Patient Zero Part 2 (Chapter 41-71)

During this section of the novel things really started to pick up. Jonathan Maberry goes into further detailing about how the whole zombie thing works and at some parts it gets really scientific. I try to get the overall understanding of the situation, but sometimes it gets too complex for me. However, I do enjoy how seriously the author is taking his novel to go this far into detailing. An example of this would be when Dr. Hu explains his theory on how the zombie disease works:

"Prions are neurodegenerative diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies...sometimes you see it occurring as a result of cornea or dura mater transplants, or in the administration of human-derived pituitary growth hormones...they are not compatible according to what we know of modern transgenics---or they've found a way to alter the chemistry of the body to cause artificial hibernation...Once the victim is in hibernation this disease cluster reorganizes the functioning matrix of the body. It somehow uses fatal familial insomnia protein to wake the victim up again and keep them awake."

Not only is the fine attention to detailing a factor that keeps me hooked onto the book, but the fast-paced action scenes as well are described incredibly. It takes a person with a great deal of creativity and imagination to create such a fictional story, like a zombie invasion and turn it into something that can be relatively believable. From the author's comments on my last post (which is still shocking) I'm excited to find out that he's made this book into a series. This book is a really exciting read with a blend of action/thriller and science based horror. I am well ahead of the schedule of the pace that the class should be reading at and I don't think it'll slow down until I finish the book. I can't wait to see how the plot unfolds and thickens even more, and most of all see how it all accumulates into a climax.