Review: Contagious

Combining gory horror and sci-fi with imaginative cutting-edge medicine, Sigler’s near-future trilogy begins in “Infected” with alien seeds raining down on America, borne by the wind. Billions of these spores die but a few land on human skin and burrow in.

We can’t be sure at first what they are supposed to do since all of the victims turn into homicidal maniacs who kill those closest to them and then kill themselves in some gruesome fashion. At which point their bodies rapidly decompose into black soup.

CDC doctor Margaret Montoya teams up with CIA agent Dew Phillips to try and capture one of the infected alive. So far no luck but their latest (charred) corpse is fresher and before it dissolves Montoya learns that the infection is 1. a parasite, 2. vegetable, 3. diabolically clever.

Meanwhile a huge ex-football bruiser turned computer tech, Perry Dawsey, has begun to itch. A lot. And the bug bites look strange. The narrative switches between Perry’s infection progression and the government’s (Margaret and Dew mostly) secret race to figure out what’s going on in time to save the human race.

Graphic, disgusting and definitely not for the squeamish, Sigler’s story grows more horrifying with every page as the aliens develop inside their host and Perry fights back with all his wits, brawn and will power. “Infection” ends with a satisfyingly explosive climax, which feeds right into book two, “Contagious.”

The aliens, so far thwarted, largely because of the herculean will power and new alien ESP of not-so-nice-guy Perry Dawsey, have come up with a diabolically modified strain of infection. And it promises to be much, much worse than the body and mind-devouring version that now works in tandem with it.

Sigler ramps up the action for this one, keeping things at a furious pace from Perry’s hospital break-out right to the over-the-top climax, leaving the reader with plenty of reason to tune in to book three, literally, perhaps, as Sigler made his name in pod casting and has developed an avid pod cast cult following. “Contagious” is the first of his books to debut in print.

The characters are a bit stiff and the gore is unrelenting, but these books will definitely make you horror fans itch.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: Contagious

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.