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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent debut novel, February 1, 2005
This thriller is about today's issues. Dr. Noah Haldane is the head guy at the WHO and he has seen his share of scary epidemics. He firmly believes that we have yet to see the "big one". On the government side is Gwen. She is convinced that the next wave of the epidemic will be brought in as a killing tool by terrorits. As it turns out - they are both right. Together our two main characters fly, basically, all over the map trying to track a new strain of the flu. Think Smallpox, SARS and Spanish Flu and you have a good idea of the potency of this new potential epidemic. In a bid against time, they try desperately to put the pieces together to avoid a worlwide contamination. This is a fantastic debut thriller from a Canadian author who happens to be a doctor. The writing is fresh without too much details to unimportant things. The characters are likeable and it is refreshing to see that both characters are smart. While the Noah Haldane was more flushed out than the Gwen character, we do get a good feel for both of these people. The pace can be a little slow at times and if you are expecting action every page - you will be disappointed. However, the story builds into a logical, strong plot. The author, I think, forgot that he was writing for an average layperson. Some of his technical terms need to be rephrased as I got a little confused on the medical terms (especially in the early part of the book - when we are still trying to absorb character names, etc.) Also, the pace could be a tad faster. While the length of the book was fine, it did occassionally drag just a little bit. Still, these minor complaints do not in any way overshadow the quality of this book. Other than that, the cast of characters (including Clayton) were wonderful and I give this a 4 star rating for a first time author. BUY IT.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great science, scary scenario, weak thriller!, January 31, 2007
Daniel Kalla's "Pandemic" is an entertaining, informative and frightening thriller that undoubtedly ought to be taken seriously as an uncomfortably plausible scenario in real-life. But, as a fictional thriller, frankly, it simply isn't innovative enough to make the cut as a first-rate thriller. Good quality, yes, but not with that dynamite rock-em, sock-em, non-stop page-flipping urgency that separates the men from the boys in the thriller section of the library! The villain of the piece is the ARCS virus (Acute Respiratory Collapse Syndrome), a disease with the lethal virulence of small pox or Spanish Flu but a contagion that spreads with the speed and ease of the common cold! The one (and I would suggest only) truly innovative twist in the novel is in the opening chapter. Kalla posits an ultra-right wing fundamentalist group of Islamic terrorists that purposely infect themselves, in effect weaponizing the virus and using themselves as carriers! Biological suicide bombers, as it were! The notion of using a dastardly right-wing fundamentalist Islamic jihad confronting a right-wing militarist US government whose simplest solution might be to carpet bomb the Middle East and turn the burning sands into a glassy parking lot is getting to be a decidedly tired plot device. But - make no mistake - Kalla is a skilled writer who has a marked ability to convey the science behind his plot in an informative, interesting fashion. And the logistical details of the World Health Organization and Atlanta's Centre for Disease Control's rapid and overwhelming response to the release of such a viral pathogen are quite breath-taking and humbling. Hats off to these organizations and kudos to Kalla's ability to tell us their story. Four stars for the science and the real-world details of the response to a frightening pandemic scenario. Two stars for the thriller. We'll average it out at three stars and call it a story worth taking the time to read! Paul Weiss
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good page turner in the medical genre, April 5, 2005
This novel is very close to a medical version of a John Grisham book. The plot is timely, the concept believable, and there is just enough of a hook left at the end of each chapter to pull the reader through the novel. What the author has going for him, is that he has experience in working in the medical community. His descriptions of what needs to be done in the face of a 'pandemic' ring true. Did the book follow a formulaic plot? Of course it did. Will the book sell well? Of course it will? And will we be seeing Tom Hanks and Rene Zellwiger as co-leads in the movie adaptation? Well, that has yet to be seen. But from the style the book is written in, it does have Hollywood written all over it. Nevertheless, this is the author's first novel. And for someone who is not an author by trade, but rather an ER doctor at a hospital in Toronto, Canada, he has written a very cohesive and exciting book. For anyone interested in a 'what if' scenario, especially one involving bio-terrorism, then this is the novel for you.
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