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The Virus
From renowned British politician Stanley Johnson, an exciting, intelligent thriller about the rise of a mysterious virus and one man's fight to stop a deadly pandemic, perfect for fans of Michael Crichton and Dan Brown.
How do you stop an invisible killer?
When a young woman in New York City dies mysteriously after a trip to Europe, top epidemiologist Lowell Kaplan identifies the cause of death as the Marburg Virus—a fatal strain that has surfaced only once before in history.
Determined to trace the source of the disease, Kaplan follows a trail of intrigue from the labs of Germany to the jungles of Central Africa. But powerful forces are conspiring against him, determined to keep the secrets of the virus's origin deliberately under wraps. And with a global pandemic on the rise, Kaplan must go to unimaginable lengths to stop a deadly scheme and save mankind.
How do you stop an invisible killer?
When a young woman in New York City dies mysteriously after a trip to Europe, top epidemiologist Lowell Kaplan identifies the cause of death as the Marburg Virus—a fatal strain that has surfaced only once before in history.
Determined to trace the source of the disease, Kaplan follows a trail of intrigue from the labs of Germany to the jungles of Central Africa. But powerful forces are conspiring against him, determined to keep the secrets of the virus's origin deliberately under wraps. And with a global pandemic on the rise, Kaplan must go to unimaginable lengths to stop a deadly scheme and save mankind.
- GenresFiction
338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 1984
50 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 18, 2015
Made it about a third of the way through this before I got too annoyed with its stupidity and quit.
And with that, I'm outta here.
And with that, I'm outta here.
December 26, 2020
I decided to grab some sort of “quick-read’ to assist in completing the Goodreads challenge for 2020; to which I have pledged the obviously over-ambitious commitment of one book every two weeks. I thought something remotely relevant to the Covid crises would be interesting and quick. Certainly, this book lived up to those expectations.
However, this is not a novel that I could recommend or would normally choose to read. Without getting too far into derogatory explanations, I’ll just point out the rather juvenile character development and the obvious thriller-based audience for which this writing is intended. To each his own.
Of greater concern is the fact that this relatively obscure novel was published nearly 3 decades ago, long before the advent of Covid, so reading this novel now is rather frightening, particularly because of the way in which it identifies such pathogens as viable weapons of international warfare. As this novel descends into the diabolical use of Marburg virus for defense purposes, one can’t help but become concerned about the origins of Covid-19.
Marburg is the predecessor virus from which Ebola likely mutated. A much more intriguing and better written thriller about Ebola is Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone , which includes graphic descriptions of the horrible symptoms of the disease.
What makes Covid all the more mysterious is the shielded media coverage we’ve all witnessed, particularly the withholding of statistics regarding the ages of the victims and the extent of asymptomatic infection that occurs. There is a systematic and purposeful cloaking of information about Covid that is easy to discern. The drastic insistence upon elaborate quarantines, even in the face of economic turmoil, implies a situation more dire than implied, and certainly something that is not likely limited to just the aged and infirmed.
Despite its shortcomings, this novel succeeds in reminding us that the Covid situation stems from much more than what has likely been revealed to the public. It may be decades or more before the public learns everything about the origins of Covid, if even then.
So, don’t read this novel if you are paranoid about Covid, because it will only heighten your fears and whet your appetite for conspiracy theories.
That’s all I’ve got for this one.
-End-
However, this is not a novel that I could recommend or would normally choose to read. Without getting too far into derogatory explanations, I’ll just point out the rather juvenile character development and the obvious thriller-based audience for which this writing is intended. To each his own.
Of greater concern is the fact that this relatively obscure novel was published nearly 3 decades ago, long before the advent of Covid, so reading this novel now is rather frightening, particularly because of the way in which it identifies such pathogens as viable weapons of international warfare. As this novel descends into the diabolical use of Marburg virus for defense purposes, one can’t help but become concerned about the origins of Covid-19.
