Plague (edition 2012)

This book is simply awful. I have a weakness for apocalyptic scenarios, and plague is certainly a subset of this genre. It has been done many times, sometimes brilliantly (Andromeda Strain and The Hot Zone come immediately to mind). This rather weak effort clocks in at about 250 pages, but every trick in the book has been used to stretch it to that length. It has dozens of chapters that leave of mid page. The margins are large, as is the type. The chapter headings take up half a page, buttressed by large, bold recitals of dates and locations, even though the events of the story take place over the course of two days, all in Atlanta, Georgia. Boiled down, what we have is an incredibly thin story that can be read in four hours, easy.

The scenario is ridiculous. An Islamic terrorist has somehow gained total control over the Level 4, biohazard containment facility of a domestic biotechnology firm. How could this possibly happen? Who knows, the author glosses over this as if it were a common occurrence. He is on the verge of releasing an airborne Ebola strain that promises to wipe out millions of Americans. Our hero, an interim CEO who steps in after all upper level management are murdered by our terrorist friend, cracks the case within 48 hours, saving the world from certain destruction.

The characters in the book are as one dimensional as you could possibly imagine. The dialogue is laughably atrocious. I promise, you will wince at some of the things that come from the characters’ mouths. The events in the book, designed to promote an increasing level of suspense, instead left me rolling my eyes.

This is not good. ( )

I very much enjoyed the plot (five stars), but found expression of the plot in words to lacking in a few places (four stars), hence my high rating. If you enjoy this kind of thriller, you'll enjoy Plague. Recommended. ( )

I actually liked the pace of the book. It moved quickly. Only a few characters. A very simple plot. The one character that was not explained was Karen. She was so important to Richard that you would expect to learn more about their life together. The Ebola premise was scary and sad to say a possible threat. I do agree with other reviewers, it would be a great T.V. episode. ( )

Bernard's "Plague" defies genre identification a bit. It is definitely a fast-paced action thriller but beyond that it's a bit difficult to pin down. There's not really enough hard science to fall into the medical thriller category and it's also a bit light on the espionage to fall into the spy/military thriller arena. In fact, my chief issue with the novel is it's brevity. At barely over 200 pages, the story rushed to conclusion without sufficient plot or character development for my taste. In fact, reminded me a bit of an episode of the TV series 24... rush through the action to get to the end.

Now, that being said, I did enjoy what little there was of "Plague". I thought Wainwright made a believable (if a bit obsessive) temporary CEO. I also found the Atlanta PD and FBI characters enjoyable (even if a bit stereotypical).

Given Bernard's bio as presented in the novel, I'll be picking up a copy of "Eyewall" to see if his storytelling is a bit more thorough when involving a topic more directly based on his background.

2.5 stars out of 5. ( )

This book was a fast moving action thriller. It took a little bit for me to get into the book, not because of the writing but because the Ebola virus is a scary virus. I enjoyed this book and would read another by this author. The possibility that bio warfare can be put into action by terorrists is real and that helped make this book scary and exciting. Definately worth the time to read this book. ( )