Book Review: Zoo

Book: Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Edition: Paperback

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I didn't watch the Zoo miniseries that aired because I had not read the book. Last week, I was going through my bookcase and found this book wedged on the shelf. Lately, I have been trying to find books that I sort of forgot about (I bought this last year) and to start reading them.

This turned out to be so much better than I expected, especially since a friend of mine kept complaining to me about how much she didn't like either the book or the miniseries. I can't speak for the miniseries, but I really did like this book.

In this story, a strange phenomenon was causing the animals (mainly mammals) to attack and kill people. Years prior to the attacks, Jackson Oz, a biology student at Columbia University, had started to notice something strange was happening with animals. He believed in his theory to the point of obsession. He dropped out of school and focused all his time trying to study it and prove it. However, no one would believe him, they thought he was just another internet crackpot spouting off nonsense.

Even when he tracked a few attacks those were just seen as rare incidents. It wasn't until Jackson took an impromptu trip to Africa that he truly became witness to his theory. He was in the middle of a lion attack but the attack was nothing that had ever been seen before, it was truly strange.

Barely surviving the attack, Oz was trying to figure out a way to get back home with his evidence when he came into contact with ecologist Chloe Tousignant. The duo were soon on a race against time trying to get the information out there. But even with the backing of several scientists and Chloe's credentials, no one would listen to him. Will it be too late?

This was a very inventive, interesting and well-written story. From the moment I started reading this I didn't want to put it down, it was very exciting. There was a time jump in this but it didn't derail the story. I thought the authors did a great job of conveying the fear of the situation because can you imagine if your beloved pet attacked you for no reason and there was nothing you could do to stop them. The animals were on the warpath with humans as the one and only target. When you think about it, that's very frightening.

Not sure if I'll ever watch the miniseries but this was certainly a fascinating read.