The Hot Zone

Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone is an excellent nonfiction account of a deadly virus from the central rain forests of Africa that suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington DC. The Virus is highly contagious and has no cure. This book describes many frightening encounters with this virus and the effects it has on the human body, getting more and more graphic as the book continues. It also attempts to explain where and why …showed first 75 words of 717 total…

…showed last 75 words of 717 total…and tried to sum it up in the last 20 pages. At the end of the book Richard Preston suddenly inserts himself in his writing, switching to the first person and describing his own experiences and pondering the impact of these viruses. Although his thoughts were intriguing, it was a rather jarring change in perspective. It was still a great book, but it would have been better had Preston interwoven his theme throughout the entire book.