Reaper [Hardcover]

Ben Mezrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 1998

The techno-thriller genre's newest star, whom People magazine likened to Michael Chrichton himself, unleashes in Reaper the ultimate techno-killer a biological virus that's spread electronically.

In Boston, nine lawyers ona conference call suddenly convulse with pain, turn chalk white and die. In Vermont, a young woman watching her favorite sitcom meets the same grisly fate, as does a group of sewer workers in Washington, D.C. Whatever has killed these people is spreading fast and the task of eradicating it falls to young virologist Samantha Craig and paramedic Nick Barnes, whose brilliant surgical career was ruined by a crippling hand injury.

When Nick and Samantha discover that the virus, named Reaper, is spread through TVs and PCs, they realize that the information superhighway will become a killing field, with tens of millions dead, unless they can root Reaper out. Their search employs a dazzling array of real-life wizardry, from Mylar body paint to Stealth helicopters to CIA-bred swarms of insects. At the core of Reaper's madness, they find a suavely megalomaniacal, up-from-the-slums, high-tech billionaire; and a high-powered cabal that will do anything to save the world from technology, even if that means annihilating the world.

Drawing on the latest medical and technological research and folding in deftly realized characters, Ben Mezrich crafts a relentless, page-turning tale that is at once cutting-edge and utterly believable.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Mezrich (Threshold, LJ 5/1/96) combines two currently hot topics, the Internet and killer viruses, in his new novel. Telecon Industries is about to revolutionize the information superhighway. Its Set-Top Boxes, provided free of charge to every household in America, will connect each television and personal computer to one all-encompassing network. Television programs on demand, interactive software, network banking, and more will be available in every home?unless, of course, a deadly computer virus that travels through the network's fiber-optic lines kills everyone first. Nick Barnes, a paramedic who was a surgeon before an accident destroyed one of his hands, and Samantha Craig, a supermodel-gorgeous scientist employed by U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, have fewer than three days to determine the origin of the virus before The Big Turn On, the event that will activate Telecon's computer network. Despite its somewhat plausible premise, Reaper never quite rings true because of its unbelievable characters and impossible situations. Not a necessary purchase.
-?Melissa Rockicki, NYPL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Mezrich's second technothriller (after Threshold, 1996) charts the progress of two All-American Perfect Specimens in their race against the clock to stop a rogue communications virus from wiping out most of the TV-watching and computer-literate population. Nick Barnes is a ruggedly handsome former surgeon with a crippled hand who now works as a paramedic at Boston General. Samantha Craig is a young and gorgeous virologist who works for USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases), which is assigned to investigate mysterious deaths, apparently virally caused, though they've occurred in widely separated locales (including Boston). And Telcon, the brainchild of black leader Marcus Teal, is a fabulously successful communications company (it's usurped Microsoft's position) that falls under suspicion when Nick and Samantha (who quickly get beyond their initial mutual mistrust, and into each other's arms) deduce that ``a freak modulation of light emitted through a television screen'' is randomly killing people. In parallel scenes juxtaposed with Nick's and Samantha's increasingly heated pursuit of the super-virus, we learn that Marcus Teal's nationwide electronic hookup is part of a plan to reshuffle contemporary priorities; that Marcus's second-in- command, Melora Parkridge, whose father was a victim of chemical warfare, ``intends to use technology to kill technology''; and that Ned Dickerson, a Telcon technician who accidentally stumbles onto secrets he only half-understands, may be the most dangerous of them all. The story moves along quite briskly, considering the author's habit of downloading reams of undramatized information about electricity, ophthalmology, various branches of medicine, and fiber optics. But its characters are cardboard and its denouement, which features a shoot-out in Telcon's main computer room and some of the hoariest dialogue this side of 1950s monster movies, is also a letdown. About on a par with Robin Cook, and a couple of cuts below Michael Crichton. Wait for the (inevitable) movie. ($300,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (January 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060187514
• ISBN-13: 978-0060187514
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,901,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the author of nine books, at the moment, including Bringing Down The House, The True Story of Six MIT kids Who Took Vegas- which sort of made me a vegas expert. I live in Boston with my fiance and pug, Bugsy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SECOND RATE, AVERAGE, May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Reaper (Audio Cassette)

Not much more can be said about this so-called thriller. The characters are totally uninteresting and are so superficial, you'd swear you have already encountered them in countless other movies and TV shows. The lead character, the doctor with a grudge, is so predictable and corny, you'll almost root for the villians to succeed. The female woman is so lightly developed, you know that there's not much to her personality, let alone her psyche. And the plot absolutely fails to excite or thrill the reader on both the technical as well as the high tech level. Forgetable book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW, August 25, 2001

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reaper (Mass Market Paperback)

At the tender age of 32, Ben Mezrich is a writer with good skills that have yet to reach their maturity. "Reaper," while an enjoyable diversion, is full of plot holes and stereotypical characters. The leading characters of Nick Barnes and Samantha Craig are so "perfect," they are nauseating. Add to this those crises in their lives that have left them bitter, and you have two heroes that need to grow up! The plot is rather interesting: a biological virus spread through televisions and computers. We also have three over-the-top villains: Marcus Teal, a black billionaire, who wants to use his technology to "CONTROL" who gets ahead in the business world, most notably, of course, minorities and the poor guys; Melora Parkridge, who is like a modern-day Margaret Hamilton, who wants to use her technology to wipe out technology altogether, for some reason the reader is never fully told; and then we have nutso Ned Dickerson who is being "controlled" by the virus. He's a whacko who is the real culprit in this serpentine maze of incredulities. "Reaper" in the hands of a more mature writer, could have been fun, but it ends up being one of those books you would have passed on had the promotion and premise not been so intriguing. Yawn.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars JUVENILE PLOT AND JUVENILE WRITING, May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Reaper (Audio Cassette)

This book really lacks the substance of a good thriller. The plot, however unbelieveable, is brought about using such an old, worn, predictable formula that it really doesn't offer much suspense. The characters are brought in like stereotypes and offer little to interest the reader. Villians are surprisingly weak and predictable so that it doesn't offer any suspense when they plot out something nefarious or when they get thwarted by the good guys. The hero and heroine are also from the same mold. A good-looking, bitter and tragic doctor and a young, smart, cold on the outside but hot on the inside type of babe government investigator--hmmm. how unique. Of course the two should fall into bed as soon as they can and the author really doesnt' try to develop anything believeable on this.