| Title | : | Ebola K (Ebola K, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 292 |
| Publication | : | First published September 7, 2014 |
In 1989 the Ebola virus mutated to into an airborne strain that infected humans for the first time on American soil in Reston, Virginia. Through belated containment efforts and luck, nobody died.
Now, in the remote East African village of Kapchorwa, the Ebola virus has mutated into another airborne strain without losing any of its deadly potency.
In this thriller, terrorists stumble across this new, fully lethal strain and while the world fearfully watches the growing epidemic in West Africa as Sierra Leone goes into country-wide lockdown, only a few Americans are aware of Ebola K and the danger it poses—to be the deadliest pandemic in the history of mankind.
Can they do anything to protect themselves from this killer disease? Can they stop the terrorists?
Ebola K (Ebola K, #1) Reviews
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This is so current it could have been snatched from today's headlines. Ebola is a dreadful virus and the author doesn't spare feelings in describing how it affects it's victims. Bobby Adair however, takes it one step further, by having the virus mutate into an airborne strain. This of course means it can spread much faster with comparative ease. If that wasn't bad enough,there are terrorists eager to get their hands on it when they realise the possibilities it provides to aid their activities. The characters were engaging, and it was a compelling well drawn plot. We WERE however left with a cliffhanger and the sequel is due out late autumn. Worth waiting for. SCARY!
**Please note** - this review was written way back in 2014 but it seems to be doing the rounds, perhaps because of the current situation with Coronavirus. It has to be said that this was a fictional story where the author had the Ebola mutate into an airborne virus, which please God never happens in reality. Please, each and every one of you stay home unless you’re a key worker, ( In which case I thank you from the bottom of my heart) and stay safe. 🤗 -
NOOOOOOOO! Okay, now that is out of the way, let me just say one thing; NOOOOOOO, NO, No, no! Seriously, it can't end like that and make me wait until "late fall 2014" for the next book in the series. That is just not right, Mr. Adair.
In all seriousness, this book was awesome and sucked me in from the start. I am not usually one to get into the location of a book but I have many friends from Somalia and I was intrigued seeing how far Kapchorwa was from my friends' town in Somalia. I have Google Mapped Kapchorwa, Mbale, and Mount Elgon National Park so many times that I am sure that I will end up on some NSA watch list if this book ever comes to fruition. I loved the characters and their realness in dealing with the Ebola virus. I learned a lot too and I am now going to wonder how I would handle myself and family if we knew Ebola was in the United States. Scary stuff, so "props" to
Bobby Adair for this book and I will be, not so patiently, waiting for the next book in the series. -
"But just as life in America has a way of killing the soul with vapid pleasures, life in Africa broke the heart through random brutality."
This book started out grim, grimmer than The Three Body Problem and I never did pick that book back up. I'm not sure why I gave this one another shot but I'm glad I did. It quickly became more interesting, entertaining, and scary.
That airborne Ebola outbreak we've been biting our nails about, well it's happening! A little town in Africa is sick and the college students taking a save-the-world JYA are in over their heads. In a startling coincidence one of those students has an older brother who would also like to change the world, but not for the better.
Najid's well funded emergency African excursion to save his little brother yields an opportunity for terrorism. Who needs a bioweapons lab when you have dozens young jihadist with Western passports willing to die for you. A few days in a sick village and they are sent back to their homes; unknowing destroyers. Three and a half stars happily rounded up.
I'd like to thank Randy from Horror Aficionados for his tireless lists of free kindle books.
This author provides book one free in the hopes you will pay for the next one. You know what, I did! That new pencil is on me. High five marketing genius. -
Another sequel
Does anyone write a book that has a ending anymore? Maybe I am the only one who is tired of reading a book that does not finish until you buy another book or two -
Please refer to Binyavanga Wainaina's "How To Write About Africa."
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Excellent
I really enjoyed this book, it moved really fast and airborne Ebola isn't something that I'd like to think about. Well written and great characters. Recommended anyone that likes the genre. -
My review: The writing was decent and the plot was ok, but there were so many bothersome things about the characters that it undermined my enjoyment of this book.
Warning: I am about to rant, so if you love this book you probably shouldn't read any further.
