I gotta admit, this book is pretty cool. I was skeptical at first about whether a book about a real life virus was gonna be worth reading, but so far, it's kept things interesting and new. Granted the concept of outbreaks and infected people dying isn't new to me since I'm a die hard fan of Resident Evil... But Preston's writing has managed to keep a hold on my attention (for now).
I'm sorry to say that most of the things that happen in the story aren't unknown to me, since I already knew about Kitum Cave and filoviruses (Marburg, Ebola Zaire, and Ebola Sudan). All this stuff happened a long time ago, but somehow dug it up once when I was browsing the interweb.
It's almsot freaky how how graphically and descriptively the story talks about the symptoms of Ebola and Marburg... I mean, just imagine blood literally rocketing out of every hole in your body. And yes, I mean every hole, including the ones in the nether regions =). Freaky stuff... Makes you wanna swear to never ever visit Africa under any circumstances. I'm just putting this out there, but after reading about the early signs of filoviruses, I'm nervous as HELL whenever I feel sick or have a headache. Talk about paranoia...
Even though it's a true story, Preston sure writes it like your typical zombie outbreak book; complete with main characters, military quarantines, scientists, and the horror/suspense of walking death carriers spreading the infection. One cough in your direction, on single touch; and BAM: you're S.O.L, so outta luck. It's worse than AIDs.
So basically, the story revolves around the discovery of these deadly viruses that have the potential to wipe out all humans and drive us to extinction, starting with the Marburg virus, which originates from the Kitum Cave somewhere in Africa. The first known victim of Marburg disease, Charles Monet, contracted the virus when he entered the cave, and went to some city I can't pronounce the name of in Zimbabwe, thus infecting even more people. Man's worst nightmare short of 2012? I do believe so.
After all that mumbo jumbo, they immediately go back to talking about monkeys again, which is a total climate drop for me, since I have no interest in monkeys whatsoever. So basically the the book is like Wall Street for me... Slowly building up... then a huge ass drop down... (No offense to any stock exchangers reading this). I mean, who wants to read about mass deaths in a town/city... and then instantly jump to some place in nowhere called Hickstown, USA where a bunch of monkeys are showing up dead? (Don't ask why there's monkeys on the East Coast). It's a real ball breaker, y'know? You're all into the story and on the edge of your seat, then it goes on on a random tangent and continues a boring side story for about five chapters before it gets back to the good stuff. That's like adopting a from the orphanage and picking him up in a car filled with toys, video games, money, and a puppy... Only to lock the doors and not let him into a car, then drive off (Family Guy reference).
All in all, this book has it's up and downs, but it's still shows some potential... Until I finish it, that is.
Sincerely,
That One Guy
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