- Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster International (10 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743406125
- ISBN-13: 978-0743406123
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 621,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Year Zero
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Product Description
Review
Dan BrownA superbly original thriller. Terrifying and exquisite....
Product Description
In "The Descent, New York Times" bestselling author Jeff Long led readers into the darkest regions of suspense and adventure. Now he returns with an apocalyptic scenario that threatens to eradicate mankind.
In Jerusalem, an American archaeologist working on Project Year Zero -- the search for the historical Jesus -- crosses the line between science and theft when he helps plunder an old Roman landfill beneath the crucifixion grounds known as Golgotha. Nathan Lee Swift's crime will have devastating consequences. When an ancient relic is opened on the black market, a two-thousand-year-old plague is unleashed -- and the dying begins.
As the pestilence threatens to wipe out humanity, he finds a chance for redemption -- by finding the cure. Skirting the edges of civilization, Nathan Lee sets out to find his younger daughter and travels to Los Alamos, where a desperate tactic has been adopted: the use of human lab rats cloned from Project Year Zero remains. Now Nathan Lee will come face-to-face with one special cloned human who may hold the key to salvation -- in more ways than one. Patient Zero claims to remember who he is....
And his name is Jesus Christ.
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The two old men entered a spacious room, their wives trailing them. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The two old men entered a spacious room, their wives trailing them. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Year Zero starts off as any decent thriller should, giving background on the protagonists and introducing several 'antagonist' characters. Unfortunately, the cover claims that there is a search for the 'genetic Jesus Christ', but this is off the mark, and the origins for the virus are ambiguous at best.
There is very little to attach the reader to the main characters, and the revelations about the main protagonists family are less than emotive, feeling more 'matter of fact'.
The writing style is way too complex for this type of story - Jeff Long has a great grasp of English and grammar, but over employs his talents, making the book difficult to read. It took me nearly 4 days of my holiday to read this book cover-to-cover, while a longer novel ("The Righteous Men" by Sam Bourne) took me only two days.
This type of novel requires an easy narrative style, and better story structure in order to be considered a 5* book. Sadly, this is not one of those books.
There is very little to attach the reader to the main characters, and the revelations about the main protagonists family are less than emotive, feeling more 'matter of fact'.
The writing style is way too complex for this type of story - Jeff Long has a great grasp of English and grammar, but over employs his talents, making the book difficult to read. It took me nearly 4 days of my holiday to read this book cover-to-cover, while a longer novel ("The Righteous Men" by Sam Bourne) took me only two days.
This type of novel requires an easy narrative style, and better story structure in order to be considered a 5* book. Sadly, this is not one of those books.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I can't say I hated or loved this book, for me it was just ok. I think the main problem was that there were too many themes running riot and clashing off each other. You had the equivalent of the search for the holy grail, the apocalyptic extinction level virus wiping out mankind, genetics gone mad and the second coming of Christ. Add all that with a few backstabbing moments and a bit of a love story and you've got a whole lot going on. It's all just a bit too much and I felt that no one theme hit the mix spot on. Don't get me wrong this book wasn't all bad I just felt that some stories stopped dead with no explanation. The ending was particularly poor and I too felt like the author ran out of ideas and just finished up early for the day.
17 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
In 1999, Jeff Long wrote "The Descent", an entertaining novel in which he speculated that Satan is real and Hell exists beneath our very feet. In "Year Zero", he follows up by presenting us with a living, breathing Jesus who is most probably a fake.
But that's only a small portion of this entertaining thriller, part adventure, part science fiction, part post-apocalyptic nightmare. It's primarily about a two-millenia-old virus unleashed upon an unsuspecting world, and its effect and aftermath.
Ho hum. Been there, done that. It was already old news when Stephen King did it with the "The Stand" (though he did it masterfully), and was appalling when Robert R. McCammon produced the carbon copy "Swan Song". So what else is there to say?
Not much, I'm afraid. I was drawn to "Year Zero" for two reasons: the cloning element, in which the scientists on the trail of the virus clone men who may have been carriers of the original virus in order to search for antibodies, and the writing - Long had impressed me a great deal with his earlier novel.
We are introduced to idealist archaeologist Nathan Lee Swift and his greedy mentor David Ochs after a devastating earthquake in Jerusalem. Because he is married to Ochs' sister, Nathan Lee reluctantly allows himself to be induced into a looting a mass grave uncovered by the quake. Later, Ochs frames Nathan Lee for murder, landing him in a Tibetan jail. When the virus breaks loose, Nathan Lee risks life and limb to get back to the United States and his estranged wife and daughter.
It took a long time for this novel to capture me. The opening adventure scenes were interesting enough, but nothing special, and the account of the virus's movement across the globe was no better than a hundred King imitators. It wasn't until a scene between young scientist Miranda Abbott and Nathan lee, in which each tries to reveal enough to seduce the other without allowing himself to become too vulnerable, that I really felt I was reading about real people and began to care about the outcome.
I was also interested in the Year Zero clones, a group of resurrected condemned men, reborn with their memories intact and no knowledge of the past 2000 years. Author Long imagines their reactions and presents them thoughtfully and carefully. Things go well until Ochs reappears and causes more grief for Nathan Lee and Miranda.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. Certainly, it has its flaws and the author is working in a genre that has been played to death, but he manages to bring some fresh ideas and tell a good story, too. If you're looking for a good beach book that will hold your interest and won't overtax your cranium, I can recommend "Year Zero".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Apocalypse now!
I really enjoyed the initial 300 pages of the book. The journey was incredible and it was a very original story. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Lee Hanley
Where's the rest of the book?
Found this book a fairly enjoyable light read, but felt that it ended really badly. Well actually, came to the end of the book and thought that there was a chapter missing or... Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2007 by S. Morley
More than zero
This is a bit better than your average blockbuster. While Long is no Evelyn Waugh, he's got an easy, readable style that bears favourable comparison with the turgid prose of Dan... Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2007 by laughing gravy
I cannot get over this Author
When is this man gonna write a book that I do not devour in days..
I love his stuff...
Read this very original author
Published on 7 Feb 2006 by Mrs. F. Mulligan
Year Zero - #Jeff long
This is a well written book and I connected with the lead male "Nathan" and the female lead "Miranda" almost immediately. Read more
Published on 27 July 2005 by Peter R. Moore
A Sobering and quite depressing read.
I looked forward to reading this book as the outline of the story on the back looked very interesting. Read more
Published on 2 July 2004
Exciting - unpredictable
After his stunningly exciting "The Descent", Jeff Long has done it again. The story in "Year Zero" is unpredictable and original. Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2004
WORTH GOING A "LONG" WAY FOR HIS WRITING SKILL...
Jeffery Long is an excellent writer. He creates scenes that are vivid, involving and memorable! I often find myself re-reading a sentence or two in his books for the sheer pleasure... Read more
Published on 20 May 2003 by Joseph F. Leoce Jr.
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