Marburg is the predecessor virus from which Ebola likely mutated. A much more intriguing and better written thriller about Ebola is Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone , which includes graphic descriptions of the horrible symptoms of the disease.
What makes Covid all the more mysterious is the shielded media coverage we’ve all witnessed, particularly the withholding of statistics regarding the ages of the victims and the extent of asymptomatic infection that occurs. There is a systematic and purposeful cloaking of information about Covid that is easy to discern. The drastic insistence upon elaborate quarantines, even in the face of economic turmoil, implies a situation more dire than implied, and certainly something that is not likely limited to just the aged and infirmed.
Despite its shortcomings, this novel succeeds in reminding us that the Covid situation stems from much more than what has likely been revealed to the public. It may be decades or more before the public learns everything about the origins of Covid, if even then.
So, don’t read this novel if you are paranoid about Covid, because it will only heighten your fears and whet your appetite for conspiracy theories.
That’s all I’ve got for this one.
-End-
February 4, 2016
Note: This is a re-issue of a book originally published in 1982.
The premise of this story, the possibility of a deadly pandemic, is what initially drew me in to The Virus and, for the most part, I was not disappointed although there were some stumbling blocks. The story is noticeably dated in some ways as it was first published in 1982 but I was more annoyed by some of the actual writing. Over and over again, the author uses characters' full names, i.e., Susan Wainwright or Lowell Kaplan, both of which are repeated multiple times. Once or twice is sufficient; we do not need to be told a character's full name endlessly. Mr. Johnson is not a first-time novelist when this is being re-issued, hopefully with some re-editing, and should know better.
Mr. Johnson also takes some very broad liberties with his descriptions of the original Marburg outbreak(s), I suppose in the interest of increasing the level of fear. I'm all for a good thriller but, when it's based on actual occurrences, I prefer that the author stick to the facts a bit more closely and, in this case, the real Marburg is very scary indeed, no embellishment needed.
At one point, mention is made of the Congressional Medal of Honour being bestowed upon an individual but, in fact, that could not happen based on the circumstances and 30 seconds of research would have prevented this error. There are other awards that would be appropriate in this situation.
All that aside, a thriller generally has lots of breakneck action to prevent a horrible event from happening and that certainly happens in The Virus. Lowell Kaplan is remarkably obtuse, more so than most thriller protagonists, but he is instantly believed by all sorts of people in power no matter what he says so he was not an altogether credible "hero". Still, he's ultimately a very likeable character as is a woman named Stephanie Verusio and likeability is an important element in making a thriller work. Also, as in any good thriller, the bad guys seem to have the upper hand quite a bit and it's not till the end that we see what really was going on.
Bottomline, read The Virus with a somewhat jaundiced eye, suspend your disbelief and sit back for an enjoyable ride that will keep you entertained. After all, entertainment is a pretty good reason for reading, don't you think?
Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, June 2015.
The premise of this story, the possibility of a deadly pandemic, is what initially drew me in to The Virus and, for the most part, I was not disappointed although there were some stumbling blocks. The story is noticeably dated in some ways as it was first published in 1982 but I was more annoyed by some of the actual writing. Over and over again, the author uses characters' full names, i.e., Susan Wainwright or Lowell Kaplan, both of which are repeated multiple times. Once or twice is sufficient; we do not need to be told a character's full name endlessly. Mr. Johnson is not a first-time novelist when this is being re-issued, hopefully with some re-editing, and should know better.
Mr. Johnson also takes some very broad liberties with his descriptions of the original Marburg outbreak(s), I suppose in the interest of increasing the level of fear. I'm all for a good thriller but, when it's based on actual occurrences, I prefer that the author stick to the facts a bit more closely and, in this case, the real Marburg is very scary indeed, no embellishment needed.
At one point, mention is made of the Congressional Medal of Honour being bestowed upon an individual but, in fact, that could not happen based on the circumstances and 30 seconds of research would have prevented this error. There are other awards that would be appropriate in this situation.