Austin, a predictably blue-eyed American, is spending time abroad for college as a teacher of Ugandan children. He and his friend Rashid have been gone from their home village of Kapchorwa for a week. Austin is a Gary Stu speshul snowflake.
He always does the right thing. He helps a boy who has been thrown off a roof. Although he himself is sick with Ebola, he helps all the other patients at the hospital who are worse off than he is. One of the jihadists knows him from school in Denver, and although he supposedly hates America and the American lifestyle, Austin is the one person that helped tutor him in math and treated him nice. Therefore, he must save Austin. This same Austin, who is supposedly completely selfless, doesn't tell Emmanuel and his wife who find him in the woods and care for him, that he has Ebola and it is dangerous to be around him with his vomiting and such.
Actually, I couldn't stand Austin or his family. His sister, Olivia, tries to make her self out to be an intelligent blond, but then proceeds to give blonds all over the world a bad name with her flirty, vacuous conversation with a virologist named Dr. Wheeler. She works for the NSA and is very concerned about her little brother. I understood that the point of this conversation was to give the readers information about the Ebola virus, but quite frankly, I would have preferred a straight forward info dump to this contrived banter. I even thought her tears for Austin were phony when she learned that there was terrorist activity in Kapchorwa.
Austin's stepmother Heidi is totally annoying. She calls Austin constantly; more than his father and more than his own mother would. When she can't get in touch with him for a few days, she drives the officials in Uganda crazy. She won't shut up and she won't take hell no for an answer. Why they wouldn't tell her, "I'm sorry, but your grown stepson is not a priority," and hang up on her, I don't know.
Then there was Paul, Austin's father. He decides to dooms day prep, which is fine, but when he thought this, it infuriated me: Instead, he'd open his gun safe and decide that his odds were better going to the house of the guy who'd put the Obama sticker on the back of his car while living in one of the reddest counties in the country. Because in Paul's mind, people who voted Republican were more likely to own a gun than people who voted Democrat. He guessed he wasn't the only person in the country who thought that way. So that bumper sticker--long since removed--was a target for those neighbors of his who remembered he'd put it there. It said, come take my food. I don't have a gun. I can't stand his 'I'm better than you; I don't own a gun," attitude. In the event of a true disaster that would be a very asinine and dangerous philosophy to have. Unless you wanted your family killed.
I didn't like Najid or his terrorist buddies, which is how it is supposed to be. But I definitely liked Salim, the conflicted jihadist, more than Austin or any of his family. I wouldn't have cared if Austin's entire family contracted Ebola and died miserable deaths.
Finally, there is this from Najid: That is exactly what is going on now. American doctors with Ebola have been flown out of Liberia and are responding well to a new American miracle drug. The supply is small and the price is high. So poor Africans don't get it. They die. That is the world, Austin. You don't understand it because you have been a rich American all your life, and you have had more of everything than you ever needed, while others suffered to provide it for you.
I could say, "Well, that's the bad guy talking," and dismiss it. Except for what I read in the preface from the author: Ebola is a terrible disease that--even as I write this story--is gruesomely killing people just like you and me, except for the fact that they weren't lucky enough to be born in an affluent country.
Over a million dollars was spent on the care of Thomas Duncan and he still didn't survive. Medical care does improve your chances of living, but Ebola is a deadly disease, and no matter how high-priced your care is, there is no guarantee you will survive. Ebola doesn't care about your pocketbook. If you want to have a discussion about how the Western world hasn't done enough to help our West African brethren, I'll agree. If you say mistakes were made in the early efforts to contain the epidemic, I'm with you. But if you're saying we somehow deserve to have Ebola here because we've had it too good for too long, I'll take issue with that. Having Ebola in the western world will only decrease the amount of funding sent to Africa. And yes, aid organizations are in need of supplies and help, but also many are afraid of going there to help because Ebola is out of control. Not wanting to die doesn't make you a filthy American pig.
The only sympathetic characters in the book were the poor townspeople of Kapchorwa and the medical staff who tried to help them.
Finally, I tend to like cliffhangers, but to end a book mid-thought--that is so Peter Van Houten of The Fault in Our Stars. Do not want. -
Appropriately timed fiction that is a breath away from reality
I hate reading thrillers that twist and turn so much, one needs a roadmap to navigate the story. This is not that kind of book.
Straightforward and concise, the plot unfolds in a way that is frighteningly believable. It deals with the fears of the very worst kind of WMDs...biological weapons.
The easiest way to get to the most amount of casualties is the simplest. It's exponential. Infect a handful of people and place them in crowded places. Then sit back and watch it happen. It isn't as dramatic as 9/11/01, but far more deadly. Each person infected becomes an unwitting part of the story, yet another walking time bomb of disease.
We need only to look back at the past, when European settlers brought the diseases of whites to the pristine shores of the New World. How that devastated the populace of unsuspecting Native Americans.
Book one sets up the players and the plot effectively for book two. Adair keeps the science simple enough for everyone to understand, and the unraveling of the plotting basic and believable. We get to see the struggles between what is right and wrong, that some of the characters are going through, and that more often than not, it's never as clear as one might expect.
For those used to reading tales of the Zombie Apocalypse, more often than not, they usually start off with some kind of an outbreak, followed by the government's response to get a vaccine, that makes everything worse.
We need to understand is fiction is just a future reality that hasn't been written yet. The reality of this story is taking place in Texas, as I write this. It's up to us to determine how that story ends. -
This book needed an ending.
I realize this is the first book in a series, but even so, there needed to be some sort of resolution at the end, other than the author simply turning off the computer and walking away. Something as lame as the characters asking, "Gee, what will happen next?" would have been sufficient. But instead, here the reader was left to wonder if the end of the book got cut off upon email to the publisher or if the audio skipped a track.
Certainly there did not need to be resolution of the entire story, but an indication that the first part of the story was wrapped up would have made sense. (or better yet, actually wrapping it up).
For a very common/simple example: JK Rowling wrote 553 Harry Potter books and none of them ended in a manner that made one wonder if someone had tripped over the cord to JKR's computer & stopped the power. Each piece of her larger story (the individual books) ended in a way that indicated that part of the larger story arc was complete in itself.
A sufficient end here could consisted of something Potteresqly lame (goodbye school, hello summer, golly what will happen next year?) but at least it could have been a signal to the reader that the book they were reading was actually finished and not leave them to wonder if the rest of the pages of the book fell out on the way home from the bookstore. -
This isn't a book capitalizing on the current Ebola outbreak. It's an enjoyable thriller told from interesting points of view. It's the first in a trilogy and I'll be reading the next one when it comes out.
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Love hate relationship with cliffhangers. Come on Bobby, finish #2
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He was a coward,so he deserved death
He was a traitor, so he deserved death
He was a spy, so he deserved death
He was an apostate, so he deserved death
He was just like every other American, so
he deserved death.
This book shows several facets of contagious outbreaks:
a.) a new strain of the deadly Ebola Virus and
b.) the deadly consequences of hatred and prejudice.
How living in a world we are still unprepared to
deal with the fall out of worldwide illnesses, poverty, prejudices.
The breaking down of people physically, spiritually, and morally.
Sometimes left to our own devices we become cold, mechanical, prejudice,
and uncaring. Treating hatred much the same way as an illness-- to dispose of it,
kill it, or simply ignore it. To become intolerant and narrow-minded.
Just like Ebola can be Airborne -- so can Terrorism.
This story made me evaluate my own thought processes and feelings. It was a
story that touched me on a very deep level. I will be reading more from this writer... A very realistic thought-provoking read. -
The characters are flat and vapid. The plot is predictable, and any time the author did research he makes sure to tell you the information, disguised as conversation between two people. Also, the smart strong women stop being smart and strong as soon as something difficult comes up, then they're emotional women in need of manly comforting. Oh, and if they're attractive the nearest man thinks about sleeping with her so that the reader knows just how attractive she is, but also how strong and smart because she won't be sleeping with h said nearest man (insert eye roll).
It is a fluff piece, so my expectations were low. -
I was pretty sad that I didn't enjoy this book because I enjoy Bobby's writing style and creativity. This book is very flat and the plot didn't have much crescendo. It took 24 chapter to get to a somewhat interesting part of the books and it's all extremely predictable. Somehow practically all of the characters are related or know each other in some obscure way. It is difficult to flesh out so many characters and make them believable, which these are not. I'm not sure I'll continue to the next book.
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Interesting premise but I wasn't impressed with the storytelling. The first part of the book was drawn out with frivolous details and the end was rushed and chopped off with The End. I would not recommend this book. Just realized there's a sequel but I'm still not impressed.
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Great read, can't wait for the next one!!
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AWESOME
This book had me from the first chapter....what a ending! Please let me know when the next one comes out, I truly loved reading this book! -
This book was a fair read for me. I could not wrap my head around the 'airborne' strain of Ebola for some reason, even though I know it could very well happen some day. If the book was about Ebola I wanted it to stick to facts as we know them. (sorry, my personal quirk, I know). Also I wanted to know more about Paul in America who was embarrassed to be a doomsday prepper for when Ebola got to the U.S., as it surely would eventually. Perhaps the other books in this trilogy will pull this all together for me!
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This was actually really well written. I’ve read a couple of other books by Adair, and found Ebola K to be the most “mature” so far, both in style & plot.
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Ebola AND a Terrorist plot? I've never been more interested.
4.9 stars out of 5
Ebola – one of the deadliest diseases. Ebola K, named after the small village in which it decimates the population with ease and terrifying quickness. An American is there teaching the poorest of the poor in this small village when the outbreak happens and he and his friend do everything they can to help out the overrun hospital. Austin (the American) calls his friends older brother who happens to be much worse than he could have ever expected. Throw in a terrorist sleeper cell that is now awake and ready to pounce using this deadly Ebola K… this book is a page-burner from start to finish.
Adam Verner narrates this book, and does a superb job. I felt like I knew him and his voice. He, like a good narrator does, added to the story making me happy that I listened to this on audiobook compared to just reading it. The audio quality is perfect—studio quality with no errors or issues at all. Since reading this, I have looked for other books read by him (including Ebola K 2).
My biggest complaint, and the only reason that my overall impression of the book is that it just ends. There is no real ending—it is left completely wide-open for the next book. And after reading the first Slow Burn book by him, I felt that exact same way. I understand keeping a reading invested and wanting more, but come on! Give me some sort of ending! I am eagerly awaiting the second book right now (it is out in eBook and on Audible).
I loved The Hot Zone, and any other book on Ebola (or a similar virus), so this book really tugged at my heart strings. Adair really had my attention and he wouldn’t let it go. He jumped from person to person and place to place with ease, and kept me glued to my seat.
I received a free copy of this from
Audiobook Reviewer in exchange for my honest review. -
This easy little thriller swooped along at a fair pace, and was a timely adaptation of current affairs into fiction. Where this book, like so many of its type, let itself down for me was the stereotypical Muslim radicals vs the rest of the world (American hero) slant - it's been done, it's not particularly insightful, and in my opinion, only serves rank stereotypes and Fox news. Sorry terror-junkies, I'm a hippy peace freak _ I don't think perpetuating the axis of evil trope helps anything.
However, the portrayal of the terrorist characters was more three dimensional than I expected (motivated by money, some revenge, and hints at more - although not described as this is clearly a lead-up book to other paid titles in the series).
The indestructibility of the teen-american, Austin Cooper, was unfortunate - although I suppose people do like to follow a single protagonist in the main (I'm comfortable with changing throughout - he would never have survived what he's been going through - but then, I once upon a time watched a series of Jack Bauer in 24 - and this book is much more realistic - I believe Jack's STILL going).
There are also some MAJOR coincidences to draw main characters together - I liked that there could be several parallel plots (we readers can handle that) - I don't think the NSA agent needed to be related to Austin etc... Maybe more is described in book 2 that warrants such fortuitous happenstance?
Don't let my gripes put you off however - It's a fast paced read, and one I sucked up in about two sittings. It has the immediate feel of a tv or film spin off (which I presume informed the author's style, but hey, he pulled it off) - Every vignette is the perfect length for a scene, very little adaptation work would be required by a scriptwriter, and I could see this make box office. -
Well beyond exceeding might expectations!
ok.I'm a lover of this genre of books.and by far, Ebola k has been the best outbreak story I've read so far.and no,I don't know the author.he is a first time reading for me.the ONLY problem I have with this series is this is the first one and book two isn't going to be out till late fall! I'm not sure I can wait so Bobby, I'm not sure I care if you have to stay up 24/7 to get out the next book! please say your kidding and get it out now! the story is so realistic that when I developed a headache and chills today,I just knew I had caught Ebola! nah, my family didn't believe it either.but for free, or next one a"few"dollars, Ebola k is so worth it.I do want to mention that this author has written a zombie series.maybe one day I might try it only as I enjoyed this book so much but normally, it's not my style.Ebola k DOES NOT have zombies.so if you don't like that genre, no fears.no zombies.thank, author Bobby.now please get to work on second book! -
There is a skeleton of a story here, one I actually liked, but there's not a lot of embellishment in this book. Little descriptions and elaborations (i.e. creative writing) make a story worth reading. Because it's so sparse, when Adair does go deeper it's off putting, as with the conversation between Olivia and Dr. Wheeler. Actually, some of that dialogue was cringeworthy.
One commenter on Goodreads noted some of the typical African tropes peppered throughout this book, but more glaring for me was the complete omission of references to Islam aside from the word "Allah". The antagonist Najid is supposed to be a jihadi, yet he never does anything remotely religious. Dropping in some mention of him quoting passages from the Koran, or consuming halal, or praying toward Mecca would seem to fit with this character. In short, do some research so your characters have some depth of appeal.
Sorry, I won't invest in the end of this story. Had there been a cliffhanger or any character I cared about I might have considered it. -
Another good book by Bobby Adair. We learn all about a young college boy who goes to a small town in Uganda to help the people there and an Ebola virus breaks out. Or did it just break out? We also meet some Jihadis and how they think. We meet friends of the college boy and his parents.
There is a terrorist plan involved and just mentioning Ebola and terrorist in the same breath will make you lose your breath, right?
And you really lose your breath when you realize you have to wait for the next book in the series. I broke my own rule not to read a series unless it was complete, or about to be complete, meaning I could read the first books and be ready to read the last one by the time I was finished. But I just love Bobby Adair! He really can spin a yarn, folks! And he writes it very very well. -
I consider it a good read if you like thrillers. The chapters is short and give a fast pace. One thing I got hinged on was the author switched between foot and meters. In one chapter it can be "he runes several foot in a short time" and in the next "when chased, he covered the ten meter to the door in a record time". I also liked that the author presented himself as an indie-author. In the first pages was also presented some of the people behind the layout of the e-book. That was also something that cached my eye. Proofreading, yes of course, but formatting? Nothing I actually thought of. I also liked that the author said "the first one is free, but if you liked it, buy the next!". That honesty is one of the reason I will buy the next book. Now, I beginning to ramble. To sum it up, great read with a fast pace. I recommend it.
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At first this book jumped around quite a bit and was hard to follow, but after a few chapters, it settled down. The book centers around the village of Kapchorwa in Uganda where there has been an outbreak of Ebola which has become airborne. Four college students are in the village helping to educate the street kids and to provide medical assistance, when the outbreak happens. At the same time, a group of radicalized young terrorist have been brought together for training and eventually are led to Kapchorwa while it is in the midst of the outbreak. The terrorist plan to take advantage of this plague to wreak vengeance on the developed nations whom they see as oppressing them. This is well written and fast paced. I enjoyed it and can hardly wait until the sequel comes out.
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Ebola K did a great job of weaving current events into the narrative for the story, which in the long run may date the book but which worked really well as a contemporary read. Different storylines are introduced and brought together through the book, with some fairly large and hard to believe coincidences finding a pair of Americans who grew up together with very different beliefs in the same tiny little town in Africa at the same time. The story kept you on the edge of your seat (or ladder, in my case, as I listened to it while painting) although fair warning, it will leave you with a cliff hanger and no real resolution.
I thought that this book was really well performed by Adam Verner who did a good job making it obvious who was speaking and was a pleasure to listen to.
