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secre's review
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
When an outbreak of rabies arises in Chattanooga, Tennessee, disease ecologist Letty knows that this is an opportunity that she cannot pass up. She hopes to put her skills and training to use and locate the source animals behind the outbreak. Only it's not going to be that simple. Political pressure to keep the outbreak on the downlow, plus what appears to be a stalker following her around town is enough to slow or even derail Letty's progress.
The medical thriller elements of this are well done. Brooke French has a sound knowledge of rabies backing up her novel, to the point that it surprised me that she was previously a lawyer and not in the medical field. I do like me a good medical thriller, particularly when the science is sound and it is here. Yet it isn't too heavy handed with the science, meaning that a layperson can easily pick it up and follow what's going on. There are a number of possible reservoir animals; with Letty being convinced the local bats are to blame, the police force have been investigating a fire in an animal testing centre where many of the animals were let loose. It's therefore not predictable and will keep you guessing all the way to the finale.
That said, I wasn't too keen on the actual finale. It certainly is a possibility, but annoyed me as it changed the premise of the book from the fascinating thriller based on disease ecology and into something more like a murder mystery novel. I'd have preferred the solution to be less twisty and more in keeping with the usual spread and transmission of the disease. It starts as one thing and finishes as another and that is somewhat off-putting. In a similar vein, there is a lot of back-story about the tragic death of Letty's sister and how the animal world is behaving in unpredictable and deadly ways causing human casualties and fatalities. It didn't quite fit with the main story and felt jarring and pulled me out of the story.
Even with that though, I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a well written, well researched and intelligent medical thriller. The characters were largely well depicted, the light romance angle on the side didn't detract from the main plot and I appreciated how realistically rabies and the hunt for the reservoir animal were depicted. I'll be keeping an eye out for this author in the future, particularly if her future novels are in the same brand of medical thriller.
The medical thriller elements of this are well done. Brooke French has a sound knowledge of rabies backing up her novel, to the point that it surprised me that she was previously a lawyer and not in the medical field. I do like me a good medical thriller, particularly when the science is sound and it is here. Yet it isn't too heavy handed with the science, meaning that a layperson can easily pick it up and follow what's going on. There are a number of possible reservoir animals; with Letty being convinced the local bats are to blame, the police force have been investigating a fire in an animal testing centre where many of the animals were let loose. It's therefore not predictable and will keep you guessing all the way to the finale.
That said, I wasn't too keen on the actual finale. It certainly is a possibility, but annoyed me as it changed the premise of the book from the fascinating thriller based on disease ecology and into something more like a murder mystery novel. I'd have preferred the solution to be less twisty and more in keeping with the usual spread and transmission of the disease. It starts as one thing and finishes as another and that is somewhat off-putting. In a similar vein, there is a lot of back-story about the tragic death of Letty's sister and how the animal world is behaving in unpredictable and deadly ways causing human casualties and fatalities. It didn't quite fit with the main story and felt jarring and pulled me out of the story.
Even with that though, I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a well written, well researched and intelligent medical thriller. The characters were largely well depicted, the light romance angle on the side didn't detract from the main plot and I appreciated how realistically rabies and the hunt for the reservoir animal were depicted. I'll be keeping an eye out for this author in the future, particularly if her future novels are in the same brand of medical thriller.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Animal death and Medical content
Minor: Domestic abuse
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