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Genius Plague
WINNER of the 2018 Campbell Award for Best Novel A WALL STREET JOURNAL Best Science Fiction Book of 2017 In this science fiction thriller, brothers are pitted against each other as a pandemic threatens to destabilize world governments by exerting a subtle mind control over survivors. Neil Johns has just started his dream job as a code breaker in the NSA when his brother, Paul, a mycologist, goes missing on a trip to collect samples in the Amazon jungle. Paul returns with a gap in his memory and a fungal infection that almost kills him. But once he recuperates, he has enhanced communication, memory, and pattern recognition. Meanwhile, something is happening in South America; others, like Paul, have also fallen ill and recovered with abilities they didn't have before. But that's not the only pattern--the survivors, from entire remote Brazilian tribes to American tourists, all seem to be working toward a common, and deadly, goal. Neil soon uncovers a secret and unexplained alliance between governments that have traditionally been enemies. Meanwhile Paul becomes increasingly secretive and erratic. Paul sees the fungus as the next stage of human evolution, while Neil is convinced that it is driving its human hosts to destruction. Brother must oppose brother on an increasingly fraught international stage, with the stakes: the free will of every human on earth. Can humanity use this force for good, or are we becoming the pawns of an utterly alien intelligence?
386 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 3, 2017
319 people are currently reading
6783 people want to read
About the author
David Walton
11 books278 followersDavid loves to read science fiction and lives near Philadelphia with his wife and eight children. His latest series, LIVING MEMORY, is a thriller in which paleontologists save the world.
"Walton has brought hard sci-fi roaring back to life."
—The Wall Street Journal
“One of my favorite science fiction writers, Walton consistently delivers exciting thrillers packed with likeable characters and big ideas.”
—Craig DiLouie
"...gives the reader exciting insights into the threats and the promises that are coming our way."
—Vernor Vinge
"Walton has brought hard sci-fi roaring back to life."
—The Wall Street Journal
“One of my favorite science fiction writers, Walton consistently delivers exciting thrillers packed with likeable characters and big ideas.”
—Craig DiLouie
"...gives the reader exciting insights into the threats and the promises that are coming our way."
—Vernor Vinge
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 561 reviews
April 2, 2019
Yes, I am giving my own book five stars! If I don't think the book is awesome, why would anyone else want to give it a try?
October 10, 2021
3.75 stars. This is a pretty good SF suspense novel with a great concept. It derails a bit in the last third but overall a fun and tension-filled read.
The Genius Plague is a science fiction thriller with a fascinating, unique concept: humanity contending with a biological invasion by a fungus out of the Amazon. The unusual part is the nature of the fungal invasion: when it gets settled in your body and invades your brain, it makes you ... smarter. A genius, in fact. But is that ALL it does?
Paul Johns is a young mycologist studying fungi in the Amazon rainforest. He narrowly escapes death in a strange attack on a riverboat, then even stranger things happen as he and an acquaintance are trying to find their way back to civilization. The book’s POV then shifts to Paul’s brother Neil, a bright 21 year old who manages to get a job with the NSA despite some serious flub-ups. As part of Neil’s NSA job, he investigates encrypted communications and tries to decrypt ones that seem suspicious. This becomes especially important with some recent unrest and violence in South America ... events that may have a tie to his brother Paul’s experiences there.
Parts of the plot are really far-fetched and the final resolution didn't hold water all that well, but it sucked me right in and I read the whole book in one day.
The Genius Plague is a science fiction thriller with a fascinating, unique concept: humanity contending with a biological invasion by a fungus out of the Amazon. The unusual part is the nature of the fungal invasion: when it gets settled in your body and invades your brain, it makes you ... smarter. A genius, in fact. But is that ALL it does?
Paul Johns is a young mycologist studying fungi in the Amazon rainforest. He narrowly escapes death in a strange attack on a riverboat, then even stranger things happen as he and an acquaintance are trying to find their way back to civilization. The book’s POV then shifts to Paul’s brother Neil, a bright 21 year old who manages to get a job with the NSA despite some serious flub-ups. As part of Neil’s NSA job, he investigates encrypted communications and tries to decrypt ones that seem suspicious. This becomes especially important with some recent unrest and violence in South America ... events that may have a tie to his brother Paul’s experiences there.
Parts of the plot are really far-fetched and the final resolution didn't hold water all that well, but it sucked me right in and I read the whole book in one day.
June 25, 2018
I’m not a microbiologist, nor do I play one on t.v. I do, however, love speculative fiction that comes dangerously close to reality and that is exactly what we have with The Genius Plague – a cli-fi thriller reminiscent of Robin Cook’s Outbreak.
The Genius Plague is, at heart, the story of two brothers, Paul and Neil. Neil is a microbiologist studying fungus in the rainforest. He arrives home with never before discovered spores only after surviving what many thought was a “terrorist attack” during which all others on the boat were killed. However, upon arrival Paul becomes deadly ill with fungal pneumonia. When he awakens from his illness-fed stupor, he is… different… smarter, more focused – a genius. But at what cost and how does his new found brilliance relate to the problems (concerns) that Neil is having at the NSA? What follows is an incredible thrill ride through the South American jungles, the secret rooms of the NSA and the hidden networks of …. mushrooms. While that may seem a little far-fetched, take a moment to think about the deadliest diseases affecting the world as you’re reading this – they all are fungal related. Go out and dig in your garden. Do you see those tiny white filaments that look like spider webs? Fungi. We, humans and our environment, are completely and totally reliant on the fungi that is all around us. What happens when it decides it is smarter than its hosts? These are the questions that “plague” you in “The Genius Plague.”
