The Hammer of Eden - Softcover

Follett, Ken

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449227545 ISBN 13: 9780449227541

Publisher: Fawcett Books, 1900

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The FBI doesn't believe it. The Governor wants the problem to disappear. But agent Judy Maddox knows the threat is real: An extreme group of eco-terrorists has the means and the know-how to set off a massive earthquake of epic proportions. For California, time is running out.

Now Maddox is scrambling to hunt down a petty criminal turned cult leader turned homicidal mastermind. Because she knows that the dying has already begun. And things will only get worse when the earth violently shifts, bolts, and shakes down to its very core.

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:

Praise for The Hammer of Eden

"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 Chronicle

"Riveting . . . taut plotting, tense action, skillful writing, and myriad unexpected twists make this one utterly unputdownable."--Booklist (starred review)

"A model of how a thriller ought to be written. Follett keeps it crisp and rachets up the tension. . . . Time speeds up as the danger escalates." --Los Angeles Times

"Follett does a first-class job of creating a fictional universe and then inviting the reader to live in it. His substantial research pays off as well, because he writes about the world of earthquakes with the same authority he displays when discussing the technical aspects of the FBI's inner workings." --Newark Star-Ledger

"Amazing . . . Hollywood could have some fun with The Hammer of Eden." --Orlando Sentinel

About this edition

• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Publication date: 1900
• ISBN 10: 0449227545
• ISBN 13: 9780449227541
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 448