Product Description

In the "Book of Revelations", the Four Horsemen herald the arrival of the Apocalypse. When the First Horseman thunders forth, pestilence will spread throughout the land. For the First Horseman is Plague...The Spanish Flu killed thirty million people worldwide in 1918. Now, with history threatening to repeat itself, a scientific expedition speeds toward a remote island on the Arctic Sea to recover strains of the lethal virus preserved under layers of ice. For "Washington Post" reporter Frank Daly, it is the story of a lifetime. But, his plan to join the expedition is ruined by a ferocious storm that delays him. And, when he meets up with the ship upon its return to port in Norway, it is clear that something has gone terribly wrong. Fear haunts the faces of the crew. No one will talk. And someone wants Daly to stop asking questions. But if there's a wall around the facts, Daly will batter it down. Persistent and resourceful, he knows how to get answers when none are given. Yet, the more he uncovers, the more dangerous the stakes become. Until at last, he comes face-to-face with a shocking secret, pitching him into a harrowing race to prevent nothing less than...apocalypse.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65016 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The ideal destructive plague is one which is passed on before it kills, one which is in the air we breathe and the fevered skin we touch. John Case drops heavy hints to the well-informed as to what is at stake in his new techno- thriller early on, when the sole survivor of a North Korean village sterilised by its own government's bombers babbles uncomprehendingly about a "Spanish Lady". He confirms them by sending a party of American scientists to excavate a group of miners caught in permafrost since 1918; bodies which prove, scarily, to be long gone with only a painted white horse in their place. A woman bacteriologist and an overbearing science journalist put together bits of the story that their government is scared of anyone knowing. Members of a pseudo-scientific cult carry out terrible murders--frying the over-curious in a giant microwave--for what they regard as the long-term good of the planet.

There are comparatively few surprises here, but ingenious plotting and a pervading sense of horrid possibility; Case knows his biotechnology and has a healthy paranoia about all of the possible groups that might abuse its power. --Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews

An interesting & imaginative read
A good read that has some very interesting and imaginative background ideas. As with "The Genesis Code", the first few chapters of "The First Horesman" spark the imagination, compelling you to read further, only to find that the conculsion is rushed. The ending came far too abruptly for my liking. John Case has some really interesting ideas and is obviously well-researched on his chosen subjects. However, it would have been a more satisfying read to have these ideas drawn right out to the bitter end.

THE FIRST HORSEMAN
This is an okay read - nothing more, nothing less. The overall plot is very interesting and the story is well told up to a point. The real flaw though is the rushed, and in my opinion, corny, ending to this book. It really was substandard, straight-to-video, B-movie type of stuff (and yes, I am reviewing the book). I won't give too much away, but why at the very end would the chief baddie be the one to carry out 'the deed', and not one of his followers? And why was it the 'good' guy who tracked him down and stopped him carrying out 'the deed' - surely the police / FBI would have got him?

As with John Case's previous book, The Genesis Code, the initial plot will have you hooked, but as the story drags on it does become a little silly and rushed.

A slower pace than Genesis Code but was equally provoking!
John Case's second book had the same off the wall, zany plot as Genius Code, but I wouldn't recommend it to my best friends, which I did with his first. The book starts off brilliantly, seems to lose itself in the middle then rallies in the final twenty pages or so. It would probably make a great film with a little tweeking, though someone should tell the scrip writers (and John Case) that Beefeaters guard the Tower of London, not Buckingham Palace - it would also be nice to have an English version, it wouldn't take more than half an hour to run through the spell checker and translate from the American and not to do so is just sloppy. I look forward to the next book with interest, John Case could do worse than read a little Desmond Bagley for a few tips provided he doesn't adopt 'that' word of his! Thanks for a good read, Geoff Irish (Hants, UK)