The Genius Plague is, at heart, the story of two brothers, Paul and Neil. Neil is a microbiologist studying fungus in the rainforest. He arrives home with never before discovered spores only after surviving what many thought was a “terrorist attack” during which all others on the boat were killed. However, upon arrival Paul becomes deadly ill with fungal pneumonia. When he awakens from his illness-fed stupor, he is… different… smarter, more focused – a genius. But at what cost and how does his new found brilliance relate to the problems (concerns) that Neil is having at the NSA? What follows is an incredible thrill ride through the South American jungles, the secret rooms of the NSA and the hidden networks of …. mushrooms. While that may seem a little far-fetched, take a moment to think about the deadliest diseases affecting the world as you’re reading this – they all are fungal related. Go out and dig in your garden. Do you see those tiny white filaments that look like spider webs? Fungi. We, humans and our environment, are completely and totally reliant on the fungi that is all around us. What happens when it decides it is smarter than its hosts? These are the questions that “plague” you in “The Genius Plague.”
May 8, 2018
Fast-paced and nerdy in a "cocky newbie to the NSA fights an intelligent Mycelium plague" vein. :)
The initial premise was what brought me to the book and that still stands. The fungus is mimicking our brains from within our brains and makes us smarter... with the pitfall that it only behaves to improve its own survival.
I might have preferred an all-out hard SF going much deeper into a fully-successful plague, but hitting the breaks like this was fun enough for a single novel. The alternative might have become a doorstopper and I might have loved that, too, but alas... this is only my opinion. :)
What we do have is a cocky bright kid getting into a ton of trouble who does everything he can to save the world. It's really not bad. It's smart. Interesting. Tons of great science and ideas were thrown about for all you mushroom lovers out there. It's a real smorgasbord. :)
I may not like the end so much, but I really enjoyed the ride getting there. Walton's writing is fast-paced and as cocky as his MC. It's designed to be popcorn fiction and for the most part, it fits the bill perfectly. :)
Now, where's my salad? I'm in the mood for a few whitecaps. :)
The initial premise was what brought me to the book and that still stands. The fungus is mimicking our brains from within our brains and makes us smarter... with the pitfall that it only behaves to improve its own survival.
I might have preferred an all-out hard SF going much deeper into a fully-successful plague, but hitting the breaks like this was fun enough for a single novel. The alternative might have become a doorstopper and I might have loved that, too, but alas... this is only my opinion. :)
What we do have is a cocky bright kid getting into a ton of trouble who does everything he can to save the world. It's really not bad. It's smart. Interesting. Tons of great science and ideas were thrown about for all you mushroom lovers out there. It's a real smorgasbord. :)
I may not like the end so much, but I really enjoyed the ride getting there. Walton's writing is fast-paced and as cocky as his MC. It's designed to be popcorn fiction and for the most part, it fits the bill perfectly. :)
Now, where's my salad? I'm in the mood for a few whitecaps. :)
December 4, 2017
David Walton’s The Genius Plague has a promising setup: a pathogenic fungus spreads rapidly among the human population, raising the hosts IQs to genius levels, but also forcing them to act in ways that eschew individual agency in favor of ensuring the continued viability of the fungus. The most intriguing aspect of that premise is the idea that people of ordinary intelligence can suddenly become geniuses (and also that the fungus may be able to cure Alzheimer’s and other degenerative brain illnesses), but Walton chooses to focus his tale on the race to stop the fungus from spreading. In doing so, the novel comes off as an attempt to mimic the kind of hot button science thriller Michael Crichton made famous, but the formulaic plotting fails to ensnare, and much of it hinges on an increasingly improbable set of coincidences managed by a group of uninspiring characters. The novel is spilling over with interesting scientific tidbits, but there is little else to recommend.
March 30, 2018
I have a profound dislike for that subset of science fiction in which unremarkable irritating entitled nerd boys fall arse backwards through the plot and yet somehow get all the credit. This manages to take a cool idea and turn into a dull exercise in advancing the plot by series of increasingly ridiculous coincidences, with characters the reader is told are clever doing remarkably stupid things, swathed in jingoistic bullshit.
March 7, 2018
This book had a few interesting ideas but there were some flaws in the execution that made it just ok for me (including being about 50 pages too long). Paul Jones is a young mycologist who is infected by a dangerous fungus while in the Amazon. The illness can prove fatal, but if you recover one of the attributes of the disease is that it's victims emerge with greater cognitive abilities than they had before. Another attribute is that it causes the victims to be linked to both the fungus and to each other in a giant web with a single purpose - protect the fungus. Paul's younger brother Neil has just started work at the National Security Agency where he joins a team that cracks encrypted messages. One of my major problems with the book is that Neil is perfection personified to an annoying extent. At 21 he can do no wrong. Despite the fact that he doesn't have a college degree, any relevant training or experience it somehow falls on him to save the world when the plague spreads.
