Skeptic [Mass Market Paperback]

Holden Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2000

To Dr. Mike Ballantine, truth can only be found in science and in concrete research. When his best friend is killed in what looks like an assassination, Ballantine begins to question his beliefs, his knowledge, and even his sanity. Things soon turn nightmarish as Ballantine begins to have strange hallucinations that seem to be fragments of his friend's life. Then the research in his lab uncovers a shocking but undeniable truth: ghosts can, and do, exist. With the help of a brilliant CIA agent, Amber Chen, Ballantine's quest to stop his friend's murderers from obtaining the critical elements of his research leads him into a pulse-pounding race against time.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An intriguing, high-flown scientific thesis that links new knowledge of viruses with extrasensory capabilities and unearthly communication with the dead propels Scott's promising debut novel. In the virology research lab of Boston's Metro Hospital, ambitious Ph.D. candidate Teri Pace is confirming a startling discovery about the transfer of information-bearing DNA from one living organism to another while, at the same time, on nearby Beacon Street, Mike Ballantine, M.D., chief of medicine at Metro, is riding in an ambulance in the inauguration parade behind the limo of his best friend, who has just been reelected Massachusetts governor. To his horror, Mike witnesses the governor's sudden and mysterious demise: he is vaporized by a bomb of unaccountable force. Shortly afterward, Mike starts seeing ghosts. Sexy Taiwanese-born CIA agent Amber Chen, who is shadowing spectral Chinese assassin Sheshen, joins Mike in trying to unravel the mystery of the malevolent Chinese Triad's involvement in these mysterious events. Arcane Eastern mysticism, space-age biogenetic research and murder are interwoven in a tapestry of shady money, international politics and star-crossed romance as Mike and Amber try to prevent the theft of the secret of human memory-transfer in a diabolical (if never quite clear) plan to control the world. For much of the narrative, Scott's simple action-driven prose is effective, offering bold characterization and high-concept biomedical thrills. In the denouement, however, the dialogue and exposition rapidly disintegrate, and the heretofore intricate, well-spun tale crosses over into more inconsistent, overwrought pulp territory. Still, this is an auspicious debut. Author tour. (Mar.) FYI: A '91 graduate of Harvard, Scott was inspired to write this novel by scientific research gleaned from Jack McConnell, M.D., co-founder of the Institute for Genomic Research and of the Human Genome Project.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-A techno-medical thriller of the genre made famous by Michael Crichton and Robin Cook, this imaginative story is nevertheless quite original. Physician Mike Ballantine witnesses the horrible bomb blast that kills his best friend, the governor of Massachusetts. Having lost his wife in a commuter plane crash two years before, Mike is ready to believe that he has succumbed to post-traumatic stress disorder when he hallucinates a horse wandering through the halls of Metro Hospital shortly after the blast. What he doesn't realize is that one of his graduate students, working in his neglected virology lab in Metro's basement, has made a scientific discovery of momentous importance: ghosts do exist. They result from infection by pieces of benign viruses (viroles) set free from the cells of a traumatically deceased person. A few susceptible people who are exposed to the trauma site can inhale viroles carrying genetic pieces of memory, thought, and visions from the dead that will be incorporated into their own mind. They will then "see" memories originally recorded in the mind of the departed. Of course, nefarious villains, surreptitiously aware of this groundbreaking study, will stop at nothing to get the completed research from Ballantine's lab. The body count piles up and the race is on. The science is feasible, the plot mostly plausible, and the action engrossing.
Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 389 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312969287
• ISBN-13: 978-0312969288
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,904,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars painfully written, July 10, 2003

By 

David M. Sobecki "docsobeck" (Fairfield, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skeptic (Mass Market Paperback)

the author of this book came up with a pretty interesting plot idea, and some reasonably interesting science behind it, but he should have passed that idea on to an actual novelist. the writing is absolutely dreadful. there are thousands of overdone similes and metaphors, and there must not have been a single adjective left at harvard when he graduated - he took them all to use in this book. mr. scott is totally incapable of writing a noun without at least one adjective attached to it, and in most cases there are two or three just in case. consider this actual, unretouched quote from the book: "her cheekbones were colorado ski slopes, and her eyes were the color of an overchlorinated swimming pool." dear god, what did i do to deserve this?
if you like cheesy writing, this book will absolutely make you swoon. any legitimate literary critic that rated this book highly had to have been paid off by the publisher... the author simply tried way too hard, and the result is agonizing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Suspensful, March 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Skeptic (Hardcover)

I give Scott Holden's debut thriller, "Skeptic", 3 1/2 stars. His novel seriously deals with the topic of ghosts and the paranormal. Mr. Holden skillfully weaves a tale of scientific research, political intrigue and the paranormal and ties them together very well. I found the book to be very entertaining, and thought provoking. The only downside is the realization halfway through the book that the heroine and hero are going to wind up in love and live happily ever after. Overall, the book is definitely worth a read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Skeptic, April 7, 2002

By 

AAM Reviews (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skeptic (Mass Market Paperback)

Do you believe in ghosts?
That is the question Dr. Mike Ballantine is forced to confront--with
explosive results.
SKEPTIC begins fast and doesn't let up: Dr. Ballantine's best friend, the
newly elected governor of Massachusetts, dies in a bomb explosion, the
victim
of foreign assassins. But why? How could the murdered governor possibly be
connected with Chinese killers?
That's what Amber Chen, beautiful CIA operative, wants to know. Cold,
efficient and cunning, she is on the trail of an executioner from the
Chinese
Revolution, a brutal killer who slices off his victims' ears and scoops
out
part of their brains. His methods of torture are sadistic and infamous,
and
he knows she is after him.
Soon after his friend's murder, Mike finds himself plagued by strange
visions: a horse in the hospital hallway--one no one but him can see--and
frightening glimpses of conflagration and a gaunt Chinese man. He tries to
pass them off as manifestations of his grief, but is there more to it?
Deep in the bowels of Metro hospital a young woman has discovered a
secret,
one that will revolution science's understanding and acceptance of the
paranormal. But she is being watched and her work might just become the
most
terrifying weapon the world has ever known.
SKEPTIC is a lightning-paced, chilling mystery that explores alternate
explanations for the supernatural and blends in international intrigue and
political thriller. Can ghosts be isolated in the laboratory? Can they be
turned to evil? Pages hurl by and the tension builds to a fever pitch. A
couple of escapes near the end stretch believability a hair, but who
cares?
The action flies fast and furious and Amber Chen would probably give James
Bond a run for his money.
Warning: this book contains one of the most graphic descriptions of
torture
readers are likely to come across. There are some other pretty brutal
scenes
in the book as well.----
Howard Hopkins...