Vector

Amazon.com Review Robin Cook's latest plot--the threat of an anthrax [bacterium] turned loose in a New York government building and in Central Park--is ripped straight from the headlines, and as such it may be charitably described as having a certain lumpish quality in the prose and an overabundance of cuteness in the lead characters. Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery, the dueling forensic pathologists who bounced off each other in Cook's Chromosome 6 , collide and combine once again as a mad Russian cabdriver, who used to work in a Moscow bioweapons factory, comes up with a plan to punish America for not welcoming him with open arms. The cabby forms an unlikely alliance with two firemen who happen to be white supremacists; they fund his anthrax research to further their own lunatic schemes. Cook is, as ever, best at creating scenes of perfectly realized medical terror which plug into the paranoia of the moment. But if you want deep characters and sensitive description, read Fay Weldon. --Dick Adler From Publishers Weekly In this age of lethal bioweapons, there's a frightening logic in the idea that your next breath might kill you. Alas, Cook's latest, about an impending bioterrorist attack in New York City, is more ho-hum than horrifying. The premise has promise: cab driver Yuri Davydov is a disillusioned Russian immigrant haunted by his involvement in a tragic accidental release of government-produced anthrax that killed hundreds, including his mother. Armed with hatred for America and practical skills in how to build a biochemical weapon, he's joined forces with Curt Rogers and Steve Henderson of the People's Aryan Army. This catastrophic coalition aims to attack the Jacob Javits Federal Building and the Upper East Side; but for starters, Davydov tests his weapons on his own much-maligned wife and random, innocent rug merchant Jason Papparis. When medical examiner Jack Stapleton (last seen in Cook's Chromosome 6) does an autopsy on Papparis, the first of a series of plot-deadening coincidences occursAhe meets Davydov, who just happens to be cruising by to see if Papparis is dead. Too much "just happens" throughout this novel; worse, the investigators maddeningly bumble around obvious clues the reader has long since pieced together. Stapleton just happens to play basketball with the brother of Davydov's murdered wife; when autopsying the body of Aryan Army informant Brad Cassidy, he has a contrived hunch, and tests the body for anthrax poisoning. The whole plot, including the finale, hinges on happenstance, and Cook seems to know itAhis characters say things like, "What kind of weird coincidence could this be?" Cook's biotechnology research is rewarding, the pace is as pleasingly hectic as you'd expect from the author of Toxin, etc., and some of the characters are well drawn. But in the end, this potentially spine-tingling premise is undermined by a disappointing plot manifesting authorial machination rather than authentic, character-driven events. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. Dr. Jack Stapleton and Dr. Laurie Montgomery must race against the clock to prevent an unthinkable catastrophe in this “frightening” (Publishers Weekly) novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author hailed as “the master of the medical thriller” (The New York Times). Experts do not question whether a bio-terrorism event will occur in the United States, only when.... New York City cab driver Yuri Davydov is an angry, disillusioned Russian émigré poised to lash out at the adoptive nation he believes has denied him the American Dream. A former technician for the vast Soviet biological weapons system, Yuri possesses the technical knowledge to carry out his vengeance on a horrific scale, especially after teaming up with a pair of far-right survivalists who share his abhorrence of the United States government. Dr. Jack Stapleton and Dr. Laurie Montgomery are confronted with two seemingly disparate cases in their work as forensic pathologists in the city's medical examiner's office. They hardly suspect that the deaths could be related, but soon they begin to connect the dots, and the question then becomes whether or not they will solve the puzzle before Yuri and his comrades unleash the ultimate terror: a modern bioweapon. "Yuri Davydov, a New York cab driver, is an angry, disillusioned Russian emigre poised to lash out at the adoptive nation. A former technician for the vast Soviet biological weapons industry, Yuri possesses the knowledge to carry out his vengeance on a horrific scale. But before he executes his planned vengeance, he experiments on those around him. Dr. Jack Stapleton and Dr. Laurie Montgomery notice a number of highly unusual cases in their work as forensic pathologists in the city's medical examiner's office. But the question soon becomes whether the pair will solve the puzzle before Yuri unleashes the ultimate terror: a modern bioweapon."--Publisher website A disgruntled Russian emigre is poised to lash out at the adoptive nation he believes has denied him the American dream. A former technician in the Soviet biological weapons systems, he possesses the knowledge to unleash into the streets of New York City the ultimate terror: a modern bioweapon. But before he executes his final act of vengeance, he must first experiment on a few unsuspecting victims ... A disgruntled Russian immigrant joins forces with extremists from the People's Aryan Army to launch a campaign of terror against New York with anthrax. Two forensic pathologists get wind of the scheme and go after him. By the author of Chromosome 6