Although the book is titled "The Genius Plague", little is made of this side effect. In addition to the creation of geniuses, the book also touches on the symbiotic relationship between fungi and humans and the potential for "solar powered" humans, but these ideas aren't explored very deeply. Since fungi can't think, the author had to explain how they managed to formulate plans for their preservation. I didn't find the author's explanation for this very convincing or consistently applied. There is a lot of discussion of encryption and decoding in the beginning of the book, which bored me, and a lot of military maneuvering at the end when there is an attempt to combat the spread of the plague. The resolution of the crisis just sort of fizzled out at the end of the book. I kept reading but this wasn't wonderful.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Although the book is titled "The Genius Plague", little is made of this side effect. In addition to the creation of geniuses, the book also touches on the symbiotic relationship between fungi and humans and the potential for "solar powered" humans, but these ideas aren't explored very deeply. Since fungi can't think, the author had to explain how they managed to formulate plans for their preservation. I didn't find the author's explanation for this very convincing or consistently applied. There is a lot of discussion of encryption and decoding in the beginning of the book, which bored me, and a lot of military maneuvering at the end when there is an attempt to combat the spread of the plague. The resolution of the crisis just sort of fizzled out at the end of the book. I kept reading but this wasn't wonderful.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
October 10, 2017
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/10/09/...
Mother Nature can be a scary bitch. Forget horror movies; if you ever want to see some truly messed up, freaky bone-chilling stuff, look no further than your BBC nature documentary. Case in point: the “Jungles” episode of Planet Earth. After so many years, that infamous scene of the killer parasitic fungus bursting forth from the back of a dead ant’s head like some kind of grotesque alien worm still gives me the heebie-jeebies—and clearly, I’m not the only one who feels this way. From The Last of Us to The Girl with All the Gifts, a great number of books, movies, and video games have come out in recent years to show us just how screwed humanity would be if we ever went to war with Kingdom Fungi.
Which was why, when I first found out about the premise of The Genius Plague by David Walton, I was immediately intrigued. After all, like in most of the examples I mentioned above, being infected with a fungal plague usually meant very bad things—like turning into a mindless, slavering zombie, for one. Yet in this case, the fungus actually made you…smarter? This was definitely a new angle for me, and I was curious to see how it would play out.
We begin this tale deep in the Amazon jungle, where mycologist Paul Johns has just completed a successful scientific expedition and is looking forward to heading home with his samples of mushroom specimens. Shortly after boarding the riverboat that would take him and his group back to civilization, however, they are attacked by a group of men disguised in military uniform, and Paul and another tourist are the only survivors of the horrific massacre. Rescue finally comes after a couple days of trekking through the rainforest, and Paul eventually makes it back home to the United States only to be diagnosed with a lung infection caused by breathing in fungal spores while he was in the jungle—and none too soon. Any longer, and he would have succumbed to the pneumonia and died.
Meanwhile, Paul’s younger brother Neil has just been hired by the National Security Agency, where their father also used to work before early onset of Alzheimer’s cut his career short. Neil joins a team of code crackers trying to decipher secret messages intercepted from all around the globe, focusing his attention on a series of encrypted communications coming out of the Amazon basin. Rival guerrilla factions are working together when they shouldn’t be, using a language they shouldn’t know, and the implications of this are making the NSA nervous. At home, things have taken a strange turn as well, as Paul, now recovered from his illness, begins showing signs of increased intelligence. It appears that the fungus has altered his brain functioning, improving memory centers and enhancing pattern recognition and communication skills. Excited about what this could mean for the human race, Paul believes that a symbiotic relationship with the fungus is the next step in human evolution, but Neil, a little more circumspect, is not entirely convinced that joining with an unknown organism would be in humanity’s best interest.
Let’s go back to why nature is so scary, shall we? Nature is scary because, like the fungus in this book, it doesn’t think and it doesn’t have a plan, it simply does what it needs to do to survive. Therefore, we can’t really think of the fungus—or those it infects, for that matter—as a convention villain. To my surprise, it turns out that the idea of a plague making its victims smarter is even more horrifying to me than if it had simply turned all of them into a shambling horde of zombies. Certainly, the scenario put forth in The Genius Plague is much more disconcerting, and the effects of the fungus in the book are much more dangerous. I don’t want to reveal too much more than that for fear of spoilers, but let’s just say that the pathways of this particular pathogen are a lot more insidious than you’d expect, and it gave me chills just thinking about what it does to the human brain.
I also liked how the book focused on genuinely relatable characters who have to deal with some very real problems and tough personal struggles in their everyday lives, even as the entire world descended into madness around them. The story mainly focuses on Neil, a brilliant but reckless young man who seems to achieve his successes through sheer dumb luck more than anything else. But whatever can be said about his faults, the love for his family is beyond any measure. As mentioned before, Neil and Paul’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, leading to his early retirement from the NSA. Hence, woven into this tale is also an intimate glimpse into a family’s private pain as they watch someone they love decline in memory and mental function, adding an emotional layer to the narrative. Ultimately it leads to some very tough questions and choices for the characters, as more is discovered about the fungus’ effects.
Gripping and intense, The Genius Plague is a wonderful example of the science fiction-thriller genre done right, combining a well-researched premise with fast-paced action and suspense. We even get a little bit of touching family drama thrown in for good measure. Needless to say, I had a good time with this book, and I can’t wait to read what David Walton writes next.
