Customer Reviews

Secondary Immunization: A Scientific Mystery

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A quick read that keeps your mind spinning through each new discovery. The plot's twists and turns are very believable, and the characters have more depth than in Jordan's first novel, Principal Investigation. I stayed up all night to get to the end.

Secondary Immunization is a well-told story, but it suffers from a premise that is completely absurd. It is a mystery that is soundly based on immunology, using the idea is that messages can be encoded in the immune reactions of the blood of a patient. While theoretically possible, it doesn't answer the question of why anybody would possibly want to do that. It is very easy to use codes that are virtually unbreakable that don't require such ridiculous preparation. Why not simply send an encoded email or even regular mail? It would not only be vastly easier, it would also be more secure. While requiring access to a sophisticated laboratory, the code used in this book would probably be extremely easy to break. Except for the main thesis of the book, it is otherwise well-crafted, although sometimes the scientific explanations disturb the flow of the book. Another thing that could be left out of the book are the references to the protagonist's large vocabulary; it is better to let readers observe that for themselves, and drawing attention to such things is not a good idea since there are several obvious spelling errors in the book.

I'm not sure I understood all of the science, but the characters were great and the plot kept me riveted. A great read.

Secondary Immunization is a mystery/thriller that starts out well, develops some believable characters, builds a fair amount of intrigue, and then concludes with a ridiculous premise. Here it is: Drug lords (in the age of the internet) would prefer to use a very fallible, very cumbersome, long time frame, insecure, unalterable code rather than use any number of currently available encryption schemes that overcome these problems. The author needs to do some research on encryption -- Phil Zimmerman's PGP manual would be a good start. The author also has the annoying habit of interjecting political beliefs (liberal democratic) throughout the story. Although I do agree with a few of them, I found the majority of these statements to be preachy and annoying. The policial rhetoric really detracts from an otherwise interesting novel. The "idea" is a clever one, but is completely misused as a Drug lord (and CIA) encryption scheme. More thought for a realistic use of the "idea" and less political verbage would put Secondary Immunization into the 3 to 4 star range.