Customer Reviews

Ghost Dancer: A Novel

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John Case (Genesis Code, First Horseman) is a master of the thriller and Ghost Dancer does not disappoint. Jack Wilson is an alienated and angry man, a follower of Ayn Rand with a deep interest in the work of Nikola Tesla - and he's the Ghost Dancer (the name Jack Wilson has historical significance for Native Americans as the originator of the ghost dance). The book is worth reading just for the exploration of Tesla's history and ideas. One of the scientific geniuses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tesla invented the radio and AC electricity. Why did the FBI seize his lab records upon his death? Did his `teleforce' device accidentally cause the 1908 Tunguska incident?

Could evil genius Jack Wilson refine Tesla's designs? And why would he want to? Well, he does hate the US government and that long stretch he did in the Supermax may just have sent him around the bend.

Wilson needs money to complete his plot and does business with Arab terrorists, Russian mobsters, and African strongmen to get the cash. But he makes some enemies and picks up a loving Ukrainian bride along the way.

Can former photojournalist and bereaved husband Mike Burke stop him? First he has to overcome the indifference and bullying arrogance of an FBI agent before time runs out. He's gonna need some help.

Highly recommended for fans of thrillers everywhere. Sweet twist at the end. Fans of John Case will not be disappointed.

What an excellent thriller! John Case has written an itriguing novel with enough twists and turns that the ending comes as a true surprse. Although one of the main characters, Jack Wilson, becomes a "terrorist" who commits unspeakable acts of inhumanity, the reader eventually comes to understand the underlying reasons for Wilson's transformation from brilliant young graduate student to American terrorist. The other main character, Mike Burke, must deal with incompetent government officials and red tape as he is driven to find Wilson and stop him from completing his destructive plan. The plot centers around Wilson's search for Nicola Tesla's notes on manipulating energy and his own plans for revenge. John Case's thorough research and inclusion of both historical and technological information helps the reader to understand the basic premise of Tesla's work.

All in all, this is a riveting thriller that keeps the reader interested to the very end.

This is one of Case's best - But I must tell you this book starts out very slowly. BUT when the characters and their situations are all laid out, boy, the action starts. We all have read about Nicolai Tesla, and his brilliant ideas/inventions, but Jack Wilson puts his theories into a revenge against the USA, because of an unapproved patent, and his feelings of the American Indian oppression, (Wilson's Indian name is Ghost Dancer). Mike Burke, a former photojournalist, gets on Wilson's trail when his father-in-law's business is shut down by the govenment due to Wilson's setting up offshore bank accounts.

What follows is a fast paced wild ride.

As a fan of Case, since I first read The Genesis Code, he continues to WOW with his work. Thought The Murder Artist was his best work since Genesis, but Ghost Dancer ranks right up there with it.

Just get through the introductions of characters in Dancer, and hang on!

This book, the latest by John Case (aka the husband and wife writing team, Jim and Carolyn Hougan), is a little out of the ordinary compared to the previous 5 offerings. Only 1 of the 6 books by John Case has disappointed me (The Eighth Day; it was not nearly as good as the others). Their books are, or up to now have been, mystery/thriller/suspense type books with great stories based mainly in science or medicine.

This book is based in science, specifically, the facts and mysteries surrounding Tesla (no not the band), the Serbian inventor, electrical and mechanical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla. Tesla created, discovered, pioneered and/or patented many wonderful engineering marvels, including alternating current A/C (as opposed to Edison's D/C) electric power and wireless communication. He also advanced the studies of nuclear and theoretical physics and ballistics. Basically, the man was a friggin' genius, the likes of which we don't see very often. Many scientists and researchers now refer to him as "the man who invented the twentieth century".

An ex-convict, Wilson, who is wildly intelligent, plans to use Tesla's notes to create a device that will bring about the end of the world as we know it; a device that will stop anything with moving parts, electrically powered, or computerized. He wants to knock the world back to the dark ages, and he has the brains, gets the money and has the capability to build the device.

A former photographer, Burke, who works for a company that forms companies is unknowingly involved in Wilson's plan for international terrorism. Due to a cruel twist of fate, Burke is the only person who can (or will) track down Wilson before the cataclysm occurs.

The plot is very busy and moves from subject to subject including post 9/11 terrorism, drug trade, weapons trade, diamond trade (like in the movie "Blood Diamond"), scalar waves (don't worry, I didn't understand either), resonant frequencies, and physics, very quickly.

There are many characters that come and go and come back again, throughout the story, but each adds to the plot; although I can imagine it might be a lot to keep up with if you don't read the book quickly, I can't imagine not enjoying the genius of the plot and the character development that went in to this complex story. Many characters, their personalities, their motivations, their secrets make this an in depth character study, and a great one at that.

To sum up, this is like nothing Case has done before, but it is an excellent read. The characters are all developed well and the connections between them laid out well. The plot, though busy, is very good but merely borders on suspense, I wouldn't say that this is a suspenseful read; I would classify it as a MYSTERY / CHARACTER STUDY with a bit of suspense. It is, in my humble opinion, the best book by John Case to date.