Mother Nature can be a scary bitch. Forget horror movies; if you ever want to see some truly messed up, freaky bone-chilling stuff, look no further than your BBC nature documentary. Case in point: the “Jungles” episode of Planet Earth. After so many years, that infamous scene of the killer parasitic fungus bursting forth from the back of a dead ant’s head like some kind of grotesque alien worm still gives me the heebie-jeebies—and clearly, I’m not the only one who feels this way. From The Last of Us to The Girl with All the Gifts, a great number of books, movies, and video games have come out in recent years to show us just how screwed humanity would be if we ever went to war with Kingdom Fungi.
Which was why, when I first found out about the premise of The Genius Plague by David Walton, I was immediately intrigued. After all, like in most of the examples I mentioned above, being infected with a fungal plague usually meant very bad things—like turning into a mindless, slavering zombie, for one. Yet in this case, the fungus actually made you…smarter? This was definitely a new angle for me, and I was curious to see how it would play out.
We begin this tale deep in the Amazon jungle, where mycologist Paul Johns has just completed a successful scientific expedition and is looking forward to heading home with his samples of mushroom specimens. Shortly after boarding the riverboat that would take him and his group back to civilization, however, they are attacked by a group of men disguised in military uniform, and Paul and another tourist are the only survivors of the horrific massacre. Rescue finally comes after a couple days of trekking through the rainforest, and Paul eventually makes it back home to the United States only to be diagnosed with a lung infection caused by breathing in fungal spores while he was in the jungle—and none too soon. Any longer, and he would have succumbed to the pneumonia and died.
Meanwhile, Paul’s younger brother Neil has just been hired by the National Security Agency, where their father also used to work before early onset of Alzheimer’s cut his career short. Neil joins a team of code crackers trying to decipher secret messages intercepted from all around the globe, focusing his attention on a series of encrypted communications coming out of the Amazon basin. Rival guerrilla factions are working together when they shouldn’t be, using a language they shouldn’t know, and the implications of this are making the NSA nervous. At home, things have taken a strange turn as well, as Paul, now recovered from his illness, begins showing signs of increased intelligence. It appears that the fungus has altered his brain functioning, improving memory centers and enhancing pattern recognition and communication skills. Excited about what this could mean for the human race, Paul believes that a symbiotic relationship with the fungus is the next step in human evolution, but Neil, a little more circumspect, is not entirely convinced that joining with an unknown organism would be in humanity’s best interest.
Let’s go back to why nature is so scary, shall we? Nature is scary because, like the fungus in this book, it doesn’t think and it doesn’t have a plan, it simply does what it needs to do to survive. Therefore, we can’t really think of the fungus—or those it infects, for that matter—as a convention villain. To my surprise, it turns out that the idea of a plague making its victims smarter is even more horrifying to me than if it had simply turned all of them into a shambling horde of zombies. Certainly, the scenario put forth in The Genius Plague is much more disconcerting, and the effects of the fungus in the book are much more dangerous. I don’t want to reveal too much more than that for fear of spoilers, but let’s just say that the pathways of this particular pathogen are a lot more insidious than you’d expect, and it gave me chills just thinking about what it does to the human brain.
I also liked how the book focused on genuinely relatable characters who have to deal with some very real problems and tough personal struggles in their everyday lives, even as the entire world descended into madness around them. The story mainly focuses on Neil, a brilliant but reckless young man who seems to achieve his successes through sheer dumb luck more than anything else. But whatever can be said about his faults, the love for his family is beyond any measure. As mentioned before, Neil and Paul’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, leading to his early retirement from the NSA. Hence, woven into this tale is also an intimate glimpse into a family’s private pain as they watch someone they love decline in memory and mental function, adding an emotional layer to the narrative. Ultimately it leads to some very tough questions and choices for the characters, as more is discovered about the fungus’ effects.
Gripping and intense, The Genius Plague is a wonderful example of the science fiction-thriller genre done right, combining a well-researched premise with fast-paced action and suspense. We even get a little bit of touching family drama thrown in for good measure. Needless to say, I had a good time with this book, and I can’t wait to read what David Walton writes next.
November 22, 2017
Written at a high school comp level, with the distinct funk of a high school boy's POV. The descriptions of women were icky, the exposition was clunk-tastic, and the super fun premise (brilliant fungi take over the world!) was wasted on cardboardy characters and a rushed, gappy plot. I have some mean stuff to say about the author's bio/photo/life/inordinate pride in his shitty work, too, but I'm WAY ABOVE THAT SORT OF THING.
November 29, 2022
3.0 stars
This was a fun sci fi thriller. I enjoyed the idea of creepy fungal infections, but I didn't find the story very deep or memorable. A fun idea but a forgettable read.
This was a fun sci fi thriller. I enjoyed the idea of creepy fungal infections, but I didn't find the story very deep or memorable. A fun idea but a forgettable read.
September 29, 2017
The nitty-gritty: Hugely entertaining, this terrifying vision of what our future could be like will keep you turning pages long after bedtime.
