Boek
Vector
| Auteur | Robin Cook |
| Eerste Uitgave | 1999 |
| Uitgave | 1999 |
| Uitgeverij | Putnam |
| Vorm | roman |
| Taal | Engels |
| Bladzijden | 404 bladzijden |
| Gelezen | 2005-07-31 |
| Score | 7/10 |
Inhoud
New York City cab driver Yuri Davydov is an angry, disillusioned Russian émigré bent on returning to his motherland after an unhappy seven-year sojourn in the United States. Before his departure, he wants to lash out at the adoptive nation which he believes lured him with the hoax of the American Dream, only to deny him contentment, opportunity, and prosperity.
As a former technician in the vast Soviet biological weapons industry Biopreparat, Yuri possesses the technical knowledge to carry out his vengeance on a horrific scale.
Dr. Jack Stapleton and Dr. Laurie Montgomery (both last seen in CHROMASOME 6) are confronted with two seemingly disparate cases in their work as forensic pathologists in the city's medical examiner's office. They little suspect that the cases are related, but as they begin to connect the dots, the question soon becomes whether or not they will solve the puzzle before Yuri and is comrades unleash the ultimate terror: a modern bioweapon.
With signature skill, Robin Cook has crafted a page-turning thriller rooted in up-to-the-minute biotechnology. VECTOR is all-too-plausible fiction at its eye-opening, terrifying best.
Bespreking
Decent and almost visionary thriller
When Yuri Davydov, a former Russian technician from a secret biological weapons plant, escaped to the United States he has high hopes of the American culture and economy. But quite soon he discovers that the American Dream turns out to be a real nightmare. In America his Russian diploma is not worth the paper it is printed on and the only job he can get is that of a taxi driver. Totally disillusioned he decides to return to his native country, but not before he gets his revenge. Using his knowledge of biological weapons and assisted by a neo-fascist skinhead militia he starts: Operation Wolverine.
Vector is a showcase on how to write a good thriller. It has all the assets of a good medical thriller and proves again the craft ship of Robin Cook. The main characters may be a bit flat, but are portrayed in a way that gives enough substance to achieve the needed connection with the reader. The plotline is smoothly drawn, but does seem to fit a bit too perfectly. This makes the story at certain points rather unnatural. Indeed, every action described in the novel has its specific purpose somewhere throughout the story. This feels a bit too like Harry Potter and that does not always work for a realistic thriller. For instance, Dr. Jack Stapleton -the protagonist- turns out to have friends that are related to the victim and can give him the necessary link to the solution. True, this can happen, but it still is very unlikely.
Apart from this hiccup, the subject that is covered by Robin Cook in Vector is tremendously freighting and in a way visionary. When Robin Cook finished this book in 1998, he could not expect what would happen after the Twin Towers disaster. The Antrax scare that followed is somehow predicted in Vector. The detail in which Robin describes this is in retrospect quite eerie. Even more, in the author's note he explains that it is not the question if this kind of terrorism will occur, but when it will occur. Sadly enough we know the answer to that question. This makes this thriller, a must read.