This book isn’t very good. I read it because my six year old son really liked the front cover art, and wanted me to read it. He wanted me to read it so much in fact that he bought two copies to give me.
The book starts off with something which feels like its lifted straight out of the Andromeda Strain, you know, government agency / possible alien infection / we need a crack team of scientists! The book then moves on to introduce a selection of surprisingly one sided characters — the fat self obsessed scientist, the thin young lady obsessed with getting it on, et cetera. The story jumps around, with sometimes implausible outcomes… For example, people are mid argument, and just magically stop when something happens nearby. Do you know people who stop arguing because the lights flicker?
The book does pick up a little at the end, and I assume all the weird personification we’re subjected to is an attempt to convey that the characters are losing their grip on sanity. Overall, I thought this book was quite rough, which is surprising from an author who apparently has had four other books published.
I have revenge on my six year old planned — I am going to make him read this book when he is older.
Fiction
Berkley
2000
420
"A lethal microbe, a brutal murder, and a sentient iceberg menace coolly competent forensic pathologist Joanna Blaylock."