I loved David Walton’s Supersymmetry , a fast-paced scientific thriller about time travel and alternate realities, so I knew that The Genius Plague was going to be a must-read. And wow, did I have fun with this book! When I started reading, I thought the entire story was going to revolve around the genius plague of the title, a fungus that infiltrates humans and makes their hosts smarter. But Walton surprised me with a multi-layered story that kept me entertained from start to finish. The author tackles a myriad of subjects such as computer hacking, code breaking, terrorism, government cover-ups, mycology and even Alzheimer's, all of which are brilliantly woven into a cohesive story. He’s also written a cautionary tale about taking care of our planet, or else. This is a fast-paced, exciting read, but it will definitely make you hesitate and think about how we treat our natural resources.
The story opens as mycologist Paul Johns has just emerged from the Amazon rain forest after successfully foraging for fungi samples. On a tourist boat that will take him back to his hotel for the evening, his world is shattered when a group of men in military uniform stops the boat and ruthlessly shoots every person on board. Paul barely escapes the massacre by jumping over the side and swimming for safety, but his troubles are far from over.
Meanwhile back home, Paul’s younger brother Neil has just been offered a job with the National Security Agency, where he hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps, analyzing and cracking coded messages from around the world. When he deciphers a code that leads his team to believe that several rival guerilla factions in South America are in contact with each other, some odd connections between the messages and Paul’s near death experience in Brazil begin to emerge.
Paul is safely back in the states after his harrowing experience, but it turns out he contracted a dangerous fungal infection during his time in Brazil. He laughs it off as part of the life of a mycologist, but Neil isn’t convinced. Little by little, Paul starts exhibiting signs of increased intelligence, like beating Neil at Scrabble and chess (which is highly unusual). Even more worrisome, Paul’s memory has become nearly perfect. He can suddenly recall everything he’s heard or seen, and he’s even able to calculate complex math problems in his head. And that’s not all. As Paul begins to act stranger and stranger, the political unrest in South America starts escalating, and it’s not long before it looks like the U.S. might be drawn into a war. Are these events connected? It’s up to Neil and his team at the NSA to find out—and quick—before all hell breaks loose.
I’ve read a fair number of novels in the past few years that deal with fungi and mushrooms, and all the horrible things they can do. The Genius Plague is unique in that the fungi not only enhance the intelligence of their hosts, but they are able to influence their behavior as well. You can imagine what a dangerous idea this is, especially when Walton reveals what it is that the fungus wants (Yes, wants. It wants something. Just think about that for a moment). The fungus of the story—paracoccidioidomycosis—is a real thing, just one of many carefully researched details that make the idea of a mind-controlling fungus unbelievably scary.
But you can't have a great story without great characters, and there were so many in this book. Because most of the story is told in first person from Neil’s point of view, he basically serves as the main character. And I completely enjoyed hanging out in his head! Neil had some of the funniest scenes in the book. He’s not big on authority, and even though he’s just been hired to work in a super-secret government agency, he tends to break a lot of rules and get in a lot of trouble. Luckily, his brashness is tempered by his boss, a fantastic woman named Melody Muniz. Melody is an older woman and has been working for the NSA for years, and she’s able to get Neil out of trouble more than once. Even better, Melody actually likes Neil for his intelligence and his creative way of solving problems. It was so refreshing to read a story about a smart, older female character and her growing friendship with a smart, younger male.
And I can’t talk about characters without mentioning Paul’s and Neil’s father Charles, who has Alzheimer’s. I have to admit the second I found out there was a character with the disease, I knew exactly what was going to happen to him (and I was right). But obvious plot points aside, the relationship between Charles, Neil and Paul was the emotional core of the story. Neil’s heartbreaking observations of his dad playing Scrabble with him (and losing) showed not only how horrible Alzheimer’s is, but how much Neil loves his father. Charles has quite the interesting character arc in the story, which eventually leads to even more heartbreak, but this wouldn’t have been the same story without him.
The final quarter of the book is both exciting and terrifying, and I honestly could not figure out how the characters were going to get out of the pickle they were in. The author even introduces a new threat near the end of the book (as if there weren’t enough already!), which pushed the story into that “over-the-top” territory that David Walton is known for. I wasn’t sure my heart could take all the tension, and just like a thrill ride at an amusement park, the experience was exhilarating, but I did breathe a sigh of relief when events finally sorted themselves out.
One thing’s for sure: The Genius Plague will not only entertain, but it will make you think. Walton gives us several plausible scientific scenarios that are certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Highly recommended.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Stop by next Tuesday, because I'll be interviewing author David Walton! AND there might just be a giveaway of The Genius Plague as well;-) This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy
I loved David Walton’s Supersymmetry , a fast-paced scientific thriller about time travel and alternate realities, so I knew that The Genius Plague was going to be a must-read. And wow, did I have fun with this book! When I started reading, I thought the entire story was going to revolve around the genius plague of the title, a fungus that infiltrates humans and makes their hosts smarter. But Walton surprised me with a multi-layered story that kept me entertained from start to finish. The author tackles a myriad of subjects such as computer hacking, code breaking, terrorism, government cover-ups, mycology and even Alzheimer's, all of which are brilliantly woven into a cohesive story. He’s also written a cautionary tale about taking care of our planet, or else. This is a fast-paced, exciting read, but it will definitely make you hesitate and think about how we treat our natural resources.
The story opens as mycologist Paul Johns has just emerged from the Amazon rain forest after successfully foraging for fungi samples. On a tourist boat that will take him back to his hotel for the evening, his world is shattered when a group of men in military uniform stops the boat and ruthlessly shoots every person on board. Paul barely escapes the massacre by jumping over the side and swimming for safety, but his troubles are far from over.
