Virus (Mass Market Paperback)

by Graham Watkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
An addictive computer program proves deadly in Watkins's latest thriller.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA?Drs. Mark Roberts and Alexandra Walton's patients are addicted to their computers, and no one knows what could cause such an unusual number of educated, generally affluent individuals to succumb to the exhaustion and malnutrition this addiction has created. Crime is on the increase, and the doctors' own families are involved. Acting as sleuths, the physicians discover that a computer virus compels its victims to continue online. Chapters are short and alternate between victims, doctors, and technicians. These shifts can be confusing until readers are thoroughly familiar with the characters. Technical terms are often explained by the hospital's computer specialist, who also gets the virus. The element of potential realism in this sci/fi adventure is wonderfully, frighteningly present.?Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 438 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312960034
• ISBN-13: 978-0312960032
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,579,949 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Realistic and an Excellent Novel, March 1, 2000

By	Chris (Florida) - See all my reviews

I am currently reading the book and am more than half way done with it. This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. It is very descriptive in details and has very realistic characters. The book makes you think that the characters are real and the story really took place. This is a page-turner that will be so enjoyable to read that you won't be able to put down until you finish it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful, implausible, and improperly edited, January 12, 1999

By	Scott Ellsworth (Lake Forest, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Watkins recreates the Good Times virus, but instead of merely deleting your hard drive, it KILLS you. And you can get it just by reading a text file! Horrors!

The characters themselves were not bad, but I was unable to get past the egregious technical flaws. Specifically: the AI program can function on a 486, and the full package takes up only 50M on disk. In return for this, it can do 10:1 compression on video data, interact in real time with the user, and optimize all of the programs on the hard drive. Further, it can infect a new machine using a plain text email message.

Had the author merely had a deadly program that, when installed, caused addiction via flicker epilepsy, this would have been a forgivable technical decision. People would have noticed the effects, but we would not have been subjected to page after page of the supposed AI creating impossible technologies, all explained away with a casual "we do not know how it is doing it."

Sigh.

If you are going to write a novel where a computer virus is a major plot element, find a competent technical advisor who can tell you what the limitations are.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Believe it or not, December 23, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Israel) - See all my reviews

A great book to read.

Indeed, Graham Watkins has braught us to the future.

With all the Y2K around us, his story is indeed a great true and original script.

So why the four stars? The rapid going book brings us to a falling end. The book ends too quickly and with no more room to be mistaken, the writer was eager to end it, so he ended it. I would have preferred the end to end alternetavilly. The human race should not always win.