Nature strikes once again, it would seem. I've read a couple of things like this over the years, probably the best known example (at least in my mind) is Greg Bear's Blood Music, in which man engineers his own downfall by "pink goo", a new lifeform which absorbs all of humanity. Then there's Scott Sigler's Infected, though I admit to not getting past the podcast of the first book in that series.
Those are positioned rather heavily in the "horror" genre, which makes this book a pleasant surprise when it drifts into thriller territory. I don't tend to read many "straight" thrillers, (though I'm sure I can make a sarcastic comment here about some of the more silly thrillers drifting into fantasy). As such, it's nice to see some of the style turning up in my usual zone of wizards and aliens.
So, the threat in this book happens to be mind-controlling fungi. Naturally it comes out of the Amazon jungle, home of all unknown biological threats, in the brain of someone who was already a bit too fond of mushrooms. (That's a mycologist reference, not a stoner one. The only drugs in this are high doses of anti-fungals. They're hardly recreational. There's no "fun" in these fungi.)
Fungus has a bit of form for this, which is directly referenced in terms of the Death of Ants. Just close enough to the scenario described in this book to let me suspend disbelief.
The end result is a battle against time, drug lords and a small army of people who just want to spread the mushroomy love. (Okay, it's a little recreational.) Worse than that, as you might expect from the title, this infection tends to make people more clever than they used to be, more than a bit tempting, especially for university applicants. Which means that the fungus' side has humanity more or less on the run throughout. Good for high tension.
Fighting on humanity's side is Neil Johns, a new and upcoming intelligence analyst, with the help of Mei-lin Chu, a fungal specialist and "the Major", an impressive force who has single-handedly browbeaten Generals, Directors and probably worse in her long career at the NSA.
As you might expect, it's a rollercoaster ride (free thriller review bingo square) of fights, chases, occasional body horror and more than a little danger. Kept me gripped for the scant hours it took to read it, and did cause me to put off going to sleep for a fair bit longer than I should have done to finish it. Written in a fast moving style, and not afraid to be demanding of a reader.
Highly recommended.
Tagged: Book Horror Nature strikes back Novel Print