Tag Archives: Medical Thriller

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Pandemic

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This very complex and circuitous story. It took me eighteen (18) days to read this book and that is about twelve (12) days too long for any book. The problem was not so much with the story as a whole, but that there just seemed to be almost too much going on. There were wars, conspiracies, secret societies, romance, intrigue, and a host of other things. The characters were all good and I was happy to get to know them. I became very invested in the bulk of the characters, and there were quite a few of them. It was kind of hard keeping track sometimes though because there are so many twists in relation to the characters and the situations which change on a dime.

A mysterious outbreak starts to spread across Kenya and the CDC and WHO respond but are unprepared for what they find. A submarine with no identification markings is found sunken one hundred miles north of Alaska with evidence of scientific experiments having been performed there. Dr. Peyton Shaw is deployed to Kenya from the CDC to help trace the pathogen, as she does she starts to believe the outbreak may be a part of a larger plan. Desmond Hughes wakes up in a Berlin Hotel with a dead man and no memory of who he is, but a clue leads him to Peyton Shaw who knows him but will not tell him how. All this and more.

While I liked the book there were a few things that made me a little crazy. While I appreciate the fact that the book was well researched I don’t think every bit of that research needed to go into this one book, particularly since it is the beginning of a series. The thing was 137 chapters long, I hate having to go through that many when some are only a paragraph long. Though it may only be me, I do not think Disco music was around in 1965, even in Hong Kong. The thing that I did like a lot was that things tied up well for all the roundabout that went on.

I would recommend this but warn you to be prepared for a lot of information. If you like medical thrillers this may work for you.

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

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The Cadaver of Gideon Cathcart

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The Cadaver of Gideon Cathcart

by Edison McDaniels

I don’t want to rate this because I did not finish it. While I found the premise interesting I could not find my way into the story long enough or far enough to really lose myself in it. The characters were alright but seemed bland and since the hospital was supposed to be a character I expected a lot more from it. To be perfectly honest it bored me. I started and stopped the book for almost a month before I just gave up. I may give it a go some other time.

My rating: 0 of 5 stars

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The K2 Virus

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The K2 Virus

by Scott Rhine

I have never read anything from this author before and so did not know what to expect. It has been a while since I read a political or medical thriller and this could pull me back into reading more of both if they are this good. I enjoyed the fact that there was a slow build on how things progressed as opposed to a break neck speed in getting to the heart of things. This did not catch me with the first page but by chapter two I was all in. The characters were very well laid out and seem genuine for the most part though some were just sketched since they did not appear very often. The story was believable as far as the science behind the evolution of the virus and its spread, which made it perfect.

Daniel Mann is a 27 year old man who has deferred his life in order to care for his mother after an accident left her a partial invalid. He is working a job he hates and is overqualified for just for the benefits. Daniel brought down a company and wants to make it up to the other employees by getting them jobs but he ends up in a bad situation because he cannot seem to read women.

In North Korea a virus has been unleashed in the population by men trying to make money inside a repressive country. Jero is a smuggler who gets tainted beef which he takes to his brother-in-law to butcher for sale. He along with several others are infected by the mucus and blood of the cows. Because of the close confines they live in the virus finds a lot of hosts in a short period of time as they go about their normal business.

There is political posturing, medical issues, military intrigue, not to mention lots of spies from all sides. South Korea is caught unaware because they just want things to calm down on both sides. This definitely makes you think.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Extinction End

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extinction end

Extinction End (The Extinction Cycle #5)

 

I love this series and am very happy with the way things have played out in this last entry in the main story. The writing has just gotten better and better from book to book.The characters were already well done but have also seemed to gain more depth and emotion as things have progressed throughout. The language never caused the story to drag either through dialogue or descriptions. The action was just that, action packed and engrossing. The monsters were everything you would have expected as they morphed into even more grotesque creatures. I was totally into the story from the first page to last.

In the midst of some devastating losses we have even more things happening to make life almost unbearable. Kate, Meg, Tasha, Jenny, and many other survivors are taken from Plum Island and may be lost. Reed and Big Horn come home to find them missing but is still happy to see that Fitz and Apollo are not lost to them. The juvenile variants are a much bigger threat than originally thought, but they may still at least be able to eliminate part of the problem. But can they get back the woman who helped create the weapon? Will the remaining members of Team Ghost and the Variant Hunters be able to neutralize the juveniles and take back the cities? It is an uphill battle that is fought with courage and honor by everyone except a very few.

The action starts from the beginning and barely gives you time to breath as it moves from one tense situation to the next. One of the things I have loved about these books is that when they are in tight spots the way they get out makes perfect sense and does not seem contrived or over the top. I have cried and laughed and cheered for these characters because they have become like friends and family. I am going to miss them and hope to see them again in better times.
Great series, great book, Highly Recommend!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Fitz slid his mask into position and pulled his bandana up to cover it. He breathed in, and picked up a distinct sour smell of sweat. It took his mind a moment to grasp that it was from the bandana’s previous owner. A piece of Riley was going back out there after all. And so was a piece of Meg. Glancing down, Fitz admired the axe hanging from his belt. He’d sawed the handle down so it would fit over his armor, but that didn’t change the fact it had been Meg’s. She’d held onto it all the way from New York to the GW. When Garcia had given it to him, Fitz had thought he might display it as a memento of her. Then he decided that a better way to honor her memory would be to split some Variant heads with it. He wasn’t much of a religious man, but he did believe the deceased lived on in the hearts and minds of those they left behind. Today, Riley and Meg would join them in battle.”
― Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Extinction End

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