The mystery virus struck down millions. Three days later, its victims awoke with a single violent purpose: spread the Infection.
The sequel to The Infection, The Killing Floor starts with the initial outbreak at the White House. Travis Price is a Science Adviser caught in the midst of it all at the White House. It is four days after the awakening and the beginning of the novel neatly summarizes the events surrounding the infection. Travis makes it to one of the chinooks evacuating the White House and makes it on to the chopper as one of the military throws a woman off to make space for him, when he explains his importance to finding a cure. Travis believes that science, not weaponry, is the only way to fight this war.
The narration jumps to three weeks later and we are back at the bridge we found ourselves at the end of The Infection. Here we have Anne and Ray from Camp Defiance fighting like soldiers, yet less than three weeks ago Anne was a housewife. Anne knows Ray is dying, infected by one of the creatures and offers him a mercy killing but Ray refuses, insisting that he wants to live what little life he has left. But Ray carries a different strain of the virus, having been stung, not bitten. Ray is a greater threat than any of the survivors could imagine.
We next catch up with Todd, ‘The Kid’ from the first book, who is wracked with nightmares after his return as a hero to Camp Defiance. Todd has finally opened up to the other survivors and found himself a home at the camp, but will he stay there, or will the lure of hunting call him?
Each section of the book brings us back to a survivor from the first novel, telling their story in intimate detail. In this novel we have religion discussed by characters (what sort of a god could allow infection to happen) and there is evidence that DiLouie has thoroughly researched the military elements of the story. The language of soldiers from all ranks is authentic, as is the use of weaponry.
The story progresses as Travis is tasked with finding Ray, who carries a live specimen of the infection, so that a cure can be found. The search, involving a number of the characters from the first book, will be tiring and fraught with danger.
As with the first novel, it is brutally realistic, despite the menagerie of monsters that DiLouie has created, which challenge the imagination. Again, DiLouie delivers and although a plot point is resolved, we are left wanting more.
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