I picked it up based on the ga-ga reviews most of my friends gave it. Didn’t like it one bit. Monotonous and very similar to bond-trading!

No other book has kept me so engrossed. Agreed – there are a few ramblings, but it talks about a lot of questions you would have had

Extremely boring and slow narration. Thanks God Mr. Leo da Vinci did not have the power or prophesy. He would have wept and wept!

Extremely boring and slow narration. Thanks God Mr. Leo da Vinci did not have the power or prophesy. He would have wept and wept!

Extremely boring and slow narration. Thanks God Mr. Leo da Vinci did not have the power or prophesy. He would have wept and wept!

What beings off as a pacy whodunnit ends as a hezdoneyou! It is an easy read, but leaves many a loose thread in the end. The whole M.G episode was boring to say the least. It should have led to something more. Turns out it was just to capture the readers’ imagination.

Very graphic, but a well-made nail-biter!

Though its crazy-quotient is up there, it gets boring after the first two books. Douglas Adam’s unorthodox storyline is to be appreciated and that the author has chosen to take the Inter-galaxy Highway less taken is definitely the USP. But hey….. I gave up after the second book because I had not the patience to remain in the crazy crazy Universe of his.

Though its crazy-quotient is up there, it gets boring after the first two books. Douglas Adam’s unorthodox storyline is to be appreciated and that the author has chosen to take the Inter-galaxy Highway less taken is definitely the USP. But hey….. I gave up after the second book because I had not the patience to remain in the crazy crazy Universe of his.

The story begins with a mafia-style scene. A guy visits his beloved’s grave on a rainy day. While he stands there feeling her absence, there is a short flashback that would have made a great movie scene.

The plot : A Small-pox sample stored in a Russian Research Laboratory is smuggled out of the country by a terrorist with a literature-filled rap sheet. He enters (… where else…) the US with the intention of a bio-war. His partner in crime – NASA, NSA and some big guns identified by endless 3-lettered or 4-lettered acronyms. How the Vijaykanth/Arjun-of-the-US – Jon Smith, a secret agent working for a secret agency reporting directly to the President, finds this missing bio-weapon and prevents a global crisis is depicted in the 396 pages.

To hell with the helio-centric theory. It’s time people realized the (micro)gravity of the Washington-NY-Centric theory. Be it King Kong or a meteor, they all want to visit New York and DC. This story is no different, only … the passenger’s name this time around is : Variola Major.

This story revolves around the power-centers of DC.

Despite being a run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory (geez! Conspiracy theories are now so cliche!), this book does kept me riveted till the end. The storytelling was easy on the ears. The web of secrecy has been well thought of. Characters come in to do their jobs and promptly die soon after (a soap-opera script-writer’s dream come true). Now thatz what I call a DO-AND-DIE attitude :).

What I liked most about this book was the subtely of narration at a lot of places.

That the stereotypical romance for the hero has been saved for another day is a reason to smile. There are just references to his relationships in the past.

The effects of micro-gravity on the virus seems to be well-researched. Nice info.

No long flashbacks, even in the most compelling situations. Just references to the previous book ‘The Hades Factor’ here and there. Looks like the intelligence team was the same for both Hades Project and Cassandra Compact. So, you wont miss much if you haven’t read The Hades Factor.

Once the mystery is solved, they bring out the name of the evil project – Cassandra Compact. Again, there is no unnecessary raving about this project once introduced to

the reader. It is implicitly conveyed that the reader should put 2 and 2 together.

All in all, it is a thumbs-up from me. Definite movie material. I’d love to see how they make this into a flick.