Allreaders.com
Author Richard Preston booklist (click here)

Book Review By Jerry Naradzay
The Cobra Event by Richard Preston

Alice Austen is a physician working for the Center of Disease Control(CDC). She is harmlessly asked to follow up on the unusual deaths of innocent and seemingly unconnected individuals in NYC. After participating in the autopsies she stumbles upon biomedical clues that link all of the victims: a homeless man, a teenager, and antique dealer. As a pathologist she focuses her skills on the physical exam findings found in the victims tissues. The dangerous new disease, which has never before been seen, is slowly revealed like tissue beneath her skillful dissecting instruments.

As a CDC epidemiology sleuth she makes the connections linking the victims as the body count starts to rise. NYC is on the verge of being a test case for dangerous hybrid virus-bacteria. Her investigations start in the goulish confines of the NYC medical examiners autopsy suite but also takes her to a special built bio-containment lab on Governor's Island. Austin is always on the sometimes unwanted front lines chasing the disease and criminals on the city streets and into the subways.

Her counterparts in the NYPD, NY Medical Examiners office, and seasoned bioweapons experts from the days of biowarfare development in the 1960's muster forces to uncover the criminals responsible for unleashing the deadly chimera (virus and bacteria) that infects the brains of it's victims. The primary villain, Archimedes, has combined the deadliest features of smallpox and the common cold virus. The disease is easy to catch and deadly. Once the victim gets a whiff of innocuous viral glass he eats himself before dying.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - depressing/sad
Time/era of story:
Medical Thriller Yes
Medical Plotlets:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 %

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Eccentric: Yes
Motive of antagonist - insanity
The antagonists are: - Arab terrorists
How sensitive is this character?
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
A lot of techno jargon? Yes
Kind of jargon? - biology/medical
Unusual forms of death - frying (electrocuted) - biohazard/virus - decapitated
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Back To Main Menu