The Syndrome : A Thriller (Hardcover)

by John Case (Author) "It wasn't the Grande Jatte..." (more)
Key Phrases: shiny black car

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
What if you weren't who you thought you were, and behind the screen of false memories that convinced you of your identity was another, even more terrifying set of equally false memories, so awful that if anyone or anything made it past the first, artificially induced "firewall," you'd kill yourself rather than live with the horror of what you thought you'd done? That's the intriguing, if somewhat muddled, setup for John Case's (The Genesis Code) new thriller, which starts with the disappearance of Lew McBride, a young research psychologist, and the suicide of a beautiful but troubled young woman soon after she inexplicably guns down an old man in a wheelchair.

Adrienne Cope blames her sister Nico's death on Jeff Duran, the psychologist who's been treating Nico for the after-effects of the satanic sexual abuse she supposedly suffered in childhood, abuse that Adrienne has reason to know is a complete fiction. When the detective Adrienne hires to investigate Duran turns up proof that he's an impostor, Duran himself is baffled; his belief in his own identity is so convincing that he passes a lie detector test without breaking a sweat. Someone has stolen his mind: is it the same shadowy cabal that stole Nico's, too? When he and Adrienne finally join forces, their first stop is a neurologist, whose tests reveal an anomaly in Duran's brain, an implant that leads them to a Swiss clinic where a ruthless scientist has taken up experiments in brainwashing and mind control that the CIA shut down decades ago. Or did it? Case mixes neuroscience and geopolitics in a Manchurian Candidate-like scenario that's scary enough to make you wonder whether you ought to trust your own memory, let alone anyone else's. Both Adrienne and Jeff are likable innocents, caught up in a terrifying web spun by a faceless man with a Messiah complex. His plan to destroy anyone who gets in his way is exciting enough to keep the narrative from bogging down in all the technical details Case uses to buttress his suitably scary plot. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
The always intriguing Case (The Genesis Code; The First Horseman) poses another troubling question for the ages in his latest biospeculative thriller. Just what happened to the U.S. government's secret mind-control experiments of the 1960s? In this diverting fictional juggernaut, a shadowy private enterprise, the Prudhomme Clinic, took over where the government left off. It is now kidnapping people, wiping their memories clean and turning them into assassins who target international leaders whom the Prudhomme believes are destabilizing world order. The whole operation, however, is jeopardized when one recreated human, Jeff Duran, manages to break the spell and start questioning who he is, and more importantly, who he was before a computer chip was implanted in his brain. He teams up in his quest with Adrienne Cope, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who has been baffled by the suicide of her sister, who, unbeknownst to Adrienne, was one of the Prudhomme's most skilled killers. Soon after the two begin poking around, they find their lives are in peril. They begin a frantic search for information, dodging attempts on their lives and making one bone-chilling discovery after another. They ultimately find themselves rushing off to Switzerland not only to confront the Prudhomme's leader, but to save the life of Nelson Mandela, who has been targeted for assassination. Explanations of the history and techniques of mind-control experiments as well as the psychology of amnesia add a realistic overlay to what otherwise might have been a fairly formulaic thriller. Case, revealed here for the first time to be the husband-and-wife writing team of Jim and Carolyn Hougan of Virginia, shows the sort of sure-handed storytelling that made their first two books such hot sellers. National ad campaign; author appearances in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345433084
• ISBN-13: 978-0345433084
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #742,936 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kept me up all night...., May 3, 2001

By	Terry Mathews (a small town in east Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I received this book from amazon.com yesterday. Last night, I intended to read just enough to find out the story line...boy, was I WRONG! Four hours later, I turned the last page and breathed a sigh of relief. I'm really sleepy at work today, but I'm happy to report that this 3rd novel by John Case (synonym for a husband/wife writing team) has lost none of the snap, crackle and pop of the first two (THE GENESIS CODE and THE FOURTH HORSEMAN).

I liked the characters in this book and thought the psychological aspect of the story was well-presented. John Case is poised to take a seat next to the best thriller writers. The stories are current, compelling and raise the hair on the back of my neck.

Enjoy!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ending Peters, May 17, 2002

By	Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As with the two previous novels this husband and wife team has written, this book starts off with a bang that carries the reader away in a tsunami wave of unbelievably and seemingly unconnected events. However, once the suspense climax is reached and the sinister plot puzzled out, the authors have a hard time keeping the reader's adrenaline pumping at the same heart wrenching pace. Somehow, the actual scene where McBride enacts his revenge seems trivial, a necessary part of the story, but one the reader flies through with the hope that there is a twist that will topple what he already believes to be true and again skyurocket his manufacture of adrenaline.

I read this book while traveling via plane; it is more than adequate to keep one's attention, the premise and the facts gathered to offer the denouement are plausible and sufficiently sinister to make one wonder where and when such events actually occur. I will read another John Case thriller in the future.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A SPELLBINDING PAGE-TURNER, May 10, 2001

By	Nick Gonnella - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

A young man doing research in Zurich walks into his supervisor's office and gives a detailed report of the project he has been working on, minutes later he is drugged, on an operating table, and had the skin removed from his face so the doctors can work on his brain.

Years later in Florida, a young woman, Nico, enters her hotel room, and from the balcony she shoots, and kills an elderly man on the ground below.

Returning home, Nico goes to see her psychologist, Dr Jeff Duran, a cutting edge psychologist who uses hypnosis to have patients re-live disturbing traumas from their past.

After her session, Nico goes home, watches television, takes a bath, and kills herself!

Adrienne Cope, Nico's half sister, blames Dr. Duran for her sister's suicide, claiming the Doctor put twisted thoughts of sexual abuse into her head. Nico remembers, as a child, her step father sexualy abusing her, and her two sisters, resulting in the one sister's death. Adrienne has no memory of this, and swears it did not happen.

Explaining to Adrienne his work technics, Duran, is in for a tough time, but none so tough as what he is about to be thrust into...as an unknown assailant enters his office and tries to kill both Andrienne, and himself.

Not knowing who was the target, Duran, and Adrienne will have to rely on each other, and work together to find out who wants them dead, and why? Also, the pair must find out why Nico killed the man in Florida, and what is the link to the researcher from Zurich. To find these answers, the pair will have to uncover secrets from Duran's own past, secrets he himself is NOT aware of!

Duran, and Adrienne discover this conspiracy reaches around the world, and underneath it all is a sinister plot that could change the course of history.

'The Syndrome' is a heart stopping thriller, that grabs hold on page one, and doesn't let go until the explosive climax. With well drawn characters, carefully constructed plot, and one shock after another 'The Syndrome' succeeds on every level of being an entertaining read.

John case is the bestselling author of 'The Genesis Code', and no doubt this new novel will sky rocket up the bestseller lists as well.

Put this book on your must read list, it is an absolute page-turning beach read!

Nick Gonnella