Meanwhile back home, Paul’s younger brother Neil has just been offered a job with the National Security Agency, where he hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps, analyzing and cracking coded messages from around the world. When he deciphers a code that leads his team to believe that several rival guerilla factions in South America are in contact with each other, some odd connections between the messages and Paul’s near death experience in Brazil begin to emerge.
Paul is safely back in the states after his harrowing experience, but it turns out he contracted a dangerous fungal infection during his time in Brazil. He laughs it off as part of the life of a mycologist, but Neil isn’t convinced. Little by little, Paul starts exhibiting signs of increased intelligence, like beating Neil at Scrabble and chess (which is highly unusual). Even more worrisome, Paul’s memory has become nearly perfect. He can suddenly recall everything he’s heard or seen, and he’s even able to calculate complex math problems in his head. And that’s not all. As Paul begins to act stranger and stranger, the political unrest in South America starts escalating, and it’s not long before it looks like the U.S. might be drawn into a war. Are these events connected? It’s up to Neil and his team at the NSA to find out—and quick—before all hell breaks loose.
I’ve read a fair number of novels in the past few years that deal with fungi and mushrooms, and all the horrible things they can do. The Genius Plague is unique in that the fungi not only enhance the intelligence of their hosts, but they are able to influence their behavior as well. You can imagine what a dangerous idea this is, especially when Walton reveals what it is that the fungus wants (Yes, wants. It wants something. Just think about that for a moment). The fungus of the story—paracoccidioidomycosis—is a real thing, just one of many carefully researched details that make the idea of a mind-controlling fungus unbelievably scary.
But you can't have a great story without great characters, and there were so many in this book. Because most of the story is told in first person from Neil’s point of view, he basically serves as the main character. And I completely enjoyed hanging out in his head! Neil had some of the funniest scenes in the book. He’s not big on authority, and even though he’s just been hired to work in a super-secret government agency, he tends to break a lot of rules and get in a lot of trouble. Luckily, his brashness is tempered by his boss, a fantastic woman named Melody Muniz. Melody is an older woman and has been working for the NSA for years, and she’s able to get Neil out of trouble more than once. Even better, Melody actually likes Neil for his intelligence and his creative way of solving problems. It was so refreshing to read a story about a smart, older female character and her growing friendship with a smart, younger male.
And I can’t talk about characters without mentioning Paul’s and Neil’s father Charles, who has Alzheimer’s. I have to admit the second I found out there was a character with the disease, I knew exactly what was going to happen to him (and I was right). But obvious plot points aside, the relationship between Charles, Neil and Paul was the emotional core of the story. Neil’s heartbreaking observations of his dad playing Scrabble with him (and losing) showed not only how horrible Alzheimer’s is, but how much Neil loves his father. Charles has quite the interesting character arc in the story, which eventually leads to even more heartbreak, but this wouldn’t have been the same story without him.
The final quarter of the book is both exciting and terrifying, and I honestly could not figure out how the characters were going to get out of the pickle they were in. The author even introduces a new threat near the end of the book (as if there weren’t enough already!), which pushed the story into that “over-the-top” territory that David Walton is known for. I wasn’t sure my heart could take all the tension, and just like a thrill ride at an amusement park, the experience was exhilarating, but I did breathe a sigh of relief when events finally sorted themselves out.
One thing’s for sure: The Genius Plague will not only entertain, but it will make you think. Walton gives us several plausible scientific scenarios that are certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Highly recommended.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Stop by next Tuesday, because I'll be interviewing author David Walton! AND there might just be a giveaway of The Genius Plague as well;-) This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy
November 3, 2017
Did you know that mushrooms are the sex organs of fungus??
I've never liked mushrooms. Ever. I think the only way I've ever liked them was when my family in Indiana would go mushroom hunting and then my grandmother would deep fry them to where they basically melted in your mouth.. and I still doused them in ketchup. To eat something called a fungus just didn't compute in my brain and don't even get me started on the texture! So to take something that felt alien to me all my life and make it into an infection that literally lives in your brain, lungs, all your body parts, is absolutely frightening. And not altogether unrealistic, which makes it horrifying and delicious to read!
I've learned more about mushrooms/fungus and ways to decode things than I thought I ever would. For someone who has a large love for all things science and solving puzzles, this brought these two things together and I loved every part of it! The relationships between sons and father was a pleasure to read. Neil especially as he's the main protagonist. Him and his father would solve puzzles together, play scrabble and otherwise constantly massage each other's brains with cryptic messages, etc. This reminded me of when I was in high school and my boyfriend and I at the time used to write each other notes in Dethek, a Dwarven script. Yes, I'm THAT much of a nerd. I left a note somewhere around the house and my Dad broke the code and I remember him just being so happy he "still had it" even as he's apologizing for violating my privacy. Haha. Anyways, it sometimes felt like family reading about the Johns.
The bringing together of the worlds with the fungal infection, NSA and the fight to try and save the immense amount of humans infected was extremely well done. Detailed explanations of how this all could happen made it altogether frightening. Nothing scares me more than plausibility. There are still a million things in this world we are unaware of and biology (my favorite subject in high school) shows that organisms will adapt and thrive to stay alive.
