"Rock-hard realistic." -James Rollins
"Terrifying." -Scott Sigler
"Riveting." -David Brin

The nanotech was intended to save lives. Instead, it killed five billion people, devouring all warm-blooded lifeforms except on the highest mountain peaks.

The safe line is 10,000 feet. Below, there is only death. Above, there is famine and war. Mankind's final hope rests with a scientist aboard the International Space Station... and with one man in California who gambles everything on a desperate mission into the ruins of the old world...

Length: 346 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Complete Series

The Plague Year Trilogy (3 Book …

Jeff Carlson

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This tiresome sci-fi thriller debut, set in postapocalyptic California, has an ingenious kickoff that unfortunately goes nowhere fast. Following the accidental release of a deadly nanotechnology (designed to fight cancer), much of the world's population is dead; in the California Sierras, above the plague's high-water mark (10,000 feet), Cameron Najarro, Albert Sawyers and their small group of survivors eke out a desperate living, turning to cannibalism for survival. Meanwhile, in the International Space Station Dr. Ruth Ann Goldman and her team are making progress on a vaccine. Things go bad quickly when Goldman and her team return to Earth to test a hypothesis: first, they crash land in the middle of a civil war, then they find that the military has its own plans for the vaccine. When the astronauts and mountain survivors finally meet up, Goldman is surprised to find valuable allies in Sawyers and Najarro, and the three set off with a few others to find a lost lab that may hold the key to stopping the nano menace. The timely idea may hold readers' interest, but only so far as their patience allows; though well-written, the heroes' lengthy journeys slow the story to a pace almost as tormenting as organ-liquefying micro-machines. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Chilling and timely. "
-RT Book Reviews

"An epic of apocalyptic fiction: harrowing, heartfelt and rock-hard realistic."
-James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The 6thExtinction

"Jeff Carlson's Plague Year is deft and compelling, full of high-altitude chills."
-E.E. Knight, national bestselling author of the Vampire Earth series

"One of the best apocalyptic novels I've read. Part Michael Crichton,a little Stephen King, and a lot of good writing... Carlson makes it all plausible and thrilling."
-Quiet Earth (quietearth.us)

"Plague Year is a marvelous book full of memorable characters, white-knuckle scenes and big ideas."
-Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Flashforward

"Tightly written and well-told."
-Robert Charles Wilson, Hugo Award-winning author of Spin

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

File Size: 7453 KB
Print Length: 346 pages
Publisher: JVE (December 31, 2012)
Publication Date: December 31, 2012
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00AHJTUBE
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,421 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

256

4.0 out of 5 stars

5 star		43%
4 star		35%
3 star		11%
2 star		5%
1 star		6%

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Top Customer Reviews

Much better than PW would have you believe

ByCraig Larsonon August 21, 2007

Format: Mass Market Paperback

I thoroughly enjoyed Jeff Carlson's debut, though I do recognize it's not great "literature" or anything. But it was the perfect summertime read and an engrossing blend of intriguing science fiction, fast-moving thriller, and outright horror. This could make for a great movie if the right person came along. Carlson posits a new post-apocalyptic world: the Earth after a plague of nano-machines has killed off most of the world's population. Since the machines don't work at a certain level of atmospheric pressure, the survivors are now living on mountaintops and at high elevation. The U.S. government has relocated to Leadville, Colorado, the city at one of the highest elevations in America. We follow two different stories, that of a group of astronauts at the International Space Station who are desperately trying to come up with a cure for the nano-plague, and a group of survivors in California, struggling to survive on a mountaintop near a ski area. Carlson's story slowly draws these two disparate storylines together in a very believable and intriguing way as it becomes apparent one of the California survivors may know something about the plague's origin. A grim and sometimes depressing look at a possible future. Somewhat reminiscent of Wil McCarthy's _Bloom_, which also looks at the remnants of humanity in the wake of a nano-disaster.

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Both good and bad...

ByKindle Customeron January 3, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A bit torn on this book. I'm glad I read the whole thing as it tended to get better. I just wish the author would have taken more care at the beginning. It dove right into the handful of survivor's dire situation and the depravity the situation had caused without any backstory, which made it all the more shocking and gross. The author didn't let us get to know them or much about their situation and I didn't have sympathy for any of them. I figured it would be a good thing to let them all have a bbq, eat each other on the mountain and RIP. A slower build to that mountaintop with some backstory and letting the readers get to know the people would have made all the difference. I would have liked to know more about Sawyer's behavior and how he and Cam met up and more about why Cam both liked and loathed him.

