Bacterium

by Nathan Pennington

Their baby daughter suffocates in their arms. A mysterious illness takes her life almost instantly. Then, Derek Silverman and his wife find their city littered with dead bodies. No survivors anywhere. For an unknown reason, only they are alive.

Using an amateur radio, Derek tries to reach anyone who will answer him.

That is his biggest mistake.

The perpetrators of the global pandemic receive the radio transmission and dispatch killers. Almost too late, Derek and his wife realize an unknown group caused this and will stop at nothing to kill them too.

They are now on the run for their lives in a human-less world.

Genres: Thriller

357 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 29, 2011

Reviews

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story premise was good -- some crazies ally themselves with environmentalists and decide to kill all the people on with this special anthrax-like substance and then have their bodies vanish using flesh eating bacteria. Once the deed is done, about 200 selected survivors converge in Wisconsin to create the new earth. The only trouble is, there are two people who were not killed in the pandemic and they aren't members of this elite group designated to survive. This is where the narrative lost any credulity for me. Derek is completely unbelievable as a guy who escapes every single sure fire attempt to kill him by all sorts of characters. I really never liked him or his wife. The villains were stereotypes and ludicrous ego maniacs. The action scenes went on and on and their elimination could have shortened the story line by about 20 chapters. The animal killing was over the top and the gory nature of the human deaths unpleasant to keep reading about.

I am a person who loves a good apocalyptic tale and I'm always looking for something original. I thought this one would be that, but it really never actually provided the hook or the satisfaction I needed to be able to recommend to others. I would have preferred characters with more depth, a lot more science, much less action and a more plausible outcome.

[Bill Thibadeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was engrossed in this book from the first chapter. The premise is that a crazed microbiologist develops a absolutely deadly virus with flesh eating bacteria attached so that he can take over the world is certainly not mainstream. However, the story is well crafted, characters are believable, and flows very well. The storyline is detailed and clever with a surprising ending. I recommend this highly.

I have seen a number of negative reviews of this book. Those reviews were primarily negative due to disdain for the subject matter or technical issues with the book - they do not accurately reflect the quality of the writing or the actual story.

There are indeed many problems with the wrong word being used, wrong punctuation, spelling issues, etc. These issues do have a bit of a negative impact on the story. I personally feel that the author may have used a speech recognition program and then relied on a spellchecker rather than incur the cost of editing.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if you could get rid of everyone who bugged you? Teased you? Made your life miserable? What if YOU could own Earth and everything left on it? Tempting? I’d say so! This is the plan of Andre Ferguson and friends. Frenemies might be a better word, actually. Andre has developed the best chemical ever: an anthrax mutation linked to a flesh-dissolving bead which will not only kill you but get your body out of the way in a day or so.
Andre wants to be THE GUY. And he is for awhile. One small problem – not everyone on Earth died. Oh, he’d made sure some people lived to act as “gatherers” for himself and friend Jim but that was all. Except…..he hadn’t exposed everyone. Derek Silverman and wife Sveta somehow missed getting infected. Their baby daughter was and she died, but they were left to mourn and try to figure out what had happened.
When Andre finds that Derek and Sveta are alive he sends several groups out to kill them. After all, Earth isn’t his unless Derek and wife die, now is it? Unfortunately, Derek has no plans to dies. He somehow finds ways outfox everyone Andre sends until Sveta, injured and on a table resting accidentally sets her foot on a corpse and catches the disease as well.
This story will not only entertain you but scare the hell out of you. I cannot imagine a scarier thought than everyone in the world dying! It’s brought to life right here in Bacterium and in fine fashion. This is a must-read for all you end-of-the-worlders and anyone who is interested in chemistry at its deadliest.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about two men who decide to end all human life on earth. They release an anthrax/ebola virus and soon most of humandkind is dead. The story actually starts off with a man, Derek, and his wife who are holding their baby daughter who is dying in their arms. They don't know why she died. They soon discover that she isn't the only one to have died suddenly. Derek and his wife try to reach other survivors through the use of a ham radio and are now the focus of the men who released the virus and their desire to wipe out Derek and his wife also.

Up until here this book had my attention. I really looked forward to seeing how survivors would cope in this new world. Unfortunately the author took the reader on a different trip. This trip included improbable escape scenarios, a zoo, and a group of people that I hope don't exist. I am not a fan of these type of stories and I wished the author would have shown us more of the new world instead of a hunter/hunted story.

Mr. Pennington writes well. He definitely knows what he is doing. I think for those that like the hunter/hunted story, they will find this book a good read. For those that like the end of the world stories, then this book probably won't hold much appeal.




