the virus, but Daly gets left behind and when he finally catches up, he's told that the good doctors weren't successful.

He doesn't believe them and that is the crux of this thriller. Daly has to find out what's going on, because catastrophe looms, the world is in danger and the reporter has to save it. Of course, there will be those who don't like his meddling. It wouldn't be a thriller otherwise.

There is tension galore in this perfectly and fast-paced thriller. Daly is an impressive character who I'd like to read more of.

This book has weird cultists, North Korean bad guys, a biological weapon capable of killing billions and not the brightest main character ever to grace the pages of fiction.

Spanish Lady refers to the 1918 influenza outbreak that killed thousand of people around the world in a matter of months. All of a sudden, it looks like the North koreans may have figured out a way to bring Spanish Lady back from past, and the good guys need to get on top of this problem before the bad guys perfect their weapon.

The story shifts dramatically to Frank Daly, a Washington Post reporter, who stumbles across the story and gets entangled with a far out cult. The cult's founder, Luc Solange gets most of his money from the North Koreans (why the Nkors would pick Luc and company to deliver their weapon system is never explained).

Eventually, Frank Daly ends up in a life or death confrontation with Luc and company armed with nothing more than the First Amendment. Perhaps, this art initating life, but I would have arrived there with nothing less than a squad of Force Recon Marines and a couple of tanks.

Without giving away too much, journalist Frank saves the world from destruction at the hands of the Nkors and looney cultists.

If you forget that Frank is kind of dumb, the story holds together pretty well and demonstrates just how vulnerable we are to BW or CW attack using our infrastructure.

Worth a quick read.

It is not nearly as revolutionary in its thinking as The Genesis Code, but it is still well worthy of your time. Good writer who makes the story interesting. You can do far worse than this book.