*Spoiler* The introduction of Ruth and the space station and then the bad guys was great and written well, which was like another shock after the first part. It showed the real lack of consistency. After that, it was a real page-turner. I may come back to it, eventually, and read the rest.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

A Refreshing Take on the Apocalypse

ByJ Rosemanon March 23, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Ignore the Publishers Weekly review (it’s unfortunate it’s at the top) as they obviously prefer their sci-fi in the form of supermarket tabloid headlines. Perhaps someone should tell them that a book synopsis isn’t the same thing as a review.

Plague Year presents us with an interesting twist on the apocalypse. Carlson finds that touchstone that is common to all apocalypse survival stories: how even facing the end of the world (as we know it) humans still find ways to be @#(*$^ to one another. The science and geopolitical research that went into this book keep it realistic but don’t bog it down. The story races along intelligently which is a treat, especially to those of us who devour sci-fi in all its forms. It’s nice to read something that doesn't mire you in scientific sludge yet recognizes the reader is intelligent and appreciates well-researched action.

0Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Bad people doing bad stuff, badly.

ByMeganon September 26, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It seems for a while now books have been tended to be more on the dour (dare I say grimdark?) side of things. Which, hey, I get it. I'm all for it. Books where everyone (except the bad guys) are pure and good and always do the right thing get boring pretty fast. But you know what? The opposite is just as boring. Nobody is good, everybody is selfish and and any niceness is just masking everybody's true despicable core. That seems to be the message of Jeff Carlson's Plague Year.

An interesting and well executed premise is let down by the unrelenting dreary and selfish actions of the characters. Unlikable characters can be just as fun, if not more, to read about as likeable ones. But they have to have something going for them; wit, charisma, intelligence... Hell, in a pinch I'd settle for at least attractive. But all the characters here are just selfish in a petty, everyday kind of way. Thet are not interesting to read about, and each new low they reach is just draining, and not in a good way.

I'm sure having almost the entire human race wiped out by a rogue nano bot plague would bring out the very worst in some people, but I refuse to believe that others wouldn't also rise to the challenge of survival. Carlson's cast lacks balance, the only vaguely likeable characters are the ones who have had it relatively easy in the face of the plague. The message seems to be that faced with serious hardships they to would be just like their paranoid, dishonest and unpleasant cast mates. The plot is not bad, and it keeps the book readable, but I have no desire to slog through another book in the heads of these people.

0Comment 7 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Some good moments

A very compelling tale with some great moments that at times kept me engaged and ready for the next part of the story.

Published 8 hours ago by Arthur Crump

Does not satisfy the readers mind.

So far I'm at 22% of the book on my Kindle and I will move one and read something else. Extremely disappointed on this book I am a huge fan of dystopian and post SHTF books, but...Read more

Published 9 days ago by Fernando Izaguirre

Great ss

Story was very timely and made me think about the possibilities of nano tech and gave warning of dangers. I enjoyed it.😄

Published 11 days ago by Reader Lady

you will be disappointed.

The potential story line is interesting but the character development is almost non existent, too many characters, too little details about the characters to draw you in and want...Read more

Published 1 month ago by Jack Thomas

Book 1 is good

The story is fast paced. The characters are well written and have depth...Although I would have liked to have seen a few folks who did the right thing for the right reasons, not...Read more

Published 1 month ago by Suzanne

Looking forward to The End

First off I am the type of reader that reads a book to the bitter end once I have begun it.
Pros & Cons. Pro: Jeff Carlson is an excellent writer.Read more

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer

Love this author!

Great story. Could wait to read next one.

Published 1 month ago by Jody Price

Four Stars

Good read for futuristic thinkinh

Published 2 months ago by Kindle Customer

Good Tech, gruesome death, politics, infighting, wheels within wheels within wheels

A post-apocalyptic joy ride. Halfway through the book it seems like it should be over, but the twists and turns and internal struggles make for a much more sophisticated and...Read more

Published 2 months ago by David Myers

Boring, makes no sense

This is he first. Book i chose not to finish. The plot gets so complicated and has no real direction there are too many good books to waste time on this

Published 2 months ago by hardrich2001

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