The Hot Zone

Rating:
Summary: If not for anything, it is educational
Review: Preston should be given a pat on the back for evidently working hard to investigate all the details of the Ebola outbreak.

The narrative is generally engaging in the beginning but loss momentum along the way. The prose lacked the suspense generated by more distinguished authors of thrillers. The characters were not adequately developed and did not leave a lasting impression save the victims in the first half of the book. Nevertheless, the true account of the events alone will spur you on to the final pages.

If not for anything, this book is educational and thus a worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully written; terrifying account
Review: The Hot Zone sparked my interest in following the issue of potential germ outbreaks here and abroad. It is a stunning, terrifying account of an outbreak of disease described so vividly I couldn't stop reading. This was the first book I ever read where I simply could not put it down. Preston has a remarkable talent for taking complicated scientific issues and explaining them in language that is not only easy to understand, but engaging.

Rating:
Summary: The Good and Bad of Preston in The Hot Zone
Review: A slow starting to the Hot Zone tends to disengage and discourage readers right off the bat. The multiple short stories told in the biginning to introduce characters seem to be brief and uninteresting, with their only point to be background information. All of the characters seem isolated and overwhelming because of how many are introduced.
Upon reaching the second part of the book things start to come together for the reader. Here Preston did well tying the, what seemed to be random stories, from the fist part together. The plot begins to fall in to place and the novel begins to take on some understanding. Characters start to meet each other for the first time and show relevance as to why they are involved. Picking up the pace and the level of intensity readers will find a new spark in reading the book coming from discovering and understanding. The once isloated stories start to show relevance and the plot begins to unravel.
Intriguing and captivating, the third part of The Hot Zone holds the climax. New and exciting details begin to unravel as readers figure out the nature of the virus. By this time the number of characters has come accustom to the reader and does not seem so overwhelming.
The fourth part of the novel is unnecessary information. The trip back to Africa turns the reader away with an uninteresting conclusion after the climax and ending were already reached.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This book is outstanding and a thrill a minute. Perhaps the scariest part of this book is that it is based on a true story. In light of the recent terrorist attacks this book I think provides a good example of how hard those who work with viruses and other diseases will try to protect the American population from anything a terrorist attempts to do to us. This is no question a scary book, but there are genuine heroes in this story too.

Rating:
Summary: A Scary Reality
Review: When monkies in a Washington DC area monkey house start dying of Ebola all hell breaks loose. Goverment officals must keep the cleanup out of the public's eyes. Preston gives the readers graffic discriptions of what Ebola can do. These descriptions are so scary the reader will wish the story were fiction, but it's not. This part of the book is terrific. Preston's writing is strong and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.

The second part of this book is Preston's account of his journey to the Kitchum cave. The Kitchum cave is rumored to be the source of of diseases such as Ebola and AIDS. This part of the book is not as enjoyable as the first part. It is filled with details of cave walls, and many other details that make the essay a very slow read. It is also somewhat dated since the Kitchum cave although a one point was considered a hot zone it has shown no evidence of disease.

Overall this book is worth the read. The first part of the book is a great read that rivals fiction horror stories. The second part of the book although not as interesting is still worth a read since Preston did take a chance in visting a hot zone.

Rating:
Summary: The most suspensful book I've ever read!
Review: This book is the most bone chilling and suspenseful book that I have ever read! It made me wonder what was coming up next in the next chapter every time I'd read it. This book was also very bone chilling in that with all of the grusome details of what the viruses did to the victims. I would give my full recomendation for this book, once again this was the best book that I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: A review Of "The Hot Zone"
Review: "The Hot Zone" By Richard Preston, I found to be a Mediocre novel, parts of it were very interesting, and other parts of it was just plain boring, it was graphic in it's descriptions of the Ebola disease. Which can contribute to some wonderful writing, but then again it can also make one sick as they are reading it. I liked this novel at certain points when it was making sense. And I also did not like it when it brought up points that had nothing to do with the Ebola Virus, the Military, the CDC and the certain characters in the novel. So overall I give it a C.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading and Uneventful!
Review: I was talking recently with one of my friends about books. I told him that I was in a rut and that I needed something fresh and different to read. Without hesitating he handed me a copy of Richard Preston's The Hot Zone. I looked it over and noticed that one of my favorite authors had endorsed it. That was intriguing. My friend told me to read the back cover. After just a few lines I was hooked. "Okay, this definitely has my interest, tell me more." He then told me about how he could not finish the book because it was so graphic. That was the clincher, so I bought it and started reading it that night. I thought I was in for a grand adventure.

Let me save you some valuable reading time. This one, like the Ebola virus, should be avoided at all costs. Nothing happens! I kept reading and reading hoping something would happen and nothing did. I found myself breaking all kinds of speed reading records trying to finish it. It is hard for me to just lay down a book, even one I don't like. But I was tempted on this one. The author spent a great deal of the book describing ad nauseam these horrific effects of Marburg and Ebola. It was overkill. By the end I really had given up. I felt unsympathetic to these brave scientists. I did not like this book. Disappointing and uneventful, it left a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Rating:
Summary: 70% novelization, 30% fact
Review: Considering the nature of the subject and the true character of the events portrayed, I would have liked the book much more if the author had spent more time on the actual facts than on long, sometimes boring, descriptions of places and people.

Don't get me wrong - I can appreciate long, sometimes boring, descriptions of places and people. But this book is about real events that might have had catastrophic consequences for the human species and, as such, deserved a less "novelized" approach.

Still, if you think that military actions by powerful nations or a nuclear strike are scary ideas, you should definitely read this book. It will open your eyes to the much scarier reality of potential widespread viral infections by microscopic organisms that could literally wipe out 90% or more of the human population in a matter of weeks.

Not scared enough yet? Then consider the fact that these microscopic organisms are naturally occurring - lurking quietly in the rainforests of the world - waiting to jump onto us homo sapiens as we venture deeper and deeper into their habitat.

Rating:
Summary: The Real-Life "Andromeda Strain"
Review: THE HOT ZONE is a history of the deadly and fatal Ebola virus that will scare the hell out of you.

Horrifyingly irresistible in its graphic depictions of the effect of Ebola viruses on human beings (Richard Preston points out that one victim's remains were buried in a Hefty bag because he had to literally be mopped up off the floor), THE HOT ZONE gives the reader a real-life glimpse at the inside workings of CDC and USAMRIID, the two United States agencies responsible for disease research and control. The glimpse is not reassuring. Political infighting and bad communications hamper the fight against Ebola, just as with AIDS. Considering that the effect of Ebola is to turn a human being into a highly infectious, bloody soup the turf battles of the virus hunters seem inexcusable.

It's clear that an airborne strain of Ebola could decimate the human race in a matter of weeks. There is no telling when (or if) such a strain might develop with just a slight mutation of any one of Ebola's seven proteins. Given that risk, the politics seem puerile.

The book is readable and does not lose itself in technojargon, relying instead on the humanization of its subjects, researchers and victims alike.

I definitely recommend this as an expose on medical bureaucracy, governmental ineptitude, and risk, though coming away with the knowledge that we are all living in THE HOT ZONE is anything but comforting.