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Buy Whiteout by Ken Follett available and for sale on Brightsurf
| View Larger Image | Whiteout
by Ken Follett
| | List Price: | $26.95 | | Price: | $23.36 | | You Save: | $3.59 (13%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 324245 | | Studio: | Dutton Adult | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 384 | | Publication Date: | November 23, 2004 | | Publisher: | Dutton Adult |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Like no other suspense author in his genre, Follett reinvents the thriller with each new storyline. But nothing matches the intricate, knife-edge drama of Whiteout. A missing canister of a deadly virus. A lab technician bleeding from the eyes. Toni Gallo, the security director of a Scottish medical research firm, knows she has problems, but she has no idea of the nightmare to come. As a Christmas Eve blizzard whips out of the north, several people converge on a remote family house. Stanley Oxenford, the research company’s director, has everything riding on the drug he is developing to fight the virus—but he isn’t the only one: His grown children, who have come to spend Christmas, have their eyes on the money it will bring; Toni Gallo, forced to resign from the police department in disgrace, is betting her career on keeping the drug safe; a local television reporter, determined to move up, has sniffed the story, even if he has to bend the facts to tell it; and a violent trio of thugs is on its way to steal it for a client already waiting—though what the client really has in mind is something that will shock them all. As the storm worsens, the emotional sparks—jealousies, distrust, sexual attraction, rivalries—crackle; desperate secrets are revealed; hidden traitors and unexpected heroes emerge. Filled with startling twists at every turn, Whiteout rockets Follett to a class by himself. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.0 based on 132 reviews)
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Not the best of Ken Follett 
I've read a lot of Ken Follett, and Whiteout I'd rate at the second to worst of his books. Not that's it's bad, thus the three stars, but it's almost written in an amateurish style...very predictable characters, predictable plot, but still well-written and entertaining. Quick read.
May 23, 2008 | |
Avoid 'Whiteout' Like the Plague 
'Whiteout' features a break-in to a high-security biomedical lab in Scotland. A deadly, more robust variant of the ebola virus is the target. The son of the lab's owner is in on the dirty job and terrorists are the buyers. Ken Follett gathers the elements of a good page-turner, but fails miserably to translate it into a credible story.
The book contains numerous groaners. The characters are all carciatures. The lab owner's son had been in charge of the security software before he was caught stealing from dad, but the passwords aren't changed! The lab's security director just happens to be the ex- of the top cop in charge of the case, but they continue to bicker like 6-year olds while an extremely deadly virus has been stolen and remains unaccounted for. Later, a fight occurs in which the four combatants all end up in a pile at the bottom of a staircase - at which point I begin to wonder if Follett isn't just pulling our leg and the whole book is supposed a comedic farce. Victims that clearly should simply be shot dead by the bad guys are instead tied up - how do you think that works out? Didn't I see that in an Austin Powers movie?
Has Follett gone downhill or have I become pickier? I used to enjoy his works (The Pillars of the Earth and Lie Down With Lions), but combine this one with the more recent World Without End, the long-awaited sequel to Pillars, and I am ready to look elsewhere for a good thriller - like Lee Child's Without Fail (Jack Reacher Novels).
Avoid this book - dare I say, like the plague.
April 11, 2008 | |
It was a dark and stormy night, and the writing on the wall was at a 3rd grade level
The plot, the characters... all reminiscent of a b-movie that, alas, doesn't know it's a b-movie. Characters (and their actions) are described in such broad and clichéd brushes that I actually started to laugh and roll my eyes during the 98 pages I was able to get through before contributing this book to my recycling bin.
No nuances, no surprises, just Krispy-Kreme-artful "suspense" from page to page. Instead of hinting at a character's motivation, Follett continually hits home the point with all the subtlety of hammer.
How frustrating! I suppose if you have no interest in an artful or clever turn of phrase and are absolutely positively pained at the thought of, well, thinking, then this is the book for you. And in fairness, I suppose that this book could be a suitable companion for you if you're a jet-lagged and groggy jetsetter and you've already memorized the ads in your seatback Hemisphere's magazine.
But otherwise, unless you wish to masochistically insult your intelligence, pick something else. Even a great many books written for teens and children are blessed with greater sophistication and wit than this book.
January 20, 2008 | |
over-milking the suspense
It started out good. But the ending drags exceptionally too long, and even worse, in a predictable way.
At the ending, Follett milked the suspense too much that the only thing coming out was a bland liquid. I listened to the Books on tape, and had to fast forward since disk 9 (of 11). From disk 9 on, it was like riding a roller-coaster that keeps rolling around the same loop 100 times too many: the villain arose from
death, gun was out of ammo; no mobile phone to find, but when one was found, it had no battery ...
The story pace became stalled , despite all the actions.
December 07, 2007 | |
Shame on Mr. Follett 
This is the first time I've been tempted to write a review past just thinking about it. But I felt I had to warn readers about this poor excuse for a book.
Mr. Follett was obviously under some kind of deadline, or short of cash, to put out this totally lame effort. I had saved it for a fun, fast read after slogging through some Henry James this summer, and was totally disappointed in both the writing and the plot. I can't believe it was actually written by the same author as Eye of the Needle!
September 09, 2007 | |
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