Dr. Arthur Covington may hold the key to the most important discovery in the history of humankind. He is, however, not the only interested party.
If he is to survive treachery and attempts on his life in his bid to escape a secure, high-tech facility, he will have to rely on others–but who can he trust?
Underground, an explosion rocks the facility. Someone drops a viral agent.
In a new world where none can be trusted, Covington’s life hangs in the balance. It’s a race against time…and the end of the world…because it’s not just the living he had to fight against. The dead are rising. Dead men walk the halls below the earth, and the only thing keeping him from being contaminated is his gas mask….and it won’t last forever.
Plot: Even though this is a short novel, a lot of stuff happens in this story, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all of the commotion. Robb develops her stories much like a spider weaves a web; there are a lot of things going on at once but when you step back and look at the story, you see a well-crafted web of deceit and mystery. What I really like about the plot is how she mixed a zombie story with something akin to an agent-thriller novel. This story has a great plot, and I enjoyed how some of the plot elements–such as the mystery of who could be trusted–facilitated the tension and distrust that all the characters felt toward one another. Great plot work here.
Characters: I was pleasantly surprised at how much I felt attached to the characters considering the fact that this is a short novel, and the reader doesn’t get much time to connect with some of the pivotal characters. Suzanne Robb manages to make these characters likeable and real to the reader in a relatively short amount of time. In a short novel like this, I was expecting a cookie-cutter cast, but that is not the case with Contaminated. The character of Frank was very well developed and his personality is not diluted like you see with a lot of zombie novels. My only real concern with the characters was the fact that we didn’t get much time with them.
Writing: Suzanne Robb likes her gore and she is a master at describing gore without going into too much detail, she just gives you enough to make you cringe. Her writing style also works well with the breakneck pace and she has a good eye for action. Although sometimes I wished that she would spend a little bit more time with some of the fight sequences, the scenes were still solid and worth reading.
Overall: This novel is like a car on the edge of a cliff. It takes a little bit of time for the car to roll off the edge, but once it does, the car won’t stop flipping until the end–it just keeps getting smashed to bits while picking up more speed. Although just like a car somersaulting down a cliff, the entertainment is short. The only real issue I had with this book is the fact that it was way too short. All in all, this is an excellent fast read if you’re looking for great action and mystery.
Available at Amazon.
