false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168272571m/31230.jpg 31230 24 Covert-One, the president's personal, super-secret agency formed after some recent virus-driven chaos (<I>The Hades Factor</I>, cowritten with Gayle Lynds), is staffed by an unknown number of international covert operatives, including Dr. Jon Smith, late of the USAMRIID. And a good thing, too, because someone's helped themselves to Russia's share of the world's last two stores of the smallpox virus, an eradicated yet hideously deadly bug with no ready vaccine.<p> That the pox was nabbed and who nabbed it is clear enough early on. Why such a seemingly large and disparate cadre of global citizens (keeping the players straight puts one in mind of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" routine) chose to pinch the bug and for what end are the novel's driving questions. Freelance Serbian uber-nasty, Ivan Beria, is among the apparent perpetrators as are Dylan Reed and Adam Treloar of NASA, Tony Price, the head of the super- secret NSA, and a bunch of Russians. The good-guys roster claims Smith; Covert- One's head, Nathaniel Klein; Briton and ex-SAS man, Peter Howell; Smith's deceased girlfriend's sister and CIA operative, Randi Russell; the girlfriend's best friend, backup shuttle astronaut Megan Olson; and another bunch of Russians. Suffice it to say that Smith and company trot the globe, cat-and- mousing after the pox and in so doing careen through a classically speedy and Ludlumesque (if coincidence dependent) plot leaving large numbers of efficiently dispatched corpses in their wake.<p> Most authors of international thriller-mysteries would give their right trench coat to make The New York Times® Best Sellers list. Of the late Robert Ludlum's 21 novels, 21 have resided upon that list. Where <I>The Cassandra Compact</I>, written with bestselling thriller author Philip Shelby (<I>Gatekeeper</I>, etc.), winds up is anyone's guess, but a few hundred thousand nightstands is a good place to start. And stay tuned for more installments--Ludlum may be dead, but he's not done yet. <I>--Michael Hudson</I> 1928931 book 2001 The Cassandra Compact (Robert Ludlum's Covert-One Series) total:513|5:90|4:184|3:193|2:44|1:2| 513 1855 667 20 3 0 false false Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 27 06:41:06 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 06:50:22 -0700 2009 There were a bit of innacuracies at the beginning of the book, stating that Sophia went to school at UCLA while in "The Hades Factor" she went to school at Syracuse. Also Smith visited Sophia 1 year after her burial, but "The Cassandra Compact" lists that be...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 19:46:42 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 19:47:11 -0700 2009
Jon Smith is sent to rescue Yuri Danko, who has called the secure line and asked to be extracted. Danko has a piece of terrifying news, but before he can tell Jon, he is cut down in a spray of gunfire by assassins. Smith deduces ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Sun Nov 25 19:25:40 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 25 19:29:43 -0800 2007 Audible.com

Narrator: Paul Michael
Publisher: Audio Renaissance, 2001
Length: 10 hours, 42 min.

Publisher's Summary
Yuri Danko, a deep-cover Russian asset for Covert-One, is on the run. His last communication was a cryptic and urgent plea for extraction....more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sun Jan 04 06:00:28 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 06:05:54 -0800 2009 2 It is quite realistic: there are viruses, bacteria that are kept in laboratories. When they do fall into the wrong hands, the world faces ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 27 05:44:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 05:44:57 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri May 29 07:55:52 -0700 2009 Fri May 29 07:56:34 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 20 12:37:15 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 12:37:15 -0700 2009 1 3 0 false false Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Wed Sep 23 21:27:07 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 21:28:14 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jul 21 19:17:10 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 19:17:42 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Apr 23 07:56:51 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 07:57:12 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 18:44:28 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 18:47:34 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 10 02:54:38 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 10 02:58:09 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 11 12:53:14 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 11 13:02:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Feb 21 06:56:08 -0800 2009 Wed Jul 08 07:24:29 -0700 2009 Covert-One is trying to stop the birth of a new biochemical weapon that may wipe-out a whole country once released. Will Cassandra Compact be victorious?

Action packed through and through. The best Covert-One I've read so far.]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 00:57:45 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 00:59:53 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Fri Jan 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Sep 29 16:56:34 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 22 17:34:39 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Apr 29 15:11:40 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 15:13:28 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Fri Oct 10 20:49:45 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 10 20:50:24 -0700 2008 5 0 true false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Sat Sep 22 08:48:04 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 08:48:35 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Thu Sep 25 15:21:25 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 25 15:21:51 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=31230