The Beijing Conspiracy

By: Adrian d'Hagé

Narrated by: Jim Daly

The message on the Al-Jazeera television network is chilling. Dr Muhammad Bashir, the mastermind behind some of al-Qaeda's most deadly bombings against the West and a close confidant of Osama Bin Laden, has warned of a single horrific biological attack on civilisation.

There is no cure for what al-Qaeda threatens to unleash, and there are no vaccines. The White House has dismissed the broadcast as scaremongering, and the President has reasserted his position that the West is winning the war on terror. Denzel O'Connor, the CIA's most experienced counter-terrorism expert, knows the President is bluffing. Holly Braithwaite, a brilliant young Australian biochemist, has already revealed how a deadly super virus can be genetically engineered.

Now, not only has Holly Braithwaite shattered the Presidential Administration's complacency, but several vials of the deadly viruses are missing. O'Connor suspects the vials have found their way into the hands of al-Qaeda - but where are they?

©2007 drian d'Hagé. By arrangement with Penguin Group (Australia) (P)2007 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"A provocative book in which every sort of dogma is questioned and every sort of preconceived idea turned on its head." (The Sunday Mail)

"A classy action thriller." (The Sunday Times)

Relevant ,Great read/listen

I have listened to many great and not so great books this is one of my favorites.
Its well read and relevant to today's possible threats of a biological attack. Its fast paced and frightening in its possibilities.Countless research on genetic engineering anti terroristist potential must have gone into it and makes it more entertaining.

Suspensefull

What did you love best about The Beijing Conspiracy?

As I live in Sydney, the attach on the infastructor was very believable.

Which scene was your favorite?

The entire book was enjoyable.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Worried, as any of the plots were probable. The world has changed so much.

horrible naive british cartoon version of the US

This book is advertised as a spy thriller, terrorism type book in the likes of Flynn, Baldacci etc. It is clearly written by a brit with little or no actual expericence of the United States. The characters are complete stereotypes and cartoons. The president is a dope, the VP is the secret power behind him and the secret CEO of a huge pharma company. The members of the military are all kooks. The one sane and open minded person is a foreigner on the white house staff. The academics are all knowing open minded independent thinkers. They voluntarily work for USAMRID which is a military organization while ridiculing it. Quit if you dont like it. The terrorists are portrayed as these worldy open mined types who pine for the days of all religions getting along. Jesus this book is straight from the Neville Chamberlain school of being an ostrich.

Not one of my favorites

I would have to agree with Steven. This book was very hard to get through because of the ridiculous characters, none of which had any depth or individualism, just stereotypes. I would also add the narrator was horrid. The accents were so bad they were actually hard to understand and distracting from the story. And I mean all of them, American, Chinese, Irish, Arab, even the one character from Mexico who only appears for a few scenes. It made it very difficult to listen to the book and get throough it.

Decent Story ruined by poor narration

This could have been a good book with the right narrator. Some can do accents that really enhance the story. In this book however the accents were so bad they were distracting. The only reason I finished the book wa for the story. If you want this one buy it in print!!!

Terrible Narration

The reader makes every scene with dialogue sound like a really bad Monty Python sketch: unbelievably coarse cartoon accents and characterization. Actually, the story isn't a whole lot better, with shallow characters and a nonsense plot. Overall, hard to listen.