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Contagious
by Scott Sigler
| List Price: |
$24.95 |
| Price: |
$16.47 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: |
$8.48 (33%) |
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Hardcover
Publisher: Crown
ISBN13: 9780307406316
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From the acclaimed author of Infected comes an epic and exhilarating story of humanity’s secret battle against a horrific enemy.
Across America, a mysterious pathogen transforms ordinary people into raging killers, psychopaths driven by a terrifying, alien agenda. The human race fights back, yet after every battle the disease responds, adapts, using sophisticated strategies and brilliant ruses to fool its pursuers. The only possible explanation: the epidemic is driven not by evolution but by some malevolent intelligence.
Standing against this unimaginable threat is a small group, assembled under the strictest secrecy. Their best weapon is hulking former football star Perry Dawsey, left psychologically shattered by his own struggles with this terrible enemy, who possesses an unexplainable ability to locate the disease’s hosts. Violent and unpredictable, Perry is both the nation’s best hope and a terrifying liability. Hardened CIA veteran Dew Phillips must somehow forge a connection with him if they’re going to stand a chance against this maddeningly adaptable opponent. Alongside them is Margaret Montoya, a brilliant epidemiologist who fights for a cure even as she reels under the weight of endless horrors.
These three and their team have kept humanity in the game, but that’s not good enough anymore, not when the disease turns contagious, triggering a fast countdown to Armageddon. Meanwhile, other enemies join the battle, and a new threat — one that comes from a most unexpected source — may ultimately prove the most dangerous of all.
Catapulting the reader into a world where humanity’s life span is measured in hours and the president’s finger hovers over the nuclear button, rising star Scott Sigler takes us on a breathtaking, hyper-adrenalized ride filled with terror and jaw-dropping action. Contagious is a truly grand work of suspense, science, and horror from a new master.
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| A Lot To Like |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Sigler's latest delivers plenty of thrills and chills, in a lean and fast-moving narrative style. He is great at blending different genres - horror, sci-fi, medical, military - into a hard-charging action thriller that includes large doses of sardonic humor. He's done enough research to keep the science believable, and I really liked how the characters changed and grew in response to the considerable challenges that confronted them. It is pretty rare to find that much character development in this kind of book, and it made the whole thing that much more interesting and believable. The level of violence and grotesque incident in this book is very high - similar to a typical zombie film, I suppose - and if that doesn't put you off, then you will probably be very entertained by this alien-parasite invasion thriller.
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| Audio Book - UNBEARABLY BAD !!! |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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This review applies ONLY to the audio book (CD) version of the book. From reading the other reviews on the book itself, I guess the book is a well-written suspenseful story. It's very hard to believe that is the case by listening to the audio book. There are many reasons why publishers hire professional readers for their audio books. Apparently, for this book, they decided to have the author read the book. BAD DECISION!! Scott, you may be a terrific writer, but you are TERRIBLE reader! Monotone and no distinguishing pitch or tone to separate out the different characters in the story. Do you know how confusing it gets when you're trying to sort out the different characters just by listening to the lines when all the characters sound the same? I got through maybe 30 minutes of CD #1 and I bailed. When I quit, there were 4 or 5 different characters involved in the story line and I couldn't tell who was speaking what line. They all sounded like one single character!! So, authors and publishers, please spend some $$$ and hire a professional readers for your books. Even professional readers have their good and bad ones, but having the author read the book is simply a bad decision. If fact, I have never enjoyed a audio book that was read by the author. By nature, authors are not actors or readers. They practice their craft by "writing", not "speaking". Why do you think actors don't write best sellers? Scott, for your next book, you know what to do.
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| Sigler, just took over as my favorite author |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I love sci fi novels, I love horror novels, I love the high tech novels and I particularly like it when it's all mixed together. Contagious is intense, action-packed and hard to put down. Typical for Sigler. Read Infected first! Or better yet, get the audio book! It can't be better than when it's read by Sigler!
Great book, great read.
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| Funny, campy, and subtly subversive |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I listened to Sigler's audiobook version of Contagious. I don't know how the printed version comes across, but his spare, declarative writing style, combined with his sardonic voice, provides for one hilarious moment after another. Despite all of the gore and Sigler's constant hurling of f-bombs and s-bombs, there's a lot of wry, dry wit in Contagious and I appreciated every minute of it. Take Chelsea, for instance: Sigler expertly, and funnily, captures the dual-track mind of a seven-year-old with unusual powers. At the same time she's plotting to do in a relative or take over the world she's demanding McDonald's food or an ice cream bar.
The campiness and humor may cause people to overlook Sigler's interesting and compelling writing style. Earnest would-be authors in writing workshops could learn a lot from Sigler's prose, which is disarmingly laid-back and colloquial on the surface but on closer inspection shows a fine command of dialogue and narrative.
I probably shouldn't say this, lest it depress sales, but I thought Sigler also subtly indicted a number of sacred cows (pun partially intended). Much of Contagious comes across as a witty, deft, and subtle dismantling of the logic underpinning religious belief. People who enjoyed the earnest, straightforward antireligious tomes by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens will enjoy this aspect of Contagious. He also gets in a dig at Arctic-melting, globe-warming SUVs.
** SPOILER ALERT **
I found the ending depressing but not implausible. Anyone who's read Nevil Shute's On the Beach or seen the movie Failsafe will recognize the feeling.
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| Never recieved my purchase |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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I went through Amazon to purchase the book "Contagious" from River City Books. I contacted them after the maximum 21 day delivery time period. They told me it was delivered and sent a link to the USPS and delivery confirmation number. I too checked with the USPA web site and received the same information. I asked my USPS deliveryperson who also had no information for me. I guess I lose the cost of the book and the shipping charge. My next stop is a book store where the clerk will have a harder time stealing from me.
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