Date first published	19 August 2002
ISBN Number	0 00710171 6
Page Count	425 p/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

The third novel in the Covert-One series. When an explosion and fire destroy part of the esteemed Pasteur Institute in Paris, cyber wizard Marty Zellerbach is left in a coma, while the body of one of the world's top computer scientists Emile Chambord hasn't been found at all. Although a terrorist group takes credit for the bombing, American and British officials begin to wonder. Chillingly, perhaps the situation is even worse than it appears.

At the same time in a clandestine army lab in Colorado, Lt. Col. Jon Smith is part of a team working to create a DNA computer. With his background in molecular biology, this project intrigues him: molecular computers will be the most powerful computers the world has ever seen. A single bottle of DNA can crunch more mathematics than all the conventional silicon computers on earth today. When Jon learns his old friend Marty is seriously injured in the explosion, he's about to leave for Paris, when Nathan Klein, the shadowy chief of Covert-One, shows up with an assignment, find Dr. Chambord.

It appears the Pasteur bombing was a decoy to hide the kidnapping of the scientist, because, with Marty's help, he's succeeded in building the globe's first working molecular computer. The military implications are terrifying if the computer falls into the hands of a rogue government or terrorist cell. From Paris to London, Brussels and Algiers, Jon Smith searches for the scientist and the ambitious forces behind the bombing and theft. With the help of colleagues Peter Howell, Randi Russell, and a recovered Marty, Jon uncovers a web of deception on the brink of reshaping Europe and threatening the destruction of the United States.

Review

I should like this book more than I do. Being a bit of a computer geek, it should be right up my alley, plus it breaks away from the previous 2 stories in not being about a rogue group using a mutated virus. So why does it not grab me?

The book is fairly pacy, the plot is reasonably straight forward, although Chambord's deceit is perhaps a little too obvious. I think the main idea is the idea of a molecular computer itself, and the description of it, which boils down to gel packs filled with DNA molecules being able to produce wondrous results.

Details about the machine, how it is controlled, is totally ignored, and just filled in with some baffling mumbo jumbo, which doesn't make a lot of sense. I suppose this is the danger when you write about something you don't actually understand.

Putting aside the computer, the other elements are all there. Howell, and Russell are out and about, although why is in Paris, since she was stationed in Moscow seems a bit odd (unless she got thrown out after the Cassandra Compact). It's also nice to see the annoying Zellerbach return for a story, although mercifully he is unconscious for most of it. This is perhaps a weakness of the book, in that it has a team of operatives, who are from different agencies who would probably be very wary of stumbling across each other. Russell is a major issue, she is a bright intelligence officer, and does not believe that Jon works for Military Intelligence. It will be interesting to see whether this issue is resolved. Russell and Jon working together could take the series off on a slightly different tangent.

The book is slightly grittier, than the previous two, which although they contain some violence, this one really does get nasty. Howell in particular is not worried about using his stiletto on his opponents.

We have an Arab fundamentalist group, hell bent on bombing America, but who are in fact being set up to be the fall guys for French controllers. Even Chambord is being conned at the end of the day. His death and the total destruction of his computer couldn't come quick enough.

La Porte, who finally appears as the real puppet master is suitably arrogant, and slightly off his head, and gets his comeuppance, from whom I'm not totally sure - probably the Crescent Shield, however it is not clear. The mysterious Arab Mauritania, escapes, so we might see him in the future.

I'll give the book 3 out of 5. The technology aspects could have been handled much better, and made the book much stronger. As it is the lack of a solid base undermines the whole book. It is still better than the two 'Road' books that Ludlum wrote, but not quite on a par with the earlier two novels.

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