Quantico [Import] [Hardcover]

Greg Bear (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins London First Edition; 1St Edition edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007129785
• ISBN-13: 978-0007129782
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,739,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Greg Bear is the author of more than thirty books, spanning thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy, including Blood Music, Eon, The Forge of God, Darwin's Radio, City at the End of Time, and Hull Zero Three. His books have won numerous international prizes, have been translated into more than twenty-two languages, and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Over the last twenty-eight years, he has also served as a consultant for NASA, the U.S. Army, the State Department, the International Food Protection Association, and Homeland Security on matters ranging from privatizing space to food safety, the frontiers of microbiology and genetics, and biological security.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying, May 4, 2008

By 

Rabid Reader (Near Niagara Falls, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantico (Hardcover)

Thrillers are one of my staple diet of mind candy & I grew up reading the hard core, science-oriented SF of the 1960's/70's. Mr. Bear has here combined the two with a fast-paced SF police procedural that I picked up on a Friday night and literally did not set down until I had finished it.

Bear's writing is unmuddied, and his plot is clipped to the exact pace of law enforcement officers under the gun (of time). His characters are amazingly well-fleshed for such a novel.
In a political thriller, it is often difficult to let the reader know which characters are trustworthy, which not, and which are conflicted without stirring so many red herrings into the mix that the reader is unable to enjoy the unfolding of the tale. There is no such problem here.
I also give him credit for his several allusions to the SF masters (for whom such times as ours would undoubtedly have produced many novels like this)and for maintaining the correct balance between too much and not enough science background. He makes the probability of bioterrorism seem too real and too possible and too terrifying to ignore--which is just what a near-future thriller ought to do. A very good job overall.

30 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-thought-out near-future SF thriller, May 6, 2007

By 

Louise Marley "Louise" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantico (Hardcover)

Bear combines a Crichton-style thriller with some damned good science to scare the pants off readers with this near-future story of bioterror, global politics, and heroic FBI agents. QUANTICO would make--and probably will make--a great movie, with a pace that rockets to the finish, and characters who should pop off the screen. One of Greg Bear's particular talents is to tell a hard science story with characters who live and breathe, and QUANTICO is no exception to the rest of his powerful bibliography. It's not for the faint of heart! But it's a most rewarding read.

37 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Plodding and Heavy, June 4, 2007

By 

David Arndt (Grand Rapids, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantico (Hardcover)

To the author's credit, he knows his stuff. This is definitely targeted at people who want intelligent ideas in their novels. I think the writing is pretty good, too, but I have two complaints.
1) The quote on the top of the dust jacket loudly proclaims "an adrenaline-amped thriller that will scare the hell out of you." I would disagree with this. It may have picked up momentum at the end, but the start of the book was definitely plodding. It was interesting, but it hardly "scared the hell out of me."
2) The book is positively dismal in tone. There is no lightness, no optimism. You have to alternate dark and light moods or the book becomes too heavy too enjoy. Maybe that was what the author intended, but if so, it was too depressing for me.