*I received this book from a Member's Giveaway on Librarything, that in no way affects the content of my review.*

[Shell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one great book! It is chocked full of action, suspense, and a little bit of stupidity. Two scientists decide they want to kill of the world population using a modified version of the Ebola bacteria. They arrange this with members of a world wide environmental group, offering to vaccinate them against the virus in exchange for their help. But, the only people that actually get the vaccine are those that have something to offer after all the other people are gone: doctors, communication specialists, agricultural specialists. Those type of people.

When the world population has faded away, the group picks up a radio communication from a couple seeking help. Why didn't they die? The group decides the couple can't be allowed to live, so the hunt begins. A hunt that takes place in a world of no people, no electricity, nothing to depend on but yourself.

This is a fantastic end of the world thriller. The characters and story are so well written it was like watching a movie in my head. It's an exciting read, one that I had a hard time putting down.

[Amy Siggelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from the Member Giveaways on Library Thing.

I enjoyed reading this book. It has a good amount of action, while still remaining a science fiction story.

This is a story of two scientists who decide to create a biological weapon to wipe out people from the earth, so that they can have the world to themselves. They enlist a radical environmental organization to help disperse this bacteria, that is much like anthrax, with a flesh eating bacteria attached to it. It is designed to kill a person, then release the bacteria to "eat" the remains, so that nothing is left. They are successful in killing off all people, except for two, who had been unwittingly exposed to anthrax weeks before this event took place. Derek and his wife, Sveta, are the only two people left, and Derek finds out who is behind these killings and goes after them.

There is alot of action in this book, which makes it exciting to read; I had a hard time putting it down. Aside from some dryness in the dialogue, I thought this book was very well written. I will be looking for more from this author!

[Christina (Ensconced in Lit) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book on Librarything in exchange for an honest review.

I really love post-apocalyptic novels. There aren't a lot of post-viral ones currently. That's why I had my hopes high for this novel. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I never connected with any of these characters. Even the main ones Derek and Sveka (the good guys) were flat. I don't even want to get into the evil characters because their whole plot for world domination doesn't even make any sense. I know a lot of microbiologists and they are extremely smart; these people were enormously stupid. One character that was like this I could explain away. But a whole vast number of people buying into the death of humanity makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The writing overall is rather choppy and needs to be heavily edited as it contains many grammatical/spelling errors. I skimmed through the last 60% of the book, which contains mostly just action scenes. A lot of ethical, thoughtful dilemmas could be introduced, but instead were greatly ignored. Try the Passage by Justin Cronin or The Stand by Stephen King.

[Kaitie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've recently gotten away from the thriller/horror genre, but I'm so glad I read this. I really enjoyed it and got in to it right from the start.

The opening chapter with the President dropping dead, along with the rest of the White House definitely grabs your attention and you can't wait to find out what's going on. From there on it was pretty much nonstop action and fighting for survival for the couple against a crazy supervirus and its' developers that have destroyed the rest of the world.

I really did have trouble putting this book down because I was always looking forward to what was going to happen next. And the whole destruction of the human race and downfall of civilization was just fascinating. Definitely makes you think about how well you'd survive if you were one of the only people left on the planet.

[Pam K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a LibraryThing Member Giveaway Review.

When Andre and Jim decide to rid the world of humans, except for about 200 "necessary" people (doctors, engineers, and such). They create a new strain of anthrax combined with a flesh eating bacteria.
Derek and his wife survive the epidemic somehow, which causes Jim and Andre the hunt them down for elimination.

I like the writing style of the author, minus a few typos and grammer errors. The story was gripping and action filled. I felt for Derek and all he was going through to survive. I felt the characters were mostly believable. There were some points that seems not to fit. I thought this book was really good, and I couldn't put it down.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, it caught and held my attention from the very beginning. I rooted for the "good guys" and loathed the "bad" guys. Lots of action without focus on action to the exclusion of story and plot. The "good" guys reacted like anyone would in the situation (just wanting to stay alive). The "bad" guys were easy to hate and batshit crazy.

I liked the way the ending (maybe epilogue) tied into Dereks story. I don't want to give anything away so I'll stop now. If you like post apocalyptic books you should like this one.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book on Library Thing. I really enjoyed this book. The action and storyline kept my attention and I was truly interested in what would happen to the main character and his family/friends. I did feel that Derek's feelings about what happened to his child were not realistic to how someone would act (don't want to be more explicit because I would give away a part of the story), but he was redeemed to me with his feelings and actions regarding his wife and friend.
It is not perfect, but it is a really good read.

[Gail · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written and stupid.