The Cassandra Compact

By: Robert Ludlum, Philip Shelby

Narrated by: Paul Michael

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Yuri Danko, a deep-cover Russian asset for Covert-One, is on the run. His last communication was a cryptic and urgent plea for extraction. With no hint of what could have driven Danko to such extreme action, operative Jon Smith is sent to the pre-arranged meeting place in Venice to bring Danko out. Days later, Danko arrives at the rendezvous - but before he can reveal what he knows, he is ripped apart by a spray of assassins' bullets.

With only some scant clues left behind by Danko to go on, John Smith quickly concludes that someone is out to do the unthinkable: steal a sample of smallpox from Russia's cache of bioweapons. The deadliest of viruses, if a new mutation of smallpox were developed and released, it could cause an epidemic of unparalleled destruction.

Working to stop the theft, Covert-One finds the adversaries are several steps ahead of them. The virus is smuggled out of Russia to the United States. Now Jon Smith and his colleagues must unravel the mystery of the Cassandra Compact, overcome their powerful and invisible opponents, and recover or destroy the virus - before the power of Armageddon falls into the hands of a madman.

©2001 by Myn Pyn, LLC (P)2001 by Audio Renaissance, An imprint of Renaissance Media, Inc.

Not upto the Standards of Robert Ludlum

What disappointed you about The Cassandra Compact?

The story line was almost like it was written in one weekend, with a rush of simplistic mini plots. Paul Michael's narration made this story almost unbearable. His attempt to use a different speech impeadment for a main character was distracting from the story.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Paul Michael?

Michael Prichard

What character would you cut from The Cassandra Compact?

The narrator Paul Michael.

Not again

I thought I would give him another try...I regret it. While better than the last, it still just seemed to drag on and on. I Like long stories, I wont usually download a book less that 12+ hours, but this should have been a 6 hour book...the rest was tiresome filler.

Mediocre

I read The Hades Factor and didn’t love it. Decided to give the Covert One series, one more try. I ended up returning the title after three chapters.

The storyline was mediocre and the details stretched credibility. The narrator was a decent performer, but the mispronunciation of “USAMRIID” was extremely distracting. Just couldn’t tolerate the plot or narrating.

A real clunker

For a thriller that depends on science and technology, this one's a real clunker. For example, early on you're in a space shuttle SIMULATOR on the GROUND in Houston - yet the astronauts float around weightlessly. Aparently NASA has found an anti-gravity device they have only told Ludlum about.

Don't waste your money (or book credits) on this one. Ludlum has done far better - and so can you.