A great start to a series
4.5 out of 5 stars
I can’t tell you how long I’ve had other Konkoly books sitting on my to be read shelf. He just seems to pick genres and topics that I really want to read. I finally bit the bullet when he started writing a bio-thriller based novel. Hot Zone borrows the name of one of my all-time favorite novels and does a pretty nice job showing what would happen if a rage-like virus would sweep the midwest.
The virus itself plays the main character through most of Hot Zone — allowing the reader to get familiar with it and what it’s doing to people. I like that Konkoly based it on seemingly real things. It reminded me a bit of the virus from 28 Days Later — but a little more docile. People still went crazy, but they weren’t crazy all the time. It made it a little scarier to me. I just can’t imagine sitting across from my wife who was fine one minute and attacking me with a fireplace poker the next.
The story revolved around a few different people who were all from different aspects of life. A cop, a couple who worked at a biotech company, a mercenary, a doctor, and a researcher. The story bounced around from person to person but ended up weaving into a really nice full story by the end.
The end — this burned me a little. It dropped it from a 5-star book to a 4.5. It just kind of ended. I know that it had an “ending” but it had a “there is going to be more than one book” ending. Sure, the story was good, the character development was one of the best I’ve ever read, and the virus was well thought out and explained in a way that made sense — but the story just kind of stopped.
I will be continuing on with this series (especially if it’s on audio). So I think in the end it’ll be a wash. But I was genuinely shocked when the story ended.
Overall, a great book that kept me reading. I didn’t want to put it down.
Book Description:
HOT ZONE: Book One in THE ZULU VIRUS CHRONICLES
SOMETHING INSIDIOUS HAS ARRIVED—RIGHT IN THE HEARTLAND OF OUR NATION.
Dr. Lauren Hale, a new hospital resident, is nearly killed by a raving mad emergency room patient, in a senseless, unprovoked attack.
Officer David Olson, veteran cop and former Marine, returns from a father-son camping trip to discover that his ex-wife has vanished under bizarre circumstances, and his police department is on the verge of collapse.
Jack and Emma Harper, a young, upwardly mobile couple, find their hip city neighborhood rapidly descending into madness.
Dr. Eugene Chang, a research scientist for a major pharmaceutical company makes a shocking discovery that might explain the spreading wave of illness and violence gripping the city.
Eric Larsen, leader of a top-secret, rapid-response unit, circles high above the Midwest, in an unmarked military transport. Mission still unknown, his team waits to parachute into the night.
WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, complete strangers from different walks of life will be forced to join together to survive the LIVING NIGHTMARE that has been unleashed on their city—AND THEIR COUNTRY.
This is their story.
WELCOME TO THE HOT ZONE!
Hot Zone (The Zulu Virus Chronicles #1) by Steven Konkoly
Narrator: Charles Hubbell
Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
Series: Zulu Virus #1
Published by Stribling Media on September 25th 2017
Genres: Bio-Thriller
Pages: 350
Format: Audiobook
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Also by this author: The Rescue, The Raid, The Mountain, Skystorm
- Disease X by N.J. Croft (Narrated by Joshua Saxon) - December 1, 2023
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- Wraith King (Wraith Knight #3) by C.T. Phipps (Narrated Narrated by Samuel E. Hoke) - November 28, 2023
