The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
4.6 | 8,126 ratings
Price: 17.71
Last update: 03-06-2026
Top reviews from the United States
- Listing BooksScary, Well-Researched, Informative. Nightmarish.y Review and Thoughts:
This is truly a mind altering book that leaves you scared crap-less in so many horrifying, real life ways. This book showcases the brutal reality of this horrible virus that is more killer than anything else. This is the real life monster living somewhere out there ready to attack in waves of pure painful death that is graphic, disturbing and most of all a ravaging beast inside your own body.
This book left me breathless and utterly disturbed. This is possibly one of the best books ever written on a virus. Richard Preston gave a voice to this beast of destruction. He allows you to understand and grasp the horror of this virus. In vivid detail he recounts the moments of infection, key figures who came down with the virus. The exploration of this virus in all its horrifying, painful moments that lead victim after victim to death. A death that is both painful and described in this book in brutal means.
This book details total fear. This book showcases the truth of this virus in all its fascinating brutality. Dreadful in the thought that it lingers out there waiting.
I think what stands out with this book is Richard gives a human side to this horror. He allows those who put their lives on the line to be expressed throughout this reality of carnage, fear and the not known. From human fear to science and medical clarity, Richard expresses an honest undertaking that often leaves you the reader in a state of shock, and amazement that allows you to be a part of the procedure.
I felt as if I was there inside the blood drenched walls. I felt the breathing inside the respiratory mask, and sweated inside the protective bio-suits. I felt the squeals of the infected monkeys. I felt the darkness, and cringe inducing reality of the unexplored caves of Kitum Cave. I felt the pathway of the deadly pathogen as it slowly moved throughout the bodies of its ultimate victims. I felt as if I got to know brave hero’s like Nancy Jaax, Jerry Jaax, Tom Geisbert, Dan Dalgard, C.J. Peters, Gene Johnson, Peter Jarling, and all those others who fought against it, sought it out to understand it, and for those who expressed a bravery to face it head-on, which I could never do.
Utterly fascinating, shocking, brutal and filled with a massive dose of pure learning education on a scary as hell topic, and true monster.
Would I Return to it Again: Absolutely. I think this should be required reading for science or medical classes or even College History lessons. A wonderful exploration of this horrifying killer that you can’t even see coming.
Would I Recommend: In a heartbeat. This should be read and expressed in all its brutal understanding and exploration of this virus.
My Rating: 5 out of 5
Four Words: Scary, Well-Researched, Informative. Nightmarish.
I’ll leave you with this extraordinary statement from Richard Preston in the book:
Page 406-407
AIDS…. Marburg. Ebola Sudan. Ebola Zaire. Ebola Reston….
“In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of people, the dead spots of concrete all over the planet, the cancerous rot-outs in Europe, Japan, and the United States, thick with replicating primates, the colonies enlarging and spreading and threatening to shock the biosphere with mass extinctions. Perhaps the biosphere does not “like” the idea of five billion humans. Or it could also be said that the extreme amplification of the human race, which has occurred only in the past hundred years or so, has suddenly produced a very large quantity of meat, which is sitting everywhere in the biosphere and may not be able to defend itself against a life form that might want to consume it. Nature has interesting ways of balancing itself. The rain forest has its own defenses. The earth’s immune system, so to speak, has reorganized the presence of the human species and is starting to kick in. The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by the human parasite.”
Originally posted on my webpage: http://www.classicbookreading.com/2015/09/richard-prestons-hot-zone-terrifying.html - Amazon CustomerA twenty-four hour plane flight away"A hot virus from the rain forest lives within a twenty-four hour plane flight from every city on Earth..."
Thrilling, informative, and concerning. A sobering reminder of how fragile life is and how little we still know about Ebola and its origins. - Micah HarkinsA Scientifically Based Novel Based on Real Life Events Regarding the Ebola VirusI chose to purchase this book for the purposes of a presentation in my college Biology class that was required, and this was on the "Books to Chose From" list for that semester. As I am a biology major and fascinated by viruses, especially ebola, this particular novel was of great interest to me, as well as earning me an "A" on my presentation!
The Hot Zone was published in 1994 by the book's author, Richard Preston. Richard Preston is a scientifically-minded man who earned his Ph. D. in English from Princeton University and has written many books on scientific topics including diseases and virology. Preston has written over six books and several newspaper articles, one of which, “Crisis in the Hot Zone” was published in 1992 by The New Yorker and was the basis of the inspiration for The Hot Zone.
Despite the author's enthusiasm for science and virology, his educational background in English makes this book more enjoyable through story and description than it is enjoyable due to science as Preston's science is shaky at best, even to a student such as myself, and even to some more qualified reviewers who agree that much of Preston's scientific descriptions of Ebola were at best exaggerated. Preston's usage of descriptive adjectives such as “liquefy”, “bleeding out”, and “cell wall” – the latter when describing a human cell, when it should only be used in plant cells – are far more enhancing to the story because of the way they portray a vision and not because of scientific accuracy.
Although the science can be somewhat shaky, the book itself is very entertaining and I recommend it to those who are avid readers and enjoy horror novels, science fiction, and books about plagues or epidemics. And though the plot and characters can be one-dimensional at times, the book is very well organized! Preston divides the book into four major sections: The Shadow of Mount Elgon (Part 1), The Monkey House (Part 2), Smashdown (Part 3), and Kitum Cave (Part 4), then proceeds to have both a list and description of main characters as well as a glossary for complete clarification and cross-referencing. Due to the way the book is organized, as well as a very unique and meta introduction to the reader to put them in a suitable frame of mind for reading the book.
There are many intensely graphic and potentially disturbing passages which depict medical and viral scenarios, therefore reader discretion is advised. However if you have the stomach and the interest in the topic such as I did, then you have a very good chance of enjoying this book which describes a real-life situation which occurred that was barely noticed by the “outside world” but was the closest we have ever – at the time of the book being published – been as a species to seeing a full-scale Ebola outbreak world-wide. Our species simply never knew the entire story until the writing of this book.
Besides describing the crisis outside Washington D.C., at Fort Detrick, Maryland which almost caused an Ebola outbreak of epidemic proportions, Preston also traces the origins of Ebola as well as other similar thread-shaped viruses such as Marburg from their apparent beginnings to how they are transferred among species and across species. Though the book is written in the style of Michael Crichton with a hint of Stephen King, there are more scientific aspects to this book including some fascinating up close microscopic photographs of various viruses including several strains of Ebola.
In conclusion, although this book can at times seem to focus more on the “horror and thriller” aspect of things and over-exaggerate certain points, the science behind the book is sound - however sometimes severely outdated, and is a great basis for learning about the Ebola virus and other filoviruses and deadly pathogens. If you are looking to read a true story of horror that includes scientific fact as well as historically accurate situations, I highly recommend you read this book! - R. HeuermannVery good bookSpellbinding. Enough to keep you from visiting Africa.