Almost There

by Nuala O'Faolain

A tanker truck carrying a toxic virus crashes in crowded Yellowstone National Park. In a plan to contain and cover up the damage, an army of assassins is ordered to track down and terminate all who have come in contact with the plague. A park ranger leads a small band of survivors in a desperate bid to escape.

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Nuala O'Faolain was an Irish journalist, columnist and writer who attended a convent school in the north of Ireland, studied English at University College, Dublin, and medieval English literature at the University of Hull before earning a postgraduate degree in English from Oxford.

She returned to University College as a lecturer in the English department, and later was journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and author.

She became internationally well-known for her two volumes of memoir: Are You Somebody? & Almost There, a her her novel, My Dream of You, and a history with commentary, the Story of Chicago May. The first three were all featured on the New York Times Best Seller list. Her novel Best Love Rosie was published posthumously in 2008.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read and enjoyable, but rather forgettable. I feel like the author dabbled with the idea of a zombie-style outbreak, but gave it up, leaving some incidents questionable. The plotline of a chemical spill and resulting cover-up is believable. The characters are complete tropes: sad sack protagonist whose wife just left him, a good woman just looking for someone to love her and the land, a native trying to do right by his people and his land, a drunk/high/horny truck driver, government officials kept in the dark, a rogue government official, and a vet (wait, what?).

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently picked up a used copy of this thriller by Les Standiford ( published in 1991) mainly because of the blurb on the cover: "The debut thriller of the year"--Stephen King. It was an enjoyable thriller, a solid 3 stars, but NOT Stephen King. But, on the other hand, it was only 337 pages long. A toxic spill occurs in Yellowstone National Park which causes plague. The government and a big corporation move to contain and cover-up the disaster--no surprise there. Part of the plan is to track down and terminate anyone who was affected so we have our hero Park Ranger Jack Fairchild leading a group of survivors to try to escape with their lives.
I was expecting more of a "zombie apocalypse" type of story but this was more of a survival in the wilderness story. The corporation sends a maniac mercenary to kill Jack & company and it turns out this guy is an inhuman killing machine. The Predator couldn't stop this guy....sort of a cartoony villain, but, hey, there just may be people like that out there in the world doing truly horrendous things...
Interestingly enough, Standiford also writes non-fiction and I see I have another book by the author on the TBR stack of books and it's non-fiction...

[David McGill]

Spill is a biological disaster story from the early 1990s, just before the author wrote his atmospheric Miama noir series about construction worker Johnny Deal. Spill however was made into the film Virus and has pace aplenty with ruthless government coverup and the protagonist in danger as he exposes the bad Montana spill. I wish Deal and the sunnier Miami vibes got to film or better a TV series, but Spill is worth checking out.

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

All too real in our present world.

[Mario Smet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een goed boek. Maar mocht wat meer spanning in zitten.

[Chris Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Nothing super spectacular about it. Realistic characters for the most part, plausible plot. I was a little disappointed that what I thought was a zombie outbreak (when Fairchild finds the family of campers and when what's-her-face's horse goes psychotic) never materialized.

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh please...a vet? a mountain lion that lives in a large cave? This book is not a story but a fairy tale. Two stars is generous!