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| View Larger Image | Infected: A Novel
by Scott Sigler
| | List Price: | $24.95 | | Price: | $16.47 | | You Save: | $8.48 (34%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 28869 | | Studio: | Crown | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 352 | | Publication Date: | April 01, 2008 | | Publisher: | Crown |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Across America a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.
Working under the government’s shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips crisscrosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind this deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common – they’ve been contaminated by a bioengineered parasite, shaped by a complexity far beyond the limits of known science.
Meanwhile Perry Dawsey – a hulking former football star now resigned to life as a cubicle-bound desk jockey – awakens one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices . . . he is infected.
The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war Perry must wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder.
Infected is the first major print release from Internet phenom Scott Sigler, whose podcast-only audiobooks have drawn an immense cult following, with more than three million individual episodes downloaded. Now Sigler storms the bookstore shelves with this cinematic, relentlessly paced novel that mixes and matches genres, combining horror, technothriller, and suspense in a heady mix that is equal parts Chuck Palahniuk, Michael Crichton, and Stephen King.
Infected will crawl beneath your skin and leave fresh blood on every page. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 179 reviews)
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A Fun Page Turner Read!!! 
Now, I shouldn't write this review since I am 50 or 60 pages shy of finishing this book. But this author is a jerk because he had ruined a few good nights of sleep for me... I kept on reading well past when I should have.
I'm writing this review now because of some recent reviews that trashed this story as being cliched, not true sci-fi, or a pale imitation of Stephen King. This guy exceeds the King of today by a long shot.
Now, I personally prefer post apocalyptic fiction and this book was inaccurately listed in that group. I had purchased it while thinking it was within my preferred genre. This book is not post apocalyptic fiction. While I should feel jipped, I didn't. It is a fascinating and fun read.
The primary character is an infected individual fighting his way through it. His back story and developments while dealing with the infection are tragic. You care about him even when he is absolutely in the wrong. The other characters are those within the CIA and CDC trying to track it down and understand it while trying to retain secrecy. It's these secondary characters where some reviewers had claimed as unsatisfying and underdeveloped. This is not the case. To develop them further would have been gratuitous and, if done, those same naysayers would have claimed as unecessary plot points. I've worked for the government... seen the arrogance, ladder climbing, hidden-talent and difficulties in getting stuff done. This book is surprisingly accurate.
Consider the average four and a half stars for this book. Those negative reviews are in the vast minority.
I haven't finished with this book yet but it has me captivated. I really like the science behind the infection... it seems so logical and plausible. And I really enjoy the characters.
Again, I had walked into reading this book thinking it was one thing (based on related links) and it wasn't what I had expected. Nevertheless, it is a fun, exciting and fulfilling read on a lot of levels.
Normally, I am not a big sci-fi fan. But this book is so well written, characters so well drawn, and so "have-to-know-next," that I highly recommend this book. And there's a sequel out soon. I already have it on order.
September 02, 2008 | |
Don't scratch that itch! 
Infected: A Novel
His podcasts are great. This book is even greater!
Whatever else that I do for the rest of my life, I will never, NEVER scratch an itch again without thinking about the events in this book!
August 31, 2008 | |
The clear advantage of starting out as a podcast... 
...is that your fanbase is web-savvy enough to game the Amazon rating system. The book isn't bad, but it's not so great it warrants an 80% 5-star rating.
The novel opens by introducing several main characters. A jaded ex-military special ops vet. An ambitious and surprisingly horny female CDC scientist. Various scheming black-ops types. Don't expect these characterizations to get much deeper than that.
The saving grace comes in the form of one hulking former football superstar(reduced to office grunt by injury, of course). While initially very shallow, his battle with the mysterious triangles infecting his body reveals the background that shaped him. It's somewhat predictable, but it gives him some breadth and places his struggle in a larger context that makes you want to empathize, despite the things he does. Chuck Palahniuk this isn't, but it's a decent attempt.
Past the scenes with the football star, the story is fast paced, but not terribly original. Even if you're young or don't read much straight sci-fi, you'll recognize plot elements from various other shows and movies. The ending was pure pulp sci fi, and it promises a sequel that is well on its way to also being cliche. As for the writing, it's about comparable to most other sci-fi writers abilities, but not to a master of horror like King. All in all, if you're looking for a fast, mindless read, this isn't a bad pick, but fans of pure horror, pure sci-fi, or pure thriller may be better off looking elsewhere.
August 26, 2008 | |
Mediocre, at Best (tabloid writing in sci-fi form)
Scott Sigler may be the writer of the 21st century, having gained his fame and promoted his work through the inventive use of new media, but after reading Infected, it's very clear to me that, marketing genius aside, his work is immature at best.
That's not to say he doesn't make an admirable effort. This story does seem very inventive at first glance, but his characters leave a lot to be desired. Perry Dawsey, on whom the majority of the story rests, is an ex football star turned computer programmer who wakes up one morning with a number of itching welts, which eventually turn into painful triangular growths under his skin. Think Stephen King's brand of alien pestilence without the character development. The idea, at least, is terrifying, but as poor Perry refuses to go to the doctor and develops symptoms like delusions, paranoia, and violent, murderous urges, which fit into one of the only backstories available in the book, the one of his violent upbringing, one is almost given to laughing rather than cringing as his disease progresses, even as he stabs or burns the growths to kill the "triangles" growing under his skin. Oh, I should mention, these things have interesting personalities, and they were probably the most entertaining part of the book.
Combine that with your typical no-name worker from the CDC who is desperately trying to unlock the secrets of the disease without blowing her government's cover, and Dew Phillips, a typical war-jaded 'Nam vet turned CIA operative who's torn between collecting a live victim and carpet bombing the neighborhood where the disease has spread, and you have an all-around festival of pulpy cliches.
Sigler's prose is quick and gory, but it reads like a bad horror movie, with almost all the same trappings. Also, this story, as flawed as it is, remains incomplete at the end, leaving the reader with a half-developed scenereo of the evil alien disease and it's final form, which is never described well enough. Nothing is resolved by the end of this book, and though it's supposed to make for an unsettling conclusion, the result is not as creepy as it is annoying.
Two-dimensional characters we've seen before, sensational imagery, and a quick dose of pseudo-science and alien weirdness make for a quick and amusing read, but the overall effect is tabloid writing rather than engrossing literature. There are MUCH better books out there.
August 24, 2008 | |
Gripping, but shallow
I read a lot of technical-science thrillers, however this story leaned more into the horror genre for me. There was definitely a Stephen King atmosphere present in parts of the story, specifically the chapters describing Perry and his struggle with the infection. Chapters outside of those left me wanting. The government plan to discover and contain the "infection" never gets developed enough for me to buy in. Nor do I ever identify with any of the other characters.
The short chapter style, and the need to find out what was going to happens next to Perry make for a fast read that holds you to the conclusion. All in all an ok novel, but I think this would have made a fantastic short story if it had concentrated more exclusively on Perry's struggle to rid himself of his affliction.
August 19, 2008 | |
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