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pmurray's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lynguy1's review
4.0
Lawrence Wright’s political and medical thriller The End of October was published early in 2020 and written slightly before the recent pandemic. Dr. Henry Parsons is the deputy director for infectious diseases at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. After attending a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, he is sent to Indonesia where forty-seven people have died with acute hemorrhagic fever. What he finds is horrifying in multiple ways. When an infected man leaves the country to join the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Henry joins forces with a Saudi Arabian price and doctor to quarantine those that have been exposed. What caused the virus? Is it a form of biowarfare, an accidental escape from a laboratory, or something natural that is new?
Henry is sincere, frugal, intelligent, compassionate, curious, and radiates confidence. However, he can also be reticent and steely. He also feels guilt and shame for actions early in his career. The other characters have varying degrees of depth. While most of the book is from Henry’s point of view, readers also get the occasional point of view from his wife Jill, his daughter Helen, a reporter, and a deputy director for homeland security.
I thought this book was well-researched. Be prepared for in-depth discussions of the history and nature of viruses and prior pandemics as well as discussions around the science of combatting them. Additionally, many of the things we recently experienced with the coronavirus pandemic occurred in this novel. Examples include how unprepared the world was for it from a public health standpoint. This included things like the lack of ventilators and personal protective equipment and the understaffing at hospitals to handle the workload. It also shows how scientists worked tirelessly to develop a vaccine. However, the book also shows the breakdown of trust, economic impact, fear, hatred, and much more. The difficulty of quarantines and the run on store supplies and groceries also found its way into the novel. One big difference is that this novel goes even further to include some geopolitical actions that take the story to another level.
Overall, this is a heartbreaking, riveting, and frightening novel that kept me engaged throughout. If you enjoy medical and political thrillers as well as science and history of viruses and pandemics, then I highly recommend this novel.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was April 28, 2020.
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My 3.84 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.
Henry is sincere, frugal, intelligent, compassionate, curious, and radiates confidence. However, he can also be reticent and steely. He also feels guilt and shame for actions early in his career. The other characters have varying degrees of depth. While most of the book is from Henry’s point of view, readers also get the occasional point of view from his wife Jill, his daughter Helen, a reporter, and a deputy director for homeland security.
I thought this book was well-researched. Be prepared for in-depth discussions of the history and nature of viruses and prior pandemics as well as discussions around the science of combatting them. Additionally, many of the things we recently experienced with the coronavirus pandemic occurred in this novel. Examples include how unprepared the world was for it from a public health standpoint. This included things like the lack of ventilators and personal protective equipment and the understaffing at hospitals to handle the workload. It also shows how scientists worked tirelessly to develop a vaccine. However, the book also shows the breakdown of trust, economic impact, fear, hatred, and much more. The difficulty of quarantines and the run on store supplies and groceries also found its way into the novel. One big difference is that this novel goes even further to include some geopolitical actions that take the story to another level.
Overall, this is a heartbreaking, riveting, and frightening novel that kept me engaged throughout. If you enjoy medical and political thrillers as well as science and history of viruses and pandemics, then I highly recommend this novel.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was April 28, 2020.
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My 3.84 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.
suvata's review
4.0
ModernMrsDarcy.com 2020 Summer Reading Guide
I certainly hope that Lawrence Wright is not prophetic. This book was written in 2019 which means it must’ve been started in 2017-2018. The COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020. This book is about a virus that appears to be even more wide-spread and infectious called the Kongili pandemic. Almost Steven King-esque but when reading it sometimes felt like non-fiction. Good book if you can bear to read it during these times. I don’t know if it’s healthy to read a pandemic book while going through a pandemic. Future war story was a bonus. Doomsday - Can it really happen?
I certainly hope that Lawrence Wright is not prophetic. This book was written in 2019 which means it must’ve been started in 2017-2018. The COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020. This book is about a virus that appears to be even more wide-spread and infectious called the Kongili pandemic. Almost Steven King-esque but when reading it sometimes felt like non-fiction. Good book if you can bear to read it during these times. I don’t know if it’s healthy to read a pandemic book while going through a pandemic. Future war story was a bonus. Doomsday - Can it really happen?
timna_wyckoff's review
3.0
Well, that was crazy. As others have observed - WEIRDLY prescient. Seems well-researched (none of the biology irritated me -- nicely done), but not a lot of there there other than the facts. Easy read, I enjoyed it actually. Shrug.
blumoongirl's review
4.0
First I have to say....I listened to this book as opposed to reading a physical book.
