The Hammer of Eden - Softcover

Follett, Ken

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330375822 ISBN 13: 9780330375825

Publisher: Pan Books, 1999

Synopsis

Nobody can cause an earthquake... can they?

This is the question that troubles hotshot young FBI agent Judy Maddox in Ken Follett's hold-your-breath thriller.

Judy's boss has a grudge against her, so he gives her a dumb assignment: to investigate an anonymous threat from a group that claims that it can trigger earthquakes.

Judy's research leads her to maverick seismologist Michael Quercus, who tells her it is possible for an earthquake to be caused deliberately. And when a tremor in a remote desert area shows signs of being machine-generated, Judy knows he was right.

But who is responsible for the earthquake? Judy must find out before another tremor strikes. Helped by the erratic but attractive Michael, she races to pinpoint the terrorists' next target before they trigger the ultimate disaster.

With The Hammer of Eden Ken Follett is at the top of his form, delivering a state-of-the-art suspense thriller to rival his best work.

'Crackles with suspense.' Daily Telegraph

'So exciting I found myself setting the alarm clock for four in the morning to finish it.' Daily Mail

About this title

Review

Ken Follett shook the mystery world with his debut (now classic) novel The Eye of the Needle and now he's shaking the earth again with The Hammer of Eden. Or, at least his bad guys are shaking it. The novel begins with a series of flashbacks while Priest and his girlfriend Star plot to steal a seismic vibrator. Priest, an illiterate street-tough-turned- hippie-guru, is rallying his commune to fight back against the state of California. Living out of time and out of society, the commune grows its own food, makes wine and smokes a lot of dope, but the lives of Priest and his cohorts are about to be destroyed by the construction of a new power plant in their valley. Priest takes his cue from Melanie, a seismologist who joined his commune after being shaken by marital difficulties. With their seismic vibrator and under the code name Hammer of Eden, they plan to rock California with earthquakes until they get a promise of work stoppage.

But Judy Maddox is on their case. Daughter of an Irish American cop and a Vietnamese mother, Judy is slight in form though a rising force in the FBI. Office politics have placed her on a ludicrous case involving an earthquake threat, but the more she looks at the Hammer of Eden, the more she is convinced that the threat is for real. Her contact, seismologist Michael Quercus, provides compelling evidence that a major catastrophe is in the offing. From there, the novel becomes a race between Judy and Michael and the increasingly deadly and desperate Priest and his followers. The Hammer of Eden isn't, in the end, as groundbreaking as some of Follett's earlier work; the commune's jump from peace-loving band of hippies to state terrorists happens just a bit too quickly. Nevertheless, Follett's gift for plotting and intrigue keep the cracks in the narrative in check, and the denouement is sure to send tremours through the most sturdy of readers. -- Patrick O'Kelley, Amazon.com

Review

" Follett ratchets up the Richter scale of suspense." --USA Today " PEERLESS PACING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT . . . THE HAMMER OF EDEN WILL NAIL READERS TO THEIR SEATS." --People (A Page-turner of the Week) " THE THRILLS HIT UNNERVINGLY CLOSE TO HOME IN FOLLETT'S LATEST WHITE-KNUCKLER." --San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle " RIVETING . . . TAUT PLOTTING, TENSE ACTION, SKILLFUL WRITING, AND MYRIAD UNEXPECTED TWISTS MAKE THIS ONE UTTERLY UNPUTDOWNABLE." --Booklist (starred and boxed review) "Follett ratchets up the Richter scale of suspense." --USA Today "PEERLESS PACING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT . . . THE HAMMER OF EDEN WILL NAIL READERS TO THEIR SEATS." --People (A Page-turner of the Week) "THE THRILLS HIT UNNERVINGLY CLOSE TO HOME IN FOLLETT'S LATEST WHITE-KNUCKLER." --San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle "RIVETING . . . TAUT PLOTTING, TENSE ACTION, SKILLFUL WRITING, AND MYRIAD UNEXPECTED TWISTS MAKE THIS ONE UTTERLY UNPUTDOWNABLE." --Booklist (starred and boxed review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0330375822
• ISBN 13: 9780330375825
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 560