Threshold | Ben Mezrich | ENTERTAINING BUT TOO UNREAL

Threshold | Ben Mezrich | Almost a Brilliant Debut

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Threshold

	Threshold Ben Mezrich Grand Central Publishing, 1997 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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To help a former girlfriend investigate her father's death, young geneticist Jeremy Ross infiltrates a mysterious genetic research center in South Carolina and uncovers high-level government intrigue and a deadly project involving the mapping of human DNA. Reprint. PW.

ENTERTAINING BUT TOO UNREAL

I enjoyed reading the book. It was fast-paced & full of action -- too full in fact, it is more apt for a movie. I am not saying the story is unreal. The genetic engineering side is plausible -- what with all the developments & advancements around us. What is quite impossible is the survival of our lead characters. It was something like "you & me against the world" concept & despite the deadly combination of killers, CIA, well reknowned scientists, etc. the protagonists conquered them all with merely "scratch on the shoulder". The writer built suspense as the story progressed but I somehow got lost in connecting the 3rd phase with the previous 2 test stages. The first 2 seemed deadly while the 3rd deemed to be otherwise. On a general note, it was okay. If you're looking for a real reading stuff, you may be a little disappointed as this material proved to be more like Chricton's movie books. If you're on a more sober reading, try Hot Zone & Cobra.

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Almost a Brilliant Debut

This 1996 novel was Mezrich's first, and is an astonishingly good first effort. "Threshold" opens with the bizarre death of the Secretary of Defense. From there, we meet the hero, Jeremy Ross, a brilliant young medical student working in the ER in New York City. An old flame, Robin, arrives and asks Ross' help in finding out the true cause of her father's death---her father being the aforementioned Defense secretary. What entails is a cat and mouse game of espionage, genetic evils, hardcore villains, and the always present evil government agencies and agents. Mezrich moves the story at a good pace, and has some fine moments of sizzling action and spooky suspense. Ross' major flaw is the "superhumanity" of his heroes, Jeremy and Robin. It's hard to believe that these two young people can single-handedly defeat some of the world's most seasoned killers, and save the day in such Marvel Comics fashion. I liked the characters, and the story definitely held my interest. The final showdown between the mad scientist and our heroes, however, seems forced and slightly anti-climactic. I also had problems with the three stages of the viral menace. The first two are obviously very deadly, but the final stage seems less threatening, although its magnitude is certainly frightening. All in all, a tense thriller, and shows that Mezrich has a talent to be reckoned with.

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A good book for entertainment

This book is good read, nevertheless, the story is completely out of reality and the end of the book is a little bit better than bad, I have many questions of how a student of medicine could do a better work that an FBI or CIA agent, so I recommend this book just for entertainment, if you read this book and try to check what part of the book could be real and what couldn't, you won't like it because none of the book could be real, starting with the assassination of the Secretary of Defense (this is in the first chapter, so I am not telling you any part of the story of the book.)

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Too Many Flaws

This book is flawed from the get-go. The main character, Jeremy illegally breaks into computers using social engineering techniques to impersonate others(therefore I did not like him from the start). He gets into top secret files are being guarded by unscrupulous powerful government people. You wonder how they can't find out that someone got into their computer files.

His girlfriend's father dies under somewhat mysterious circumstances and his girlfriend becomes an expert in knowing that it was a government plot.

Out of nowhere Jeremy is walking with his girlfriend and some of the government operatives try to kill him. He kills one and the others flee. Then Jeremy goes to visit the project that the bad guys run. How come they can't figure out that Jeremy is the same guy they tried to kill.

Jeremy calls the sheriff from a bugged phone and goes to the police station. He also pokes around in an off-limits computer and sneaks into an off-limits lab. How does this guy stay alive?

The bad guys' hit man is supposed to be a "gold star" government operative adept at disposing of "targets" but he doesn't suspect Jeremy and when he does, he is reluctant to harm Jeremy.

Michael Crichton has never had so many flaws in his writing so I do not know why the reviewers compare this book to Crichton. A much better novel on genetic engineering was "Mount Dragon" which was much more believeable.

I gave the book 3 stars because it does have some tense action and some touching scenes in the hospital with terminally ill children.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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