I love reading the older Ken Follett books. Here we have Commune dwellers who have been in their secluded community for 25 years. The leaders are Priest and Star, who left the creature comforts of everyday living to find peace and tranquility. And they did, living a simple life running a vineyard in CA and leasing government land. When the governor of CA announces he wants to build a damn, Star's lease is not renewed and the commune dwellers had to evacuate the land. Priest refused to leave and hated the democratic leaders who insisted on destroying the land by building power plants. He decides to threaten the Governor claiming he can cause an earthquake and if he did not want statewide devastation he needed to stop building power plants. When Priest met Melanie who had access to information on fault lines and when he was able to steal a seismic vibrator his plan started to take shape. Judy Maddox is the FBI agent who uncovers Priest's past a.k.a. Ricky Granger, and does everything she can to stop the killing and destruction an earthquake can cause. Does she believe an earthquake can be manmade? When two occur on the day and time Priest predicted she takes no chances in disbelieving him.

The book is fast paced and full of the excitement that Ken Follett know how to deliver.

I recently finished reading this book. This is another pot boiler with an Over the Top Theme. Just like a Bollywood movie. A group of people living in the mountains far away from civilization led by an ex-convict Priest. Their place of residence is threatened to be taken away as a Power Plant being built would cause the valley to submerge. Priest stumbles upon an idea that they can cause an earthquake using a seismic vibrator, which is used for Oil Exploration. They manage to steal a seismic vibrator and issue a warning to the Governor to stop building Power Plants or face an earthquake. The warning is ignored and they actually create an earthquake and things become serious as FBI gets in. The group causes a second more serious earthquake after giving a warning, which is again ignored and several people die and chaos ensues. Still the warning is ignored and Priest gives a warning for a third earthquake, which sets the stage for a dramatic climax as the earthquake is thwarted and final showdown happens. People die, gunshots are fired, Helicoptors crash etc etc. The best part of the novel, I thought was the Office Politics showdown between the FBI agent Judy Maddox and her new Boss Brian Kincaid, who sidelines her bringing in an inept Marven Hayes. This part is written very well. Rest all reads like slam bang movie. Time Pass stuff.

What's better than finding a book by an author you respect and enjoy -- in a genre you don't expect.

I've read Ken Follett's epics about the building of medieval castles, his giant series about generations of a US family, and even several of his WWII and Spy novels.....but this was different...

When California announces plans to build several new lakes that will flood "fairly unused" territory and improve water usage for the state, the old hippies, still living in a commune with no utilities, money or conveniences are distraught and then determined to handle the situation by threatening the governor. If he doesn't call off the waterways, they will cause an earthquake. Thus begins a tale of planning, theft of giant machinery to set off vibrations to throw the delicately balanced subterranean plates into a full fledged earthquake. A sharp young female FBI agent is hard on their trail -- until her superiors, disturbed by her expertise take her off the case and back to making coffee in the office.

Good twists and turns and great plot lines....Highly recommended.

这次肯大师没有极尽怪癖描写性行为，而是努力刻画人物。主角越战混血后裔FBI特工朱迪写得相当好。

3.9⭐️

Disappointed. Implausibility abound throughout. Obviously a lazy knock-off, trading on his name. Follett is a riddle to me. How such a masterful work as Pillars of the Earth can come from the same pen as this pap and, say, Eye Of The Needle, is a mystery. Lol

The dude can do a thriller and make you root for the good gal and the bad guy.

il libro racconta la storia di un gruppo di hippie americano guidato da un leader carismatico con tratti psicopatici - Priest - che si ritrova ad affrontare l'imminente inondazione della valle dove vivono per colpa della costruzione di una centrale elettrica.
Priest accompagnato dall'amante Melanie trova un modo assurdo e incredibile per minacciare il governatore: ha rubato un vibratore sismico e ora, se lo posiziona in certi precisi punti sopra certe faglie puo scatenare terremoti.
Judy Maddox, agente dell'FBI si ritrova a combattere questa minaccia cosicche il governatore non debba cedere al ricatto.
La storia prosegue a ritmi serrati e alterna la narrazione di Priest a quella di Maddox mostrando in modo molto interessante i due punti di vista. Priest diventa sempre piu disperato e pronto a tutto, tanto che alla fine non si cura piu delle centinaia di vite che puo uccidere scatenando un terremoto.
Seppur apprezzando molto la costruzione del libro, non lo ritengo uno dei migliori di Ken Follet perchè a tratti la trama diventava un po' banale e ripetitiva - sembrava ricondursi a una semplice caccia al topo tra fbi e hippie.
Tutto sommato un libro di piacevole lettura che consiglio a chi piacciono thriller e avventure.

2 stars. There were aspects of this book I did like, the pacing was one of them. I was disappointed with the characters. What a bunch of dirt bags! I didn't like Priest, or Star, or Melanie, and I got increasingly frustrated every time he escaped the FBI. Priest was so out of the loop in technology, yet he outsmarted the FBI three times?! Come one! And he had been shot twice in one of those instances? The biggest issue I had was the sex scene between Priest and Melanie, and then Star came in trying for a threesome. Melanie was not having it, and when Star touched her Melanie said no three times and was forced to then slap Star's hand away. Star got upset and asked why she did that. I was like, "she slapped you because you kept touching her after she told you to stop!!!" Ugh! Gross! Don't keep touching someone after they tell you to stop!!!!!! What's wrong with you??!! Priest and Star were irredeemable at that point. I didn't root for either of them. I hoped they both would be imprisoned for decades. A few things didn't make sense to me either. In the beginning Priest killed Mario for the Seismic vibrator because of a deadline, yet he had the truck after the deadline and kept it. Why didn't he just wait until Mario came back with the vibrator so he could steal it?How did he get away with stealing machinery from the company he worked for? Follett can do so much better.

Dopo tre libri di questo autore già letti, due dei quali mi avevano lasciata abbastanza delusa, con questo è tornato a farsi stimare a pieno. Nonostante abbia ormai capito quale sia in linea di massima lo stile di Follett, questa storia mi ha sorpreso in svariati punti con colpi di scena davvero imprevedibili. Semplicemente magnifico.

Brilliant. Ken Follett is such a brilliant author.

I haven't found a Ken Follet book that I don't enjoy. This one was no exception. This is about a group of aged hippies attempting to coerce the California government into halting the building of power plants. They intend to keep it peaceful and expect that the governor will cede to their demands and then they can go back to living their lives peacefully in their commune. Of course it doesn't turn out that way. The governor is non-responsive to their request. So, they up their game and make further threats under the name of The Hammer of Eden.

My feelings on the hippy group and their leader, Ricky Granger, fluctuated quite a bit throughout the story. At some points in the story I felt bad for them while at other points I didn't.

There are entwined stories of frustration, fury, and impotence amongst the FBI agents involved in the case. It's very intense and will keep you turning the pages until the end.