The complaints I have read about the minute explanations the author provides in the book-I thoroughly enjoyed. This book is scarily timely and parallels so much of what is going on in the world as I write this. Each time I turned it off I was so curious to see what was going to happen next and compare it to real life.
As far as the ‘bad’ writing people are complaining about? It doesn’t translate poorly to the audio version which I highly recommend.
The complaints I have read about the minute explanations the author provides in the book-I thoroughly enjoyed. This book is scarily timely and parallels so much of what is going on in the world as I write this. Each time I turned it off I was so curious to see what was going to happen next and compare it to real life.
As far as the ‘bad’ writing people are complaining about? It doesn’t translate poorly to the audio version which I highly recommend.
gretlulu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
waynediane's review
5.0
I would have given this 6 stars! I can't believe he wrote this before the COVID Pandemic. This fiction follows just like the present pandemic. Incompetence in Washington, but with a much more global devastating impact. The Protagonist is a Fauci. GREAT READ!
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review
4.0
This is a contagion thriller, written by Lawrence Wright.
What this means is that it is intelligent, well written, exciting, and presented in a way that is all too believable.
Henry Parsons is a microbiologist, and epidemiologist who is sent by the World Health Organization to evaluate an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic fever in an internment camp for gay men in Indonesia. Indonesia's prejudice against LGBT people has already let the situation go on for too long, He's still in discovery mode when the disease makes a huge jump via his driver in Jakarta, who leaves to go to Mecca on Hajj.
Imagine millions of people in one small area, praying together, performing rituals, When the Hajj is over, those infected people will spread out all over the globe when they return home. Henry teams with a Saudi prince who is a also an epidemiologist. They know the only thing they can do is try to keep everyone in Mecca until the disease burns itself off. You can imagine how this goes, and what happens afterward makes for tense, terrifying reading.
Making an epidemiologist the central character seems to make a narrative a little stiff. There will be a lot of medical explanation, and no matter how well it is presented, it is what it is. Henry is a pretty practical guy, not young, not handsome, with a limp, but he does a lot of heroic flying all over the place that would put anyone into a jetlag coma. You like him, but you can't really care about him. He is superhuman, despite his unassuming demeanor.
What the character of Henry does do is give us access to the upper working of medical and governmental agencies while they grapple with what has been unleashed. Not pretty, and perhaps the most frightening of all.
"The End of October" is a quality thriller, and all too possible. Wash your hands frequently--it's about all we can do.
Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for this review copy.
.
What this means is that it is intelligent, well written, exciting, and presented in a way that is all too believable.
Henry Parsons is a microbiologist, and epidemiologist who is sent by the World Health Organization to evaluate an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic fever in an internment camp for gay men in Indonesia. Indonesia's prejudice against LGBT people has already let the situation go on for too long, He's still in discovery mode when the disease makes a huge jump via his driver in Jakarta, who leaves to go to Mecca on Hajj.
Imagine millions of people in one small area, praying together, performing rituals, When the Hajj is over, those infected people will spread out all over the globe when they return home. Henry teams with a Saudi prince who is a also an epidemiologist. They know the only thing they can do is try to keep everyone in Mecca until the disease burns itself off. You can imagine how this goes, and what happens afterward makes for tense, terrifying reading.
Making an epidemiologist the central character seems to make a narrative a little stiff. There will be a lot of medical explanation, and no matter how well it is presented, it is what it is. Henry is a pretty practical guy, not young, not handsome, with a limp, but he does a lot of heroic flying all over the place that would put anyone into a jetlag coma. You like him, but you can't really care about him. He is superhuman, despite his unassuming demeanor.
What the character of Henry does do is give us access to the upper working of medical and governmental agencies while they grapple with what has been unleashed. Not pretty, and perhaps the most frightening of all.
"The End of October" is a quality thriller, and all too possible. Wash your hands frequently--it's about all we can do.
Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for this review copy.
.