Nemesis

by Bill Napier

Book Overview

From the author of the highly acclaimed Splintered Icon comes a fast-paced, hidden history thrill ride in which a code buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the only salvation for the survival of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031293680X
• ISBN13: 9780312936808
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 453 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.3" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

twists and turns

I couldn't put this book down! I kept having one obvious (to me) question about what was going on which was eventually answered to my satisfaction by the end.

A lifetime's knowledge

This book really does pack a lifetime's knowledge into one novel. Napier is writing from his specialty, which lucky for him happens to be something most people are aware of and find interesting. The refreshing part here is that he is capable of actually writing in an appealing, mass-market style, unlike a lot of specialists who attempt to cash-in on their expertise. Also refreshing is the new angle he brings to the over-worked asteroid-threatens-Earth storyline. By having the Russians actually behind the collision opens up a whole new world of possibilities and drama. The only downside to the book is the science & technobabble may be a bit heavy for the average fork-and-spoon operator.

A Thriller in the True Sense of the Word

There are a plethora of books that have jumped on the band wagon that is the Da Vinci Code, but Bill Napier wrote this book in 1998, well before Dan Brown wrote his book. Nemesis really is a thriller and one that I heartily recommend. A report from the CIA confirms that Russian cosmonauts have somehow managed to change the path of an asteroid in space and set it on a collision course for the United States. A top team of the world's best astronomers have a maximum of five days to identify the asteroid, given the code name of Nemesis and if they manage to do so they will then have the not inconsiderable task of deflecting the asteroid before it reaches the earth's atmosphere. With time extremely critical and the team becoming increasingly desperate in their bid to avert a disaster the like of which the world has never seen, Oliver Webb a British asteroid expert discovers that the course of the asteroid was once predicted in a 17th century Latin manuscript, the sole copy of which has mysteriously gone missing . . . Bill Napier is up there with the best when it comes to writing this type of novel and this is as good as any. A really exciting book that thrills and frightens the reader at the same time.

excellent neo-Cold War thriller

The Cold War ended with a whimper, but a few decades later the Soviet Union like a humongous Phoenix has returned with the same objective of burying the west. This time the Soviets are more direct in their hostilities; their physicists come up with Project Nemesis, redirecting an asteroid to crash into the United States. The American government struggles to resume the Cold War mentality, but considers a nuclear retaliatory strike. However the immediate need is to divert Nemesis from its new path with only five days till splashdown kills millions. Scientists from all over the free world have gathered at the Mexican border to abort Nemesis. Physicist Dr. Oliver Webb is assigned finding the projectile before it is too late, but he knows he seeks a grain of sand amidst a desert. Still as the countdown to Armageddon continues, Oliver concludes that clues finding the asteroid is in a four century old document. Once he obtains that manuscript, he believes he can pinpoint Nemesis so that the other team members will be able to complete the mission. Revising the Soviet threat with two decades more of technology and scientific information would in of itself be a terrific save the world thriller. However, what makes NEMESIS must reading for the thriller crowd is Bill Napier's pull no punches knockout description of the vast devastation a direct hit by an asteroid would do to the earth. That vivid pandemic scenario on top of the action-packed exhilarating tale is mindful of the Willis movie Armageddon, but with more subplots, twists and spins make for a neo-Cold War thriller. Harriet Klausner

Again, excellent

I am reading Dr. Napier's books in a weird order. Revealation first, then Shattered Icon then Nemesis. Nemesis is exceedingly entertaining not to mention very very accurate. From the point of view of both a Sci-fi/Mystery reader as well as a person with a strong science background, it is a perfect book to suck away a week of evenings!!!srl