Contagion

This book begins with an amateur pathologist, Dick, stumbling onto a deadly virus seemingly preserved for over a century in a sealed tomb in Alaska, then proceeds to chronicle several deadly disease outbreaks in modern-day New York. At first, the story seems completely predictable, however, the author throws several curveballs into the plot, the first of them being Dr. Jack Stapleton, a NY Medical Examiner who gets caught up in trying to figure out how and where these deadly pathogens are coming from. I found Jack to be a very frustrating character. He seems to have a death wish as he pursues investigating these mysteries while risking his job, his health, and his life. The book does get repetitious halfway through but picks up at the end with a lot of action. All in all, a pretty scary look into what can happen when a virus (like COVID-19) gets loose in the world.