Overall, the book is excellent, obviously well researched and very entertaining. If you are a John Case fan, I am certain you will enjoy this. If you are looking for taut suspense, this is not like The Genesis Code, The First Horseman, or The Syndrome, but it is an excellent mystery.

John Case has produced a true edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting thriller about Nikola Tesla,electro-magnetic pulses, and revenge.

Jack Wilson, a brilliant mathematician, invents a new battery that lasts almost indefinitely--and the government under the Invention Secrecy Act, seizes his invention. He is arrested for trying to get funding to produce the battery out of the U.S., and he is sent to jail. Tricked into saying on tape that he is mad enough to kill the prosecutor, he is then to prison. When he gets out, he emerges a different man--a madman set on revenge.

Wilson gets funding by working with Islamic terrorists and drug smuggling, and then gets involved with Russians smuggling arms into Africa. Now he is set: he has his funds. He leaves a vague trail, one that is tracked by Michael Burke, an attorney in Ireland who has set up one of his secret bank accounts. Burke has nothing to lose, his beloved wife has died suddenly, and he is hanging on working with his father-in-law's firm just until he gets over his grief.

The Americans close the law firm, saying they were aiding terrorists. Burke decides to personally track down the man who called himself "Frank D'Anconia," as the intelligence services seem unable to do it, in order to set the record straight and let the law firm re-open.

Armchair Interviews says: Ghost Dancer will keep you guessing right up to the incredible, ironic twist

Who says commercial thrillers can't stimulate your brain as well as your central nervous system? Husband-wife author team "John Case" continues their entertaining string of brainy thrillers with "Ghost Dancer."

At first appearance the reader appears to be embarking on a standard international thrill ride in a post-9/11 terrorist conspiracy vehicle, seen through the eyes of hero Mike Burke and anti-hero Jack Wilson. With the recent passing of his wife, Burke is stuck in a depressing holding pattern, passing time keeping his father-in-law's business afloat. Then Wilson, recently released from prison and representing himself as a businessman named Franciso D'Anconia, walks into Burke's office, asking him to set up a corporation (with an offshore bank account) called the Twentieth-Century Motor Company and making Burke an unwitting accomplice in a complex scheme to further Wilson's terrorist intentions.

The Ayn Rand references, combined with Wilson's obsessive recreation of Nikolai Tesla's scientific discoveries, establish that ideas are going to be an unusually-important component of this thrill ride. "Ghost Dancer" follows through on this promise, exposing the fault lines in Ayn Rand's glorification of rational self-interest. It turns out that Jack Wilson, a Native American genius with all of the early promise of a Rand hero, had turned to the dark side only after having his lucrative patent confiscated under a government secrecy order, being wrongfully convicted of attempted murder, and serving a harsh maximum-security prison sentence.

Just as I became increasingly sympathetic with Wilson's plight and understanding of his motivation to "stop the motor of the world," I also became increasingly convinced that Wilson's Randian temperament created a fertile vat for his anger and resentment to ferment into an evil, psychopathic brew. The powerful altruistic impression left on Burke by his diseased wife's medical work in third-world countries and Wilson's unexpected soft spot for his Russian "mail-order" bride, serve as nice contrasts to the Rand philosophy and effectively foreshadow the story's resolution.

If the story meanders and drags somewhat during the conspiracy's financing phase, it clicks along terrifically in the second half when Burke embarks on his quest to track down Wilson in time to thwart his frightening terrorist plot, ending with a suitably harrowing climax. Overall this is a strong thriller that elevates John Case to my short list of must-read authors.

-Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"

A fascinating and riveting read. Starts a little slow but picks up speed fast. A well researched novel with a lot of information regarding Nikola Tesla and his own research and experiments. I love scientific thrillers and this one is right up there with the best. Both escapist and enlightening.

Highly recommended.

Ghost Dancer, the latest thriller from John Case ranks among his very best and that's saying something.

As with Case's best work, the greatest strength here is in the concept. Knowing the author's background in the CIA, the concept is just plausible enough to make readers go "hmmmmmm." In addition, the sequences where terrorist-in-the-making Jack Wilson circles the globe to convert a big hash score into diamonds into perfectly laundered cash are fascinating and relevatory.

Unfortunately, although the novel is intricately plotted, shifting between the points of view of Wilson, his nemesis, photojournalist turned businessman Mike Burke and numerous law enforcement agents, the ending is rushed and less than 100% satisfying, a problem common to many of Case's books. But hey, Case isn't really about endings anyway. The author's work succeeds because its concpets are so darn interesting, never more so than here, which makes this a first-rate page turner.

I was introduced to John Case when I stumbled upon his book, "The Genesis Code". I have read and enjoyed several of Mr. Case's books since then. He does not disappoint.

Ghost Dancer is one of John Case's best novels, and Dick Hill's outstanding performance on the Audio CD version makes it an even more enjoyable experience. Hill obviously had a lot of fun reading the book, and his pleasure is contagious. His pacing is perfect and his lively reading features hilarious different voices and accents. Highly recommended.