Review: Surprisingly good!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2011
Obviously, the central premise for the book is never going to be made to sound scientifically plaussible.  There is no virus or pherophome that makes everyone want to kill you from 20 feet away within seconds.  Its a facially ridiculous idea.  Surprisingly, that doesnt matter to how good of a read it is because the human element is so well done.  *If* this happened to you, what would *you* do?  I submit that the protagonist reacted very naturally, as any of us might do, or at least would hope we would.  (Maybe he takes an arguably unnecessary risk or two, but even this feels like an error someone could make in this situation.)  Moreover, while the inevitable "government conspiracy" elements dont feel entirely realistic (do they ever in books like this?) the public and law enforcement reactions to what is going down mostly feel realistic.  In other words, overall, suspension of disbelief isnt hard.  Moreover, the book is action packed, and a very compelling read.I would have given the book five stars for pulling off the remarkable feat of making an absurd premise into a mostly realistic and fast-paced action book, but for two quibbles.  First, there is an additional gratuitous sub-plot involving the head of the conspiracy that is unnecessary and has a nutty and somewhat out of place feel.  Few wasted pages here.  Second, [very minor arguable spoiler ahead]:there is another sub-plot involving two good cops who figure out what is really going on -- BUT HAVE NO ROLE IN THE STORY ONCE THEY FIGURE IT OUT.Bottom line, very good book for .99.