Basically, if you love all things science and puzzly, then you will absolutely love this book. I was a little underwhelmed with the ending only because it seemed just to happen to fast and almost too neatly... but still leaves room for you to wonder what will happen next. I remember thinking... wait, that's it?? So half star deduction for that. Otherwise, I enjoyed this way more than I expected to going in and isn't that always a win as a reader?
4 1/2 stars rounded to 5 for goodreads.
Thanks so much to Pyr / Prometheus Books for this copy!
I've never liked mushrooms. Ever. I think the only way I've ever liked them was when my family in Indiana would go mushroom hunting and then my grandmother would deep fry them to where they basically melted in your mouth.. and I still doused them in ketchup. To eat something called a fungus just didn't compute in my brain and don't even get me started on the texture! So to take something that felt alien to me all my life and make it into an infection that literally lives in your brain, lungs, all your body parts, is absolutely frightening. And not altogether unrealistic, which makes it horrifying and delicious to read!
I've learned more about mushrooms/fungus and ways to decode things than I thought I ever would. For someone who has a large love for all things science and solving puzzles, this brought these two things together and I loved every part of it! The relationships between sons and father was a pleasure to read. Neil especially as he's the main protagonist. Him and his father would solve puzzles together, play scrabble and otherwise constantly massage each other's brains with cryptic messages, etc. This reminded me of when I was in high school and my boyfriend and I at the time used to write each other notes in Dethek, a Dwarven script. Yes, I'm THAT much of a nerd. I left a note somewhere around the house and my Dad broke the code and I remember him just being so happy he "still had it" even as he's apologizing for violating my privacy. Haha. Anyways, it sometimes felt like family reading about the Johns.
The bringing together of the worlds with the fungal infection, NSA and the fight to try and save the immense amount of humans infected was extremely well done. Detailed explanations of how this all could happen made it altogether frightening. Nothing scares me more than plausibility. There are still a million things in this world we are unaware of and biology (my favorite subject in high school) shows that organisms will adapt and thrive to stay alive.
Basically, if you love all things science and puzzly, then you will absolutely love this book. I was a little underwhelmed with the ending only because it seemed just to happen to fast and almost too neatly... but still leaves room for you to wonder what will happen next. I remember thinking... wait, that's it?? So half star deduction for that. Otherwise, I enjoyed this way more than I expected to going in and isn't that always a win as a reader?
4 1/2 stars rounded to 5 for goodreads.
Thanks so much to Pyr / Prometheus Books for this copy!
November 5, 2017
This book is.
It exists.
I can't say that it excels at anything it does and I certainly can't recommend it.
I'm not entirely sure why I finished it. Dogged determination? A foolish hope for a second half rally?
Either way, this book has a cool concept but a very boring execution.
For a more character driven look at a similar premise which isn't hopelessly mired in rah-rah-rah patriotism check out The Fireman
It exists.
I can't say that it excels at anything it does and I certainly can't recommend it.
I'm not entirely sure why I finished it. Dogged determination? A foolish hope for a second half rally?
Either way, this book has a cool concept but a very boring execution.
For a more character driven look at a similar premise which isn't hopelessly mired in rah-rah-rah patriotism check out The Fireman
October 24, 2017
The Genius Plague, by David Walton, is a very well-written thriller which delves into the question of what does it mean to be human, and is there a better way? Universal truths are put to the test as the action whips back and forth from the offices of the NSA to South America and back. There is code-breaking, betrayal, intrigue, a nasty fungus--in short everything you need for a tip-top end-of-the-world contagion catastrophe. Unfortunately, the excellent writing, swift pace, and well-developed characters are betrayed by a couple of poor choices made by the author which saps much of the energy from the book.
Neil Johns has always wanted to work for the NSA. His father, currently suffering from Alzheimer's, was a codebreaker and Neil wants to follow in his footsteps. On one of his first days on the job, he breaks an unbreakable code that seems to be coming from the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. Coincidentally, Neil’s brother, Paul Johns, spends a lot of time in the Amazon Rainforest. He’s a mycologist (someone who studies fungi), and begins the book in the midst of a trip down there to collect rare and unusual fungus samples. There is gunfire, bad guys, a hot girl, a swim, and a walk in the woods. That’s just the prologue.
What unfolds is a truly horrifying possibility of a fungal plague taking the world by storm. Making it even more frightening is the fact that those infected (such as Paul) get smarter, happier, and believe the plague is a good thing. So is it a terrifying plague threatening to devour the world? Or the next step in human evolution?
The first of the two issues which, for me, lessened my enjoyment of the book is the fact that it plays the first 175+ pages as if it is a mystery. The characters don’t know what is happening. Or why people are acting like they’re acting. Or what’s behind it all. But we know. Because we read the very first page of the book which pretty much tells us the answers to all those questions. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand watching characters try to figure things out the reader already knows.
Eventually, Neil and his team figure everything out and spend the next 200 pages trying to figure out how to stop the fungus. Now we’re all on the same page, and they make some discoveries that are thrilling and shocking to us as well. Human nature being what it is, a very nasty twist arises upping the stakes tenfold that could make the fungus seem like the common cold. Walton never lets up, pumping action and discovery into the pages until they’re ready to explode. Which they do, more or less, during the exciting climax.
