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Code to Zero

ken follett

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A man wakes up to find himself lying on the ground in a railway station, his mind stripped bare of all recollection. He has no idea how he got there; he does not even know his own name. Convinced he is a drunken down and out, it isn’t until a newspaper report about a satellite launch catches his eye that he suspects all is not what it seems…

The year is 1958, and America is about to launch its first satellite in a desperate attempt to match the Soviet Sputnik and regain the lead in the space race. As Luke Lucas gradually unravels the mystery of his amnesia, he realizes that his fate is bound up with that of the rocket that stands ready on launch pad 26B at Cape Canaveral.

And as he relearns the story of his life, he uncovers long-kept secrets about his wife, his best friend and the woman he once loved more than life itself…

Code to Zero deals with one of the most ruthlessly contested arenas of the Cold War. Deceit and betrayal, love and trust interweave at the most political and personal levels, while the spectre of mind-control hovers constantly above. Each second brings destruction closer…

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 1,2000
Places
washington d.c., cape canaveral florida, 

This edition

Format
384 pages, Paperback
Published
December 6, 2005 by Penguin Publishing Group
ISBN
9780451216724
ASIN
0451216725
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Luke Lucas

    Luke Lucas

    Handsome with wavy black hair and elegant clothes.He is a scientist....

  • Elspeth Twomey

    Elspeth Twomey

    Lukes wife.She and Luke met when they were both still at universities, Luke at Harvard and she Radcliffee. They both majored in Mathematics.She was the most striking beauty on campus at Radcliffe, tall with long coppery hair, with pale resolute face of a ...

  • Anthony Carroll

    Anthony Carroll

    Lukes best friend from Harvard.He had always planned to work in Washington and majored government at Harvard. He was a star of OSS in the war. Had been hired in 1947 when CIA was set up. He was working for the Office of Strategic Services, precursor of CI...

  • Pete Maxell

    Pete Maxell

    An agent under Anthony....

  • Dr Billie Josephson

    Dr Billie Josephson

    Her first name is Bilhah, from a Jewish family in Dallas.She was at Radcliffe at the same time with Elspeth. She dated Anthony briefly and was married to Bern Rothsten, also a Harvard student and friend of Luke and Anthony.She has a seven year old son, La...

  • Bern Rothsten

    Bern Rothsten

    Billies ex.He is a successful childrens books writer.He was in OSS together with Luke during the war working behind enemy lines, helping the French resistance until 1946....

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About the author

Profile Image for ken follett

ken follett

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Ken Follett is one of the world's most successful authors. Over 170 million copies of the 36 books he has written have been sold in over 80 countries and in 33 languages.

Born on June 5th, 1949 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a tax inspector, Ken was educated at state schools and went on to graduate from University College, London, with an Honours degree in Philosophy – later to be made a Fellow of the College in 1995.

He started his career as a reporter, first with his hometown newspaper the South Wales Echo and then with the London Evening News. Subsequently, he worked for a small London publishing house, Everest Books, eventually becoming Deputy Managing Director.

Ken's first major success came with the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978. A World War II thriller set in England, this book earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It remains one of Ken's most popular books.

In 1989, Ken's epic novel about the building of a medieval cathedral, The Pillars of the Earth, was published. It reached number one on best-seller lists everywhere and was turned into a major television series produced by Ridley Scott, which aired in 2010. World Without End, the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, proved equally popular when it was published in 2007.

Ken's new book, The Evening and the Morning, will be published in September 2020. It is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth and is set around the year 1,000, when Kingsbridge was an Anglo-Saxon settlement threatened by Viking invaders.

Ken has been active in numerous literacy charities and was president of Dyslexia Action for ten years. He was chair of the National Year of Reading, a joint initiative between government and businesses. He is also active in many Stevenage charities and is President of the Stevenage Community Trust and Patron of Home-Start Hertfordshire.

Ken, who loves music almost as much as he loves books, is an enthusiastic bass guitar player. He lives in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, with his wife Barbara, the former Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren and two Labradors.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
35(35%)
4 stars
29(29%)
3 stars
36(36%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
kinglayy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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It's sad to say that 'Code to Zero' was Follett's first real flop and disappointment!

The book is filled with unnecessary cheesy hyperboles, and a plot that tries to be creative but it goes nowhere! Sadly, the idea of writing a book about USA vs U.S.S.R cold war, in the likes of a character that suffers 'amnesia' becomes a little too daunting, even to the master Follett. The characters are so poorly developed, mostly due to Follett's insistence of contrasting the story in the present and with irritating flashbacks! Some ideas are downright incoherent, and that left me frustrated and waiting to finish the book!

Follett was bound to err at some point! Even Michael Jordan has flubbed the winning point at the buzzard and missed the winning shot; Usain Bolt the fastest in the world finished his career with a disappointing 3rd place finish, and even Michael Phelps failed to medal gold in the Olympics... Humans are humans after all, and we're bound to fail at times.


Ken Follett is an absolute master of storytelling, and he's able to weave stories that are rich, with well developed characters and historical accuracies that astounds the soul! Follett's 'Pillars of the Earth' is astonishing achievement in literary composition. This frighteningly mediore book 'Code to Zero' is certainly an anomaly, and I don't really recommend it to anyone.. unless you have 5 hours to kill and enjoy the occasional mental torture.





"I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed."
- Michael Jordan


2 sad Stars :(
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RuGKun
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I wish I could give this book a Zero star rating. I have read may of Ken Follett's other books and found them all to be well-written and well-researched. Not this time. "Code to Zero" has an impossibly bad story line with way too many coincidences, cheesy characters, badly written dialogue, over-the-top scenes, bad sequencing... I could go on. I echo the sentiment of another reviewer, who questioned whether Mr. Follett actually wrote this drivel himself. I will be tossing my copy in a recycle bin to spare anyone else I know from wasting his or her time reading it, all the while hoping for the end of the book to come quickly. To Ken Follett, if he should ever see this commentary: You are capable of much better. Please don't embarrass yourself like this again.
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FirebirdJP
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Although the story was quite entertaining, I'm finding more and more that I'm not the right reader for the kind of story. That's why I cleaned up my reading pile by a few agent thrillers and look now forward to reading something else.
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NFMaster
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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If there was ever a poster boy for book smart, people stupid, it would be the hero of this story. Everyone around him is a Soviet spy and which he is totally obviously about and (no kidding), he is a rocket scientist for NASA-LMAO!! Neither NASA or the CIA will endorse this novel as they both come off as idiots.
Add a plot that puts the fuddle in befuddled and only Follett's reputation got this published. Very disappointed in book.
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purpleIris
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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He visto que el libro tenía 999 reseñas, así que no he podido evitar poner una y ser la 1000
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Huangi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Ken Follett can write brilliant, complex, gripping novels. This is not one of them. The whole thing manages to be bland and convoluted at the same time and stretches credulity to the breaking point.
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