All that aside, a thriller generally has lots of breakneck action to prevent a horrible event from happening and that certainly happens in The Virus. Lowell Kaplan is remarkably obtuse, more so than most thriller protagonists, but he is instantly believed by all sorts of people in power no matter what he says so he was not an altogether credible "hero". Still, he's ultimately a very likeable character as is a woman named Stephanie Verusio and likeability is an important element in making a thriller work. Also, as in any good thriller, the bad guys seem to have the upper hand quite a bit and it's not till the end that we see what really was going on.
Bottomline, read The Virus with a somewhat jaundiced eye, suspend your disbelief and sit back for an enjoyable ride that will keep you entertained. After all, entertainment is a pretty good reason for reading, don't you think?
Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, June 2015.
May 23, 2015
3.0 out of 5 stars -- When a 19-year-old student, Diane Verusio, returns to New York from Brussels and expires in isolation at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, she speaks only the words, "green monkeys" before she dies. Dr. Lowell Kaplan from the CDC is dispatched from Atlanta to track down the identity, the origin and the transmission of her mysterious illness. After Dr. Kaplan speaks to Diane's family physician, Dr. Isaac Rueben, who himself becomes ill, Kaplan is on a time sensitive mission to stop the spread of this lethal virus and his efforts take him to Germany and to Africa.
This would have been a more enjoyable medical thriller IF the storyline and the science wasn't so dated. Since the recent outbreak of Ebola made headlines, and with all the information the public now understands about the Filoviridae, this plot line about a related virus, the Marburg virus, bordered on gross inaccuracy and strained credulity. For all that, it was a fast paced and entertaining read once I stopped fact checking on the internet and just pretended that Dr. Kaplan, head epidemiologist at the CDC (should be corrected in this book as United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), was investigating a potential outbreak of some new strain.
I love medical thrillers and will almost always take a chance whenever I have the opportunity. Thank you to Edelweiss for the ARC e-book to review.
This would have been a more enjoyable medical thriller IF the storyline and the science wasn't so dated. Since the recent outbreak of Ebola made headlines, and with all the information the public now understands about the Filoviridae, this plot line about a related virus, the Marburg virus, bordered on gross inaccuracy and strained credulity. For all that, it was a fast paced and entertaining read once I stopped fact checking on the internet and just pretended that Dr. Kaplan, head epidemiologist at the CDC (should be corrected in this book as United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), was investigating a potential outbreak of some new strain.
I love medical thrillers and will almost always take a chance whenever I have the opportunity. Thank you to Edelweiss for the ARC e-book to review.
December 13, 2016
I could not connect with the characters at all. It was ok at first but it started going on a weird romance with the deceased girls sister and it lost me. The sister (I can't even remember her name) was not someone I could like at all!! Her views are so oposite to mine that I had a hard time even reading this. I gave up when she was introduced. I might pick it back up and give a better review if I decide to finish but for now I can't.
May 30, 2015
In The Virus, Author Stanley Johnson devises a convoluted plot as insidious as the threat of biological warfare which the book portrays. A young girl dies of a rare and mysterious virus. Her last words are “green monkeys”. If you are a scientist and believe you’ve identified the source of a potential epidemic that could wipe out entire populations, what would you do? In a horrifying solution based on erroneous information, the situation unravels at an alarming pace, sending deadly tentacles all over the globe. I have to say up front, The Virus is a scary book — not in the sense of “things that go bump in the night” scary, but in the sense of events that could be transpiring in our world of which we are totally unaware. The scariest thing is, because we live in a scary world, I can totally envision every bit of it happening.
