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Title details for Code to Zero by Ken Follett - Available

Code to Zero

by Ken Follett
George Guidall
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

Acclaimed for his powerful characters and non-stop suspense, best selling-author Ken Follett demonstrates how he earns his reputation with this riveting thriller of Cold War treachery. Code to Zero transports you to America of 1958, riddled with suspicion and tension, as scientists struggle desperately to overtake Russia in the race to control outer space. A man wakes up shaking with fear on the cold restroom floor in Union Station, Washington, D. C. He doesn't know how he got there, or even his own name. His ragged, dirty clothes imply that he's a bum, probably getting over a bender. But something seems terribly wrong—and shadowy figures follow his every move. Searching for answers, the man uncovers a shocking truth that threatens to derail America's space program, even while Cape Canaveral counts down to liftoff. Ken Follet packs plenty of action, passion, and intrigue into this compelling story. Veteran narrator George Guidall's dramatic pacing moves the plot along in high gear.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 3, 2016

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781449873141
      • File size: 279560 KB
      • Duration: 09:42:24

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with the abridged CODE TO ZERO.]--Ken Follett spins a story centering on the U.S.-Russian Space Race of the '50s. The novel starts with an intriguing phenomenon--autobiographical amnesia--and listeners are thrust into the uncertainty that rocket scientist Luc Lucas must unravel. Both versions are handled by narrative masters. It's intriguing to savor the differences between Frank Muller's intense approach in the abridgment and George Guidall's slower, yet no less compelling, reading of the unabridged. The styles are different--Muller gives a hard-driving edge to Luc and Anthony, the CIA's dirty-tricks master. Guidall has the whole text to develop the characters and makes use of the duplicity and deception involving the race to launch America's first satellite. Great spy thriller material in either format. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 4, 2000
      After dabbling in his last few books in historical sagas and various thriller subgenres, Follett returns to his espionage roots with this absorbing, tightly plotted Cold War tale about skullduggery in the early days of the space race. Set in 1958 shortly after the Soviets beat the Americans into orbit, the story tracks the frantic movements of Dr. Claude Lucas, who wakes up one morning in Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, dressed as a bum. A victim of amnesia, he has no recollection that he is a key player in the upcoming launch of Explorer 1, the army's latest attempt to get a rocket into space. While Lucas slowly unravels the clues to his identity, the CIA follows its own agenda. The agency, led by Lucas's old Harvard buddy Anthony Carroll, has its own murky reasons for wanting Lucas to remain amnesic, and will kill him if he tries to interfere with the launch. Follett (The Hammer of Eden) does a wonderful job of keeping readers guessing about Lucas; is he a spy trying to foil the launch, as the CIA apparently believes? From the nation's capital to Alabama and Cape Canaveral, Lucas manages to stay one step ahead of his pursuers, steadily learning more about his memory loss, his wife, Elspeth, and his college friends Carroll, Billie Josephson and Bern Rothsten. Suspense junkies won't be disappointed by Follett's man-on-the-run framework; tension courses through the book from start to finish. Yet where the story shines is in the chemistry between Lucas and the four other major characters. As told through a series of well-chosen flashbacks, all the old college chums are now working or have worked as spies. The dilemma, skillfully posed by Follett, is figuring out who's friend and who's foe. (Dec. 4) Forecast: In his first hardcover for Dutton, Follett is wise to return to his forte of espionage thriller, and to base this novel on a real event, the unexplained delay of the 1958 Explorer 1 launch. Given the promotional hooplaDwhich includes a 425,000 first printing and $400,000 ad/promoDplus first serial to Reader's Digest; status as a BOMC, Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection; simultaneous audios from Penguin Audio; and the sale of movie rights to Columbia Pictures, this book has a good chance of dancing with the charts.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with the unabridged CODE TO ZERO.]--Ken Follett spins a story centering on the U.S.-Russian Space Race of the '50s. The novel starts with an intriguing phenomenon--autobiographical amnesia--and listeners are thrust into the uncertainty that rocket scientist Luc Lucas must unravel. Both versions are handled by narrative masters. It's intriguing to savor the differences between Frank Muller's intense approach in the abridgment and George Guidall's slower, yet no less compelling, reading of the unabridged. The styles are different--Muller gives a hard-driving edge to Luc and Anthony, the CIA's dirty-tricks master. Guidall has the whole text to develop the characters and makes use of the duplicity and deception involving the race to launch America's first satellite. Great spy thriller material in either format. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      [Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with the abridged CODE TO ZERO.]--Ken Follett spins a story centering on the U.S.-Russian Space Race of the '50s. The novel starts with an intriguing phenomenon--autobiographical amnesia--and listeners are thrust into the uncertainty that rocket scientist Luc Lucas must unravel. Both versions are handled by narrative masters. It's intriguing to savor the differences between Frank Muller's intense approach in the abridgment and George Guidall's slower, yet no less compelling, reading of the unabridged. The styles are different--Muller gives a hard-driving edge to Luc and Anthony, the CIA's dirty-tricks master. Guidall has the whole text to develop the characters and makes use of the duplicity and deception involving the race to launch America's first satellite. Great spy thriller material in either format. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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