Pandemic

by Scott Sigler
582 pgs

Five years ago I came across a book at the bookstore that had a creepy eye on the cover with a triangular iris. I had never heard of the author before, but I had to buy the book. I'll admit that the plot of Infected sounds a little campy -- an alien virus enters the earth's atmosphere, infects only human beings, takes over their brains, and turns them into murderous psychopaths, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book and its sequel Contagious. Finally, after five long years of waiting on Sigler to finish what he started, he concludes his sci fi/horror trilogy with Pandemic.

I'll try not to spoil the other two books for those who haven't read them, but at the end of Contagious the U.S. military erroneously believes that they've eliminated the alien threat. Pandemic begins five years later and there's one final source of the infection on the planet. It has learned from its previous failures and is ready to try one final time to wipe out the human population. 

This time the virus escapes on a global scale, infecting millions of people. The virus converts some of the infected into incubators to further spread the virus. With others it alters their DNA and converts them into an army of monstrous hulk-like creatures. Others it doesn't change physically, but instead takes control of their minds and joins them all into a hive-like entity, all sharing the common goal of eliminating the uninfected.

It's obvious that Sigler has evolved as an author since writing Infected. Pandemic is a much different book, both in feel and in scope. Infected was memorable because it made my skin crawl and made my stomach turn -- both good things in a horror book. And while Pandemic doesn't entirely abandon that method of success -- there's still violence on a tremendously entertaining level, this time around there's more depth to the characters and the story.

The series as a whole is fantastic! Each book is better than the last one. But it's not for the squeamish or the faint of heart.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