Rating: 
Summary: holds your attention
Review: when i first picked up this book, i didn't think i would actually be able to finish it. it's hard for me to stay interested in long books. the hot zone kept me turning pages the whole way through though. it's a great book and i would recommend it to almost anyone. i even feel smarter after i've read it! like i just came out of a biology class!
Rating: 
Summary: Some Hot Stuff
Review: This was an interesting account of a biological incident at a monkey house near Washington DC, along with plenty of background information about the Marburg and Ebola viruses. I didn't mind the redundancy about which others have complained; the repetition of some of the information about viral functions prompted retention, along with stirring the imagination as to the effects of a killer virus.After reading the book, I performed some web searches an found several sites advertising hiking excursions to Mt. Elgon's Kitum Cave in Africa, which is believed to be he home of the Ebola/Marburg strains, though it's presently unknown which animal is the natural host. Let me tell you, if you are sufficiently insane to visit Kitum Cave after reading The Hot Zone, then you are living proof of Darwin In Action. I liked the author's analogy about fatal viruses, such as Ebola and HIV, acting at the Earth's own antibodies, protecting the environment from encroachment by humans in places where the Earth doesn't want humans to be fiddling with things. Invasions of the deep rain forests and encounters with fatal biological agents therein are warnings for humans to stay away. Have everyone in your family read The Hot Zone, so that next time someone gets sick you will have all sorts of terminology to throw around the dinner table -- extreme amplification, crash-and-bleed-out and other delightful descriptions about the effects of disease on humans. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Redundance
Review: A summary of "the Hot Zone": Ebola and Marburg viruses are really scary and if they spread across the world it would wipe out the world.
That's about all the book tells you...just with different examples. Interesting for the first 75 pages...but after that its just same old story different day.
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy drama
Review: The story is interesting by itself, but the writer kills and overkills again and again with lousy metaphors, overdramatized scenes and sometimes just plain filler. Somebody must have told him he needed to fill so many pages of what otherwise could have been a magazine article. A book where you can cut 75% without losing content is not a great one by any standard. I give it two stars because the story is interesting, regardless of Preston's fluff.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, excellent book!
Review: A truly terrifying account of what lurks on the edges of the world. The story might have been a bit better with more explosions and car chases, though....
Rating:
Summary: Hot Zone
Review: Not only did I enjoy it but everyone else who worked in the bookstore with me read and enjoyed it also. I could not put it down. Jaded with most thrillers and unable to stomach most best sellers, I was pleasantly surprised. Truth is better than fiction.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: The best book I have ever read in my life! So sick and freaky!
Nothing will stop it. Your worst fears will come true!
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Summary: Thrilling Nonfiction With Vital Experience
Review: Hot Zone is one of the best nonfiction books I have ever read. It is like reading Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton. But the Ebola virus case contains vital lessons for our survival. Recent anthrax case which shook the world is only a few months back. The lesson is: speed is vital to cope with the deadly virus case. First couple of Ebola cases which spread contamination might have been avoided if the virus carriers have been treated properly at the first sign of the virus infection. And to correctly identify the source of the epidemic and the name of the virus. It is a good guidebook for us, ordinary citizens to understand the ABC of virus containment which can save our lives.
Rating:
Summary: What a horrifyingly tremendous piece of work.....
Review: I first picked up the Hot Zone when a friend of mine was reading it. I didn't think it would be that great, I thought, "a virus, c'mon..." I was totally wrong. This was the best book I have ever read, honestly.. I didn't want it to end.. Even now, I sit and read it over and over again.. The first chapter is terrifying, and then it gets worse.. What a great book, the scariest thing is knowing that ebola really did come into Washington D.C. and it could happen again.
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Summary: The Hot Zone review
Review: The Hot Zone Book Review
The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston is a horrific true story of the path of havoc of an unknown deadly virus. The plot follows the lives and deaths of Charles Monett, Nancy Jaxx and her family, Peter Cardinal, and the team of military scientists working to solve this mystery. The disease is spread though an unknown pass source, presumably from Africa to our homeland, Washington D.C. Panic stricken scientists and soldiers must control ans stop the spread of the disease before it spreads to the public. Each person gives a suspenseful and dramatic account of how the disease was contracted to how they either recover or give a gruesome description of their death.
The story follows the travels of scientists through out Africa, Kitum Cave, and Mount Elgon. Desperately trying to discover the source baffles the scientists, and they are running out of time as more and more people and monkeys are being infected. This "hot" virus must be contained before there are anymore "crashes."
The Hot Zone is a graphic and frightening page-turner. Virtually every chapter contains someone dying, being contaminated, or frantically trying to discover a cure. Three isn't a dull moment. If you like suspense, drama and a story more frightening than fiction, then I would recommend The Hot Zone.
Shocking, and sickening are the best words to describe this novel, I would not recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a stomach of steel. The story is fascinating, but it definitely takes a certain level of maturity to handle. In some parts, I didn't feel like I was ready to handle it! The novel changed my view on lethal diseases. I never thought they had hit so close to home. The facts are impossible to ignore, and impossible to forget. I was impressed by the story, but left with a reality shock of disturbing images which I could have done without.
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