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morgob's review against another edition
4.0
This book terrified me. I actually read the first two chapters of this book while I was in high school, in an advanced biology class when we were studying epidemics and how they work. It scared me so much at the time that it has obviously stayed in my thoughts after all these years, but now I felt like I had the courage to read the rest of the book. I was almost wrong in that assumption. After rereading the first two chapters again, I was still terrified and horrified and all the other kinds of "fied" that say how scared you are. I also have an extremely active imagination, which is often ridiculous, and even began to panic about having a fever or stomach sickness myself. Impossible, I know, but still, it shows how much it bled into my mind. I was on edge through the whole first half of the book. That just goes to show you that sometimes the scariest stories are the true ones. Richard Preston did an excellent job with this book, giving enough information to be incredibly descriptive while also turning it into a story. The characters were even well explained. I didn't feel like any of our "main" characters were flat or faceless. It reminded me a bit of Michael Crichton's writing, actually, with the way that he gave plenty of scientific information while still managing to make the story captivating and hard to put down. I seriously read this book every chance I got on my phone, even during my prep period and lunch break, and way too late at night. I also read the excerpt from his other novel featuring Ebola, Crisis in the Red Zone and that seems very interesting as well. I might check that one out later.
nkz21752's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.75
fleur_de_lisa's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
This book really does read like a modern day thriller.. as every person is introduced, I immediately start worrying for their safety and wellbeing and am sure they are doomed for a horrible, gruesome death. Which, in some cases, does happen. It’s always amazing to me how much we think that we as humans have conquered nature and dominated it, when there’s such a vast network of microscopic viruses tinkering around and laying in wait for the right opportunity to turn everything upside down. And there’s still so much we don’t know about how to most effectively combat them.
rebesaurusrex's review against another edition
3.0
Really interesting story but too much editorializing for my taste - too much description of mundane details that don't really add to the story (like the hobbies of the Jaax's children)
book_concierge's review against another edition
5.0
WOW - Ebola and other killer viruses and the scientists who study them. Did you know there was an outbreak of Ebola virus among monkeys kept in a suburban Washington DC laboratory? Neither did I, until I read this book. Nonfiction that reads like the best medical thriller.
libraryam's review against another edition
4.0
Just came across a reference to this book, which reminded me how affecting it was when I read it years ago. Scary, engrossing, fascinating good read!
lisettemarie's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Animal death, Blood, and Medical content