Alien Infection (Paperback)

by Darrell Bain (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Alien Infection is a fine science fiction suspense thriller that the X-Files crowd will enjoy. -- Harriet Klausner for Sime~Gen reviews

"Alien Infection is a fine science fiction suspense thriller that the X-Files crowd will enjoy. --Harriet Klausner for Sime~Gen reviews

Product Description
When a laboratory technician on the verge of retirement accidentally infects himself with blood from an emergency room patient, he intends to report it--until government agents swarm the hospital, confiscating every sample of blood taken from the patient--at gunpoint. Deciding not to report the incident just yet for fear of being thrown into an isolation chamber, he goes home--and falls violently ill. By the time he recovers and returns to work, scary things are happening.

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: Twilight Times Books (May 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933353724
• ISBN-13: 978-1933353722
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,806,452 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fine science fiction suspense thriller , November 8, 2006

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

At Lamont Memorial in Lufkin, Texas the night shift ER Doc asks Lab Technician Michael Brandon to draw blood for tests from a patient seemingly dead. As he fills three tubes up, the barely alive patient knocks the syringe into Michael's wrist though neither of the medical attendees notice because they are distracted by the movement. Not much later, as Michael tests two of the tubes of blood and refrigerates the third, two suits with guns arrive taking the two tubes, but quickly leave as the comatose patient has some how escaped.

Michael goes home, but becomes very ill. A few days later he recovers only to learn that anyone involved with that patient is being eliminated in what has been made to look like accidents as the ER Doc and nurse died while allegedly running away together. Realizing the Feds will come for him and how diabolical these suits are, Michael heads to Dallas where he meets Mona to get his ID changed. He cuts himself shaving, but panics when she touches his bleeding nick with a finger she had accidentally stuck with a pin. She becomes infected. As they flee together, each notices they seem younger and healthier while the Feds hunt them now in Arkansas.

This medical thriller grips the audience from the moment that Michael is jabbed by the syringe and never slows down as he and Mona struggle with learning the truth and surviving the ordeal of the Feds wanting them dead in what appears to be a clean-up cover-up operation. Michael and Mona are interesting protagonists, but what hooks readers is the need to know even with the obvious title what infects the heroes and why the Feds want to eradicate the evidence. ALIEN INFECTION is a fine science fiction suspense thriller that the X-Files crowd will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

3.0 out of 5 stars Good story, bad writing, January 5, 2008

By	Robert S. Knapp "Gnomon" (Cyberspace) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All the elements of a good read are here - but . . .
My taste in SF runs to the "techno-future," not to pseudomedieval magic, so this tale should have been right up my alley. It has likeable characters, the science is at least internally consistent, and the pace is good. But the writing just gets in the way. This could have benefitted from some peer review at a writers' workshop. When I fid myself thinking about how I could rewrite a book to make it readable, I know there's a problem. A few plot twists might help, also, as the story is quite predictable. There's an element of adolescent sex-fantasy which is sometimes annoying - perhaps the exquisite mutual sensitivity of the hero and heroine/alien could manifest itself elswhere than in bed?
I suggest the author immerse himself in reading the classics, esp. the classics of SF, and get an idea of what top-notch writing is.
In spite of the above, it's a good read, but not a "can't miss."