Carriers

Rating:
Summary: The Best BioSci Mystery read to date. A top-notch thriller!
Review: Patrick Lynch's "Carriers" seduces unrelentingly with its incredible chapter by chapter cliffhanging style. It kept me up all night, literally unable to sleep until I finished it. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the precarious relationship we have with our primitive ecosystems or who is fascinated with that voracious, unseen, world conquering monster that is the virus. This is a truly frightening book, that brings home the personal nature of a pandemic event with just a hint as to its secret carefully dangled in the context of a brief encounter. Everyone I've shown this book to, after reading only a few pages has gone out and bought the paperback for themselves. I eagerly await Lynch's next foray into the cardiac wild. Doug Kennedy

Rating:
Summary: The Best BioSci Mystery read to date. A top-notch thriller!
Review: Patrick Lynch's "Carriers" seduces unrelentingly with its incredible chapter by chapter cliffhanging style. It kept me up all night, literally unable to sleep until I finished it. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the precarious relationship we have with our primitive ecosystems or who is fascinated with that voracious, unseen, world conquering monster that is the virus. This is a truly frightening book, that brings home the personal nature of a pandemic event with just a hint as to its secret carefully dangled in the context of a brief encounter. Everyone I've shown this book to, after reading only a few pages has gone out and bought the paperback for themselves. I eagerly await Lynch's next foray into the cardiac wild. Doug Kennedy

Rating:
Summary: The best BioSci mystery read to date. A Neuron Synapper
Review: Patrick Lynch's "Carriers" seduces with an unrelenting, chapter by chapter, cliff-hanging style. It kept me up an entire night, unable to sleep until finished. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the precarious relationship we have with our primitive ecosystems as well as to those who are fascinated with that voracious, world-class monster that is the virus. This truly frightening story brings home the personal nature of a pandemic event with just a hint of its terrible secret enticingly dangled in the moment of a brief encounter. Everyone I've shown this book to, asking them to read only a few pages, has immediately gone out and purchased the paperback for themselves. I eagerly await Lynch's next foray into the cardiac wild. DK

Rating:
Summary: The next time someone sneezes...
Review: Shortly after reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, I found this book and had to read it. Carriers really brings the possibility of a deadly worldwide epidemic into focus. Mr. Lynch takes the plausible and spins a tale that is frighteningly possible. His description of the disease's progression was unsettling but the storyline was so captivating that I simply couldn't put this book down. Whether you give credence to the story or not, this book may cause you to look at every sneeze and cough (yours or someone else's) in a different light. Excellent job. I would love to see a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Totally boring book
Review: The general idea isnt bad but the pace becomes too slow. Most of the book is about the wandering of people in the Indonesian forest. Nothing interesting really happens until the last 50 pages. The characters are also very cliche.

Rating:
Summary: Neat Topic, Adequate Story
Review: There's a difference between what a book could be a what a book is. It's possible that I'm simply a bit jaded because I've read a considerable amount in this genera (fiction and non-fiction) and because I tend to expect a lot from a book. However, Carriers could have been great but instead ended up being mediocre.

On the plus side, Carriers is entertaining and (reasonably) fast paced. Those familiar with the "lethal contagion" genera will get into the book quickly. The setting is interesting (Sumatra) and in a few places the suspense is built up quite well - especially during the period of initial outbreak. The biological aspects of the book are also well researched, and are presented in a "here-it-is" kind of format that tells you what's happening without feeling the need to explain every little detail; this is refreshing because it lets the reader make conclusions for himself/herself and doesn't make you feel like a child in elementary school every time a new topic pops up (unlike many other books in this genera).

On the down side, the plot is predictable. I will say I didn't expect the exact bio-chemical pathway through which the illness started (because I didn't know about), but I had the major aspects of the plot figured out about 1/3 of the way through the book. The remaining 2/3 simply builds to the inevitable end. Also, I personally believe that authors should stick to main characters of their own sex - obviously a rule made to be broken, but not in this case. Both of the (male) authors main characters are female and frankly I don't think that his motivations for either of their actions are particularly realistic. Rather, both characters end up being cliché and cheap.

Even so if you like "lethal contagion" stories, you should like Carriers. Just be aware there are better books out there.

Rating:
Summary: Two-thumbs up!
Review: This book goes through Love, worry, and hate mixed with fear. It discusses a fictional virus that terrorizes the Indonesion rainforests and all its people.Special agents sent to investigate this virus and they got results, but no clues on how the disease was spread. How this disease is spread, they don't know, its a matter of time before the world falls into this chilling disease.It's spooky, but adventurous. I highly suggest this book to another who likes adventure.

Rating:
Summary: This book was amazing!
Review: This book was definatly a page turner for me. I never expected the ending. It will keep your interest the whole way through. If you like disease thrillers, then this book is for you!

Rating:
Summary: Very good book!
Review: This is a very interesting book. I read it last year (I'm 12 now), and I still found it pretty understandable. I recommend this book for you people who just read a really boring book, and now want to replenish your reading senses.

Rating:
Summary: The one that got me hooked.
Review: This is by far one of my favorite books. The characters, as has been already stated in previous reviews, are deep and lifelike. The best part of the story for me personaly was from a completely different source, however.

I am extremely hard to scare and even harder to "gross-out", but this book did both. The book is interspersed with EXTREMELY graphic descriptions of possibly the most gruesome deaths I can think of- that is what "grossed me out". Even better, though is the conclusion- it scared me, it truly did and I don't mean a jump up and shout type of scare either. The ending is truly disrurbing in the possibility of the explanation (of the diseases origins) actually happening- I can totally imagine that the source is one hundred percent believable (you won't hear from me how it ends, though- you'll have to buy it for yourself) and it left me thinking about how many real but unreleased threats exist in the world today- no joke, I thought about the book for more than a week and reread the end several times.

If you're up to a suspenseful, yet gruesome and realistic bio-thriller I would most definitely recommend this book. At just 18 and with four shelves full of my books, I always keep this one in front of the others and within reach for back-up for a bad read. BUY IT!!! (e-mail comments welcome)