Because it takes place in the early ’80’s, the technological aspects of The Virus seem a bit dated at times, but there is nevertheless a chilling similarity between events in this book and our modern day scare with the Ebola virus. Author Stanley Johnson’s expertise in politics and environmental issues make him uniquely qualified to deal with certain aspects of the story line and with so many plots and subplots, readers will be convinced there can be no good ending to this unnerving book. A plethora of characters are included ranging from the noble and selfless to the terrifyingly amoral and just plain sleazy. Readers must be forewarned that this absorbing and fast-paced book is a work of fiction and doesn’t claim to be factual; however, there is so much about the story that is believable and within the realm of possibility. The Virus is one of those books that truly brings home just how vulnerable we are and what a thin line there is between honor and treachery in our world.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book directly from the author. I was not paid to read or review this book. All opinions are my own, and I was never influenced by anything or anyone.
Merged review:
In The Virus, Author Stanley Johnson devises a convoluted plot as insidious as the threat of biological warfare which the book portrays. A young girl dies of a rare and mysterious virus. Her last words are “green monkeys”. If you are a scientist and believe you’ve identified the source of a potential epidemic that could wipe out entire populations, what would you do? In a horrifying solution based on erroneous information, the situation unravels at an alarming pace, sending deadly tentacles all over the globe. I have to say up front, The Virus is a scary book — not in the sense of “things that go bump in the night” scary, but in the sense of events that could be transpiring in our world of which we are totally unaware. The scariest thing is, because we live in a scary world, I can totally envision every bit of it happening.
Because it takes place in the early ’80’s, the technological aspects of The Virus seem a bit dated at times, but there is nevertheless a chilling similarity between events in this book and our modern day scare with the Ebola virus. Author Stanley Johnson’s expertise in politics and environmental issues make him uniquely qualified to deal with certain aspects of the story line and with so many plots and subplots, readers will be convinced there can be no good ending to this unnerving book. A plethora of characters are included ranging from the noble and selfless to the terrifyingly amoral and just plain sleazy. Readers must be forewarned that this absorbing and fast-paced book is a work of fiction and doesn’t claim to be factual; however, there is so much about the story that is believable and within the realm of possibility. The Virus is one of those books that truly brings home just how vulnerable we are and what a thin line there is between honor and treachery in our world.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book directly from the author. I was not paid to read or review this book. All opinions are my own, and I was never influenced by anything or anyone.
It wasn’t plague which Kaplan feared. They knew how to deal with plague. It wasn’t cholera or typhus or any of the known diseases. What he feared was the unknown. Some sickness which would spread like wildfire among the population and against which all known remedies would prove to be of no avail.
Because it takes place in the early ’80’s, the technological aspects of The Virus seem a bit dated at times, but there is nevertheless a chilling similarity between events in this book and our modern day scare with the Ebola virus. Author Stanley Johnson’s expertise in politics and environmental issues make him uniquely qualified to deal with certain aspects of the story line and with so many plots and subplots, readers will be convinced there can be no good ending to this unnerving book. A plethora of characters are included ranging from the noble and selfless to the terrifyingly amoral and just plain sleazy. Readers must be forewarned that this absorbing and fast-paced book is a work of fiction and doesn’t claim to be factual; however, there is so much about the story that is believable and within the realm of possibility. The Virus is one of those books that truly brings home just how vulnerable we are and what a thin line there is between honor and treachery in our world.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book directly from the author. I was not paid to read or review this book. All opinions are my own, and I was never influenced by anything or anyone.
Merged review:
In The Virus, Author Stanley Johnson devises a convoluted plot as insidious as the threat of biological warfare which the book portrays. A young girl dies of a rare and mysterious virus. Her last words are “green monkeys”. If you are a scientist and believe you’ve identified the source of a potential epidemic that could wipe out entire populations, what would you do? In a horrifying solution based on erroneous information, the situation unravels at an alarming pace, sending deadly tentacles all over the globe. I have to say up front, The Virus is a scary book — not in the sense of “things that go bump in the night” scary, but in the sense of events that could be transpiring in our world of which we are totally unaware. The scariest thing is, because we live in a scary world, I can totally envision every bit of it happening.
