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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780312941420
ISBN number: 0312941420
Label: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 448
Printing Date: April 04, 2006
Publishing house: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: April 04, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 20714
Studio: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Product Description:
A baffling virus has claimed the lives of four people across the country—including Dr. Sophia Russell, a research scientist working to understand the disease. Bitter and broken-hearted over the death of his beautiful fiancée, Jon Smith is determined to uncover the cause of the virus that killed her—and prevent it from turning into a pandemic of epic proportions. He’ll travel across the globe and into the darkest corridors of murder and greed, to find a killer who would sacrifice millions of lives for his own success…
Amazon.com Review:
With an unbroken string of bestsellers dating from the early '70s (beginning with 1971's The Scarlatti Inheritance) and over 200 million books sold, Robert Ludlum is an acknowledged superstar of the political thriller. Gayle Lynds, who was compared to Ludlum after her 1996 debut, Masquerade, has two successful novels and a slew of pseudonymous pulp fiction titles to her credit. Together--after a fashion--they serve up book 1 of Ludlum's new Covert-One series of trade paperback originals, Robert Ludlum's the Hades Factor.
After three disparate Americans succumb to a hitherto unknown Ebola-like virus, the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) is pressed into service. Since the USAMRIID's top doc (and former military intelligence operative) Lt. Col. Jon Smith has yet to return from an overseas conference, the job of heading the medical research team falls to Smith's colleague and fiancée, Dr. Sophia Russell.
Upon Smith's return, he is sequentially treated to a life-or-death warning from a childhood friend (and rogue FBI agent), several nasty near-death experiences, and the viscerally graphic demise of his wife-to-be, an apparent virus victim. Enraged and bereaved, Smith flies into investigatory action only to discover doctored files, expunged records, and the distinct likelihood that he's dealing with cases of murder-by-virus. As more questions are asked, more deaths occur, official channels slam shut, and Smith finds himself a wanted man, battling his best friend, an evil-genius gazillionaire scientist, corrupt politicians, and Third World terrorists. In other words, it's Smith versus all the usual suspects.
Ludlum and Lynds cover no new ground here (and their prose is less than sterling). In fact, The Hades Factor owes as much to Tom Clancy's Op-Center series--cocreated by Clancy and Steve Pieczenik--and Richard Preston's The Hot Zone as it does to Ludlum's own considerable body of work. That said, The Hades Factor still delivers a respectable level of intrigue and suspense, will likely be snapped up by output-starved Ludlum fanciers, and will be right at home on the bed stands of Preston fans. --Michael Hudson
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Rated by buyers 
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This is not Robert Ludum's book. Its easy to see that the writing comes up so short to his standard, it would never be compared to Mr. Ludlum's work on its own merits. Robert Ludlum was an author on a different level than most others. The books he wrote were simply amazing. These books with "Robert Ludlum's" written in very large letters on top and the real author's name in much smaller letters read like cheap action books without much plot or thought put into them. Had it been a stand-alone book with only the real author's name on it, it could've gotten another star; though I doubt it would've sold many copies. It seems like an endeavor to capitalize on his name.
If one were to write a book based on one of J. R. R. Tolkien's books (given that they had permission from his estate), would it be fair to imply that Tolkien had something to do with the writing of this new book? Can anyone really give permission (even another family member) to use another's name? I would read the original books by the late Mr. Ludlum for a real Robert Ludlum's book; not these knock offs that don't hold true to his writing style. For those who claim that these books hold "true to Robert Ludlum's writing style", care to explain exactly what that means? Perhaps an example?
Rated by buyers 
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Gayle Lynds makes this story and plot work great. It is obviously the best book in this series. The TV two-part movie was good - but as always, it seems that the book was much better! Gayle has her signature all over this plot and story - it is obvious that she is responsible for the entire book.
I only wish that ABC Television had enough sense to make her award winning book "The Last Spymaster" a TV movie. In fact, all of her books would make wonderful movies and I look forward to someday seeing more of them produced.
This is one of those books that makes for a great vacation read or one to huddle up with in the cold winter months subsequent to the old fireplace. It is entertainment that is intelligent and clearly a cut above most books in this genre. I totally recommend this book - in fact, I recommend any book that the author Gayle Lynds has written - she is on my short list of all-time best thriller writers.
Rated by buyers 
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The very first of a spin-off series of Ludlum's, done with another writer. The protagonist here is a doctor, but he is also secretly a spy for an ultra-clandestine spook type group in the USA.
The doctor's wife is involved in looking into a mysterious ebola sort of situation, and the doctor is tasked to help out, under a supposedly plausible cover, to see what is going on.
Rated by buyers -
Of course the answer is having Robert Ludlum's name associated with it. I am a long time Ludlum fan but this book is poorly written. Words are misused, the dialogue is clumsy and flat, there is an obvious endeavor to substitute inappropriate multisyllabic words for decent writing. Don't waste your time with this.
Rated by buyers -
I thought that this is one of Robert Ludlum's best books, it ties in the possible future as well as lots of very interesting action. Everything that is written in this book is written in such a way, that it sounds like it could actually happen. The plot takes off very fast and does not slow down, it is a very good page turner for anyone who likes: action, scientific fiction, and gun battles. One tip that I will give for reading is, make sure you keep track of names. Overall, I thought that this book is Ludlum's best and everyone who likes an action packed book should read it.
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