Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Spiral: A Novel? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Spiral: A Novel. Check out the link below:
>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers
Spiral: A Novel ReviewPaul McEuen, a professor of physics at Cornell, makes good use of his scientific knowledge in "Spiral," a provocative and frightening techno-thriller. The story opens in 1946, with biologist Liam Connor witnessing a horrifying scene of destruction from the deck of the USS North Dakota. Liam is a prodigy whose expertise includes "saprobic fungi, the feeders on the dead." At twenty-two, he already has an impressive résumé, having spent four years at Porton Down, "the center of British chemical and germ weapons research." Connor is dismayed to learn that the Japanese have a top-secret biological weapon derived from a species of fungus. If unleashed, this mycotoxin could cause widespread devastation. Although World War II is over, some Japanese soldiers cannot live with defeat; they are determined to strike back.Sixty-four years pass. Liam is eighty-six, still works hard, and has a delightfully puckish sense of humor. He is a legend in his field and runs a laboratory in Cornell University, where he taught for half a century. He is a brilliant, versatile, and creative scientist who dotes on his granddaughter, Maggie, and his nine-year-old great-grandson, Dylan. Suddenly, Liam is attacked by a vicious and merciless predator. Why would someone want to destroy a Nobel Laureate who has spent his whole life sharing his knowledge with the world? The answer lies in a long-ago event that occurred on the USS North Dakota in the Pacific Ocean.
"Spiral" is fast-paced, engrossing, and greatly enhanced by fascinating technical details concerning robotics, nanotechnology, and microbiology. McEuen conveys a potent and timely message about the misguided decisions made by heads of state who crave military and political supremacy. The characters are generally well-drawn and include physicist Jake Sterling, a colleague of Liam's who is attracted to Maggie. Jake and Maggie are heirs to Liam's distinguished legacy, but they face a particularly menacing villain--World War II veteran, Hitoshi Kitano. For him, Japan's surrender was the ultimate humiliation. He has vowed to bring America to her knees.
McEuen chills us with scenes of excruciating torture and grisly deaths, and there are a number of violent confrontations between our heroes and a sadistic female killer. In 1969, Michael Crichton wrote "The Andromeda Strain," a terrifyingly realistic story about lethal microbes from outer space that land on earth. Paul McEuen, in his electrifying debut, describes a different but equally appalling threat--from individuals so consumed by hatred that they would use virulent weapons of bioterrorism to annihilate millions of people. Let us hope that this doomsday scenario remains a product of the author's vivid imagination.
Spiral: A Novel Overview
Want to learn more information about Spiral: A Novel?
>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