It wasn’t plague which Kaplan feared. They knew how to deal with plague. It wasn’t cholera or typhus or any of the known diseases. What he feared was the unknown. Some sickness which would spread like wildfire among the population and against which all known remedies would prove to be of no avail.
Because it takes place in the early ’80’s, the technological aspects of The Virus seem a bit dated at times, but there is nevertheless a chilling similarity between events in this book and our modern day scare with the Ebola virus. Author Stanley Johnson’s expertise in politics and environmental issues make him uniquely qualified to deal with certain aspects of the story line and with so many plots and subplots, readers will be convinced there can be no good ending to this unnerving book. A plethora of characters are included ranging from the noble and selfless to the terrifyingly amoral and just plain sleazy. Readers must be forewarned that this absorbing and fast-paced book is a work of fiction and doesn’t claim to be factual; however, there is so much about the story that is believable and within the realm of possibility. The Virus is one of those books that truly brings home just how vulnerable we are and what a thin line there is between honor and treachery in our world.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book directly from the author. I was not paid to read or review this book. All opinions are my own, and I was never influenced by anything or anyone.
July 23, 2020
The first thing to say is I'm not a fan of Stanley Johnson. For those of you who do don't know him, he is a retired British politician and public servant. More relevant now is that he is the father of the current UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Stanley is regularly on TV talking about items such as COVID-19 and Brexit. And to put bluntly he's a pain in the backside who has a pompous air about him and he appears to look down on all those around him - the fact that he refused to comply with his own son's government's rules related to COVID gives you some idea of his style.
The infuriating bit is that this is a very decent book. It was published in the early 80s and republished now in light of new found interest in viruses for an obvious interest. This is effectively a political / conspiracy type thriller about an outbreak of a virus, first in Berlin and then in New York. If you like thrillers by the likes of Dan Brown or Nelson Demille you will probably like this.
The infuriating bit is that this is a very decent book. It was published in the early 80s and republished now in light of new found interest in viruses for an obvious interest. This is effectively a political / conspiracy type thriller about an outbreak of a virus, first in Berlin and then in New York. If you like thrillers by the likes of Dan Brown or Nelson Demille you will probably like this.
May 28, 2015
Okay, this book had me a little creeped out!! But I absolutely loved it!!! It's a page turner you don't want to miss! I want to spill such a huge spoiler, but I won't!!!
I'm telling you go get this book!!!!
*Received for an honest review*
I'm telling you go get this book!!!!
*Received for an honest review*
July 1, 2020
I loved this book 📚 I read it in three nights. I think the appearance of the Berlin Wall was the only thing that didn’t make it current for me. Stanley knows his stuff on epidemiology, the source and course of a virus. I liked the characters. They were engaging and kept my attention. I was totally invested in the fate of Lowell Kaplan and his friends. I like the green monkeys as it could have been construed as some kind of viral delirium and dismissed out of hand. The book has to be taken at face value as it was written a long time ago but it feels so up to date with the fight against Covid 19. Especially now that the USA have bought up all the Remdesovir. America First ; Stanley Johnson, the prophet! Well done. You’ve gone up in my estimation. Great book 📖
April 12, 2022
The first three hundred pages served to remind me of how I typically read quite high quality fiction, and that this was one of those rare occasions where I was not doing so. In this novel, Stanley Johnson writes as a child might, with unnecessary statement of obvious connections and wild changes in pace and scene. The last hundred pages or so was slightly more interesting due to an uncanny connection to real world events that took place about 40 years after this was written. If you're short on time, start reading from about page 280.
April 2, 2021
Horrible, absolutely illogical. Editing, construction, writing style, and plot, all were just so infinitely bad.
January 2, 2022
Book about a virus and its geopolitical implications. I found the middle to be a little slow.
July 30, 2019
This was an okay novel with a strong beginning to get you hooked but the search for the cause of the virus was a bit long and tedious. But it gave some incite into the work of an epidemiologist. The characters were okay but the romance was unnecessary.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews