Cat Zero

I found this book to be very suspenseful in its treatment of a virus outbreak, and could emotionally relate to the urgency of keeping the virus contained. The story was well-done, with characters who seemed like real people, complete with preconceptions and biases that affected the work at-hand. I foresee this book especially appealing to people who like medical thrillers.

The best parts of the story, for me, were when Artie and the other researchers attempted to piece together information and solve the mystery of the virus, and I kept waiting for the moment when someone would connect the lethal virus affecting cats, to the contagion spreading among humans. (That link was depicted in the story's opening pages, so I don't think this insight is a spoiler.)

I loved every second of this book as it had everything for me- strong female researcher, a whole lot of immunology and virology, a realistic representation of research and laboratory work, and such an interesting plot that involves bioterrorism and a possible epidemic. Cat Zero follows Artie Marshall, a female researcher who has been appointed the head of her own laboratory at a major research institute. However, her lab is in the basement, the institute is infamous for its sexism and she is currently in the middle of a divorce after only 10 months of marriage. After staring work on identifying a potential new virus spreading through the local cats, she is intrigued by the scientists in Room 302 and their work on computer models of epidemiology. Those two scientists, Henry and Simon are unusual to say the least, and she has to step carefully as she navigates the issues with their collaboration. When the models suggest that the virus could be more deadly then expected, and there are potentially fatal implications as people get infected too, Artie has to keep secrets from her colleagues, her collaborators and try to get to the bottom of the cause of this disease.

What I Liked

The story- Like I mentioned above, the story was amazing. We follow Artie as she uncovers more and more about this new disease infecting cats and people, her growing collaboration with the strange scientists in room 302, and the problems she faces in running her own laboratory. It was slow action wise, but I felt the build up to the major plot points was very interesting and I liked how everything played out. 

The accurate representation of science and research- As a researcher it is so warming to see science and research depicted accurately in a book. The characters have to plan their next experiments, worry over funding and getting laboratory space and discuss the implications of their results. The inclusion of some of the finer details of laboratory work, like tissue culture and PCRs, just made me love this book so much as some of these things are what I do on a daily basis. 

The science weaved into the story-I absolutely loved this book! It was a really great blend of science fiction with real science elements and the story as a whole was unique. The main character Artie is written perfectly and the plot kept me hanging on to the point where I read this book in a couple days. Some of the major plot points might be hard for a non-scientist to fully understand (I am a PhD student in Immunology so all of the concepts were pretty familiar) but I thought the book did a good job of either trying to explain these things, or ensuring that they were not essential to appreciating the story. The only real negative I have is the cover as I feel it is a little to simple and does not encapsulate how great the book is!

Artie- Artie is such an inspiring and awesome character. She is intelligent, has a number of nature papers to her name (which is pretty impressive), is the leader of her own lab, and constantly stands up to the discrimination she faces being a female researcher in a private laboratory predominantly headed by men. She is so passionate about her science and does not stop until her theory is either proved or disproved with evidence. We also get to see some of her more sensitive side as she deals with some emotional problems associated with her divorce and childhood. 

What I Didn't Like

The plot was a little slow at times-While I appreciate this is not an action book, the story did takes it's time to progress or for some major plot points to be introduced and explored. It was very slow and it was not until halfway when the plot became clear as the majority of the first half of the book was exposition.

The inclusion of Simon's Narration-The book follows Artie as she works to discover what the new disease is that is effecting cats, but at certain parts of the book we follow Simon, one of the weird scientists that works in room 302. We get excerpts of his diary and some scenes from his POV, which were some of my least favorite parts of the book. It took the focus away from Artie and it felt they did not add much to the story or his character-we knew he was strange and bitter from his interactions with Artie. 

Simon's character in general-This was not too much of a problem for me, but I found while Simon was supposed to be unlikable, at times his character was a little too over the top and he acted out of character a number of times, like his penultimate confrontation with Artie. 

*review will be posted on my blog one week prior to release*