Helpful Score: 2
I thought this story would be right up my alley. It was, until it became just too technical and convoluted.
Helpful Score: 2
Hot on the trail of having just finished another technothriller, I picked up Carriers. This is a reread for me. I first picked it up in high school, having read The Hot Zone (about Ebola), and the fact that the back of this book promises to be about a plague more deadly and infectious than Ebola, well ... I'm sure you can see where my high school mind was going with this.
So, then, what prompted the reread? I was making additional space on my bookshelf and one of the paperbacks had to go. After looking over the books I've decided to keep as a permanent collection, I decided that the one I'd be the least devastated to part with (though I'm still distraught) was Carriers, but I wouldn't let it go without a reread.
This is a technothriller to the max. It has epidemiological deliciousness spread throughout moments of sheer terror caused by animals behaving as they will and humans' almost infinite ability to throw up a huge wall of denial when met with a scary problem. In this case, the scary problem was a malarial mutation which is just likely enough to be believable. This book follows two different protagonists and provides two different view points, switching when necessary. I really like that in a novel, though I recognize that some of you may not, which is why you are getting the warning.
That said, this novel is a hot mess of characters, story lines, and subplots that mostly get resolved. If you don't like a book that makes you track details, then this is not the book for you. Also, there are clinical descriptions of the symptoms of this horrific virus. If you have a problem discussing bodily fluids and orifices around the dinner table, you may want to read this with an airsickness bag beside you.
So, then, what prompted the reread? I was making additional space on my bookshelf and one of the paperbacks had to go. After looking over the books I've decided to keep as a permanent collection, I decided that the one I'd be the least devastated to part with (though I'm still distraught) was Carriers, but I wouldn't let it go without a reread.
This is a technothriller to the max. It has epidemiological deliciousness spread throughout moments of sheer terror caused by animals behaving as they will and humans' almost infinite ability to throw up a huge wall of denial when met with a scary problem. In this case, the scary problem was a malarial mutation which is just likely enough to be believable. This book follows two different protagonists and provides two different view points, switching when necessary. I really like that in a novel, though I recognize that some of you may not, which is why you are getting the warning.
That said, this novel is a hot mess of characters, story lines, and subplots that mostly get resolved. If you don't like a book that makes you track details, then this is not the book for you. Also, there are clinical descriptions of the symptoms of this horrific virus. If you have a problem discussing bodily fluids and orifices around the dinner table, you may want to read this with an airsickness bag beside you.
Helpful Score: 2
A sudden outbreak occurs deep in the rain forest and a team of American biological-warfare experts are sent to discover its source. Some parts of the book seem very technical but as a person with a science background, I was able to follow it. Surprising source of the virus found near the end of the book. I found the book enjoyable and finished it in a couple of days.
A sudden outbreak occurs deep in the rain forest. A team of American biological-warfare experts is brought in to discover its source. They find only corpses - and riddles without answers. Because this virus feeds on its victims quickly, silently, mercilessly. It is not Ebola, but it's just as deadly - and a hundred times more contagious. It is unknown. It is invisible. And it is airborne...
A killer virus. Great suspense.
A sudden outbreak occurs deep in the rain forrest. A team of American biological-warfare experts is brought in to discover its source. They find only corpses-and riddles without answers. Because this virus feeds on its victims quickly, silently,mercilessly. It is not Ebola, but its just as deadly and 100 times more contagious. It is unknown. It is invisible. And it is airborne...
From the back of the book:
A sudden outbreak occurs deep in the rain forest. A team of American biological-warfare experts is brought in to discover its source. They find only corpses - and riddles without answers. Because this virus feeds on its victims quickly, silently, mercilessly. It is not Ebola, but it's just as deadly - and a hundred times more contagious. It is unknown. It is invisible. And it is airborne...
A sudden outbreak occurs deep in the rain forest. A team of American biological-warfare experts is brought in to discover its source. They find only corpses - and riddles without answers. Because this virus feeds on its victims quickly, silently, mercilessly. It is not Ebola, but it's just as deadly - and a hundred times more contagious. It is unknown. It is invisible. And it is airborne...
