Population Zero

by L.M. Mallery

Dr. Bob Brady has made the horrific discovery that almost everyone born after the year 2005 is sterile. A genetically modified crop, already fully incorporated into the world food supply, is causing second-generation sterility. Just when he thinks he will set the world on fire with his findings, Bob learns that others know this dark secret. Are the Believers of the Order a crackpot doomsday group or does the conspiracy run far deeper? When nefarious forces begin to descend upon Bob with a vengeance, he must not only fight for his life, but for humanity itself.


POPULATION ZERO is a fast paced thriller that will take you on a riveting journey until the stunning conclusion is revealed.

Genres: Science Fiction

ebook

First published June 26, 2012

Reviews

[Itsatushy Garland · Rating 3 out of 5]

started slow but a good read. positive ending which is good in such a grim topic

[Joanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure I understand all the four and five star reviews. This was not a good book. The writing seemed to be at a junior high school level. Nearly every sentence was a fragment. Quotation marks were used incorrectly--or not at all--so at times I didn't know who was talking. The characters--for the most part--were one-dimensional and boring. The timeline seems to jump around all over the place.

The subject matter of the book is interesting and relevant--humanity may be meeting its demise because everyone on the planet is suddenly sterile. Why? GMOs. Do any of us know what genetically modified foods are doing to us? That could be a topic unto itself, but also included in the mix are a religious conspiracy, China taking over the world after trying to destroy the US (secretly, using the middle east as the fall guy), a company that produces the GMOs, but we're never sure why, nuclear war, dirty bombs, EMPs, and several shelters built miles underground (ARKs) to house scientists to work on a cure for the sterility crisis

Dr. Bob Brady and his team discover a cure for sterility. How? We don't know. We don't know about the work they did or how they came up with the cure. There are some words thrown in to say DNA was corrupted and that it would be difficult to correct it, but I would have found it far more interesting to hear about the work the scientists were doing.

I have to say I skipped around the book and then read the ending because I couldn't take all the sentence fragments, but I don't think there were any reasons given about why there was this whole conspiracy to make people infertile. There is the religious cult, someone in China, someone in Tibet, the head of US intelligence who may or may not be involved, and the corporation producing the food, but how they are all interlinked, how the conspiracy began, and the ultimate reason for the conspiracy aren't addressed. Is it all about the religious cult? Do they want to bring about doomsday? Maybe. Is it China because they want to take over the world and they have a lot more people than everyone else, so they can wait until the rest of the world dies off? Who knows?

Also not addressed are the impacts of the sterility crisis on the people of the world. There is some talk about how certain industries go out of business (those that produce baby products), but what about the people? Shouldn't governments around the world be preparing for the end when the only people left are elderly and there are no others to take care of them? This is not addressed at all. What about the impact on the last children born, knowing they are the last generation on earth? Not addressed. There are just some scientists working in the ARK who develop a compound to reverse sterility--and it works! By the end of the book, four or five women are pregnant. How do they plan on manufacturing and distributing the compound to the world? Not addressed. Is it something people have to take for the rest of their lives (because the GMO food isn't going away) or just once to fix the DNA for good?

There are no realistic scenarios in the book to address the problems that would actually occur if the world became sterile. There are just boring, cardboard characters doing things for reasons we don't know and are never told. I'm sure there are many other books out there addressing the same topic. Try to find one of those and skip this one

[Denise - No Longer on Goodreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main concept behind Population Zero really pulled me in, and I was excited to begin reading. The focus of the book ultimately wound up being broader than I thought it would be, and at times, that caused my interest to wane a bit. However, I loved the way various threads ultimately wound up being woven together, and the pacing in this book was amazing - kept me intrigued and reading. I really enjoyed the novel overall and will definitely be keeping a look out for more by Mallery.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book from page 1. It was exciting to read and I didn't want it to end. Keeep an eye on this author. this book had my heart racing. Loved it

[Jeana Bolin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good book

It took me a month to get through the first 7 chapters. very slow start. but there was a happy ending. somewhat predictable.

[Sherry Ewy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was good for a novella, but probably would have been better had I read part 1 first:)