Which leads us to the second problem with the book. The ending is RIDICULOUSLY unsatisfying. Leading up to the ending, I was excited to find out how Walton was going to tie up the loose ends and solve the various and multiple problems. Then the book ends. Almost as if Walton was having difficulty answering all those questions himself and said, “You know, screw it. I’m done.”
So yes, the very first page of the book is a problem. And the very last page is a problem. Between those two pages, however, is a very exciting read.
Neil Johns has always wanted to work for the NSA. His father, currently suffering from Alzheimer's, was a codebreaker and Neil wants to follow in his footsteps. On one of his first days on the job, he breaks an unbreakable code that seems to be coming from the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. Coincidentally, Neil’s brother, Paul Johns, spends a lot of time in the Amazon Rainforest. He’s a mycologist (someone who studies fungi), and begins the book in the midst of a trip down there to collect rare and unusual fungus samples. There is gunfire, bad guys, a hot girl, a swim, and a walk in the woods. That’s just the prologue.
What unfolds is a truly horrifying possibility of a fungal plague taking the world by storm. Making it even more frightening is the fact that those infected (such as Paul) get smarter, happier, and believe the plague is a good thing. So is it a terrifying plague threatening to devour the world? Or the next step in human evolution?
The first of the two issues which, for me, lessened my enjoyment of the book is the fact that it plays the first 175+ pages as if it is a mystery. The characters don’t know what is happening. Or why people are acting like they’re acting. Or what’s behind it all. But we know. Because we read the very first page of the book which pretty much tells us the answers to all those questions. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand watching characters try to figure things out the reader already knows.
Eventually, Neil and his team figure everything out and spend the next 200 pages trying to figure out how to stop the fungus. Now we’re all on the same page, and they make some discoveries that are thrilling and shocking to us as well. Human nature being what it is, a very nasty twist arises upping the stakes tenfold that could make the fungus seem like the common cold. Walton never lets up, pumping action and discovery into the pages until they’re ready to explode. Which they do, more or less, during the exciting climax.
Which leads us to the second problem with the book. The ending is RIDICULOUSLY unsatisfying. Leading up to the ending, I was excited to find out how Walton was going to tie up the loose ends and solve the various and multiple problems. Then the book ends. Almost as if Walton was having difficulty answering all those questions himself and said, “You know, screw it. I’m done.”
So yes, the very first page of the book is a problem. And the very last page is a problem. Between those two pages, however, is a very exciting read.
February 13, 2018
The exposition was clunky, the dialog more than a little wooden, and the description of women best summed up in three letters: ugh.
I really should have known from the get go that this wasn't going to be good, after all what kind of biologist leaves his sleeping bag in the Amazon, anyone with any sort of camping/environmental knowledge should know that that's poor form. The main character makes some unbelievable logical leaps and and is hired for a position he's incredibly under-qualified for than for no other reason than he's the protagonist. The author constantly states that the character is likeable despite giving me no reason to like him. And all of this is further underscored by the uniquely American brand of nationalism in the book that I had thought had gone out of fashion in sci fi at the end of the Cold War. The only reason I'm rating this as high as I am is because the concept was interesting.
I really should have known from the get go that this wasn't going to be good, after all what kind of biologist leaves his sleeping bag in the Amazon, anyone with any sort of camping/environmental knowledge should know that that's poor form. The main character makes some unbelievable logical leaps and and is hired for a position he's incredibly under-qualified for than for no other reason than he's the protagonist. The author constantly states that the character is likeable despite giving me no reason to like him. And all of this is further underscored by the uniquely American brand of nationalism in the book that I had thought had gone out of fashion in sci fi at the end of the Cold War. The only reason I'm rating this as high as I am is because the concept was interesting.
March 19, 2022
Neil Johns is a 21-year-old genius whose equally genius brother is a mycologist studying funguses deep in the Amazon. He meets a random hot girl, who escapes a terrorist attack with him, only to die later like a random NPC. Neil's brother returns to Maryland, but he's infected...
So this is a story where a smart young kid joins the NSA, immediately impresses his superiors despite repeatedly getting in trouble in ways that would be firing offenses for most, and has to stop a conspiracy born in the Amazon jungle. This is a very traditional sort of story in a lot of ways. It's also a super-nerdy technothriller that delves into mycology, epidemiology, neurology, cryptography, and other -ologies. You'll either like this kind of Mighty Whitey Dudebro Saves the World With Science! narrative or you won't.
I tend to groan when I see a book featuring the NSA, the CIA, or other Intelligence Community agencies. Even if the author isn't an ideologue who watches too many Oliver Stone movies, the research tends to be almost non-existent. Admittedly, it's not exactly easy to get internal details about how IC agencies function... but it's not that hard to get a lot of details right. There is quite a lot of public information available.
David Walton obviously did a fair amount of research, and probably actually talked to some people who work at the NSA. It's not perfect (in particular, he has the main character traveling with DIRNSA, who apparently goes on impromptu field missions with junior analysts unescorted), but he understands the basics of federal civil service, the differences between the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI (most authors can't even get that much right), and just presenting the NSA as not-the-bad-guys was refreshing.
This isn't really a zombie apocalypse story, though. The fungus is much more interesting than that, and the author goes into a lot of detail, through Neil's eyes, as he figures out how this infection works. The fungus isn't sentient and it doesn't really "mind control" its victims, yet it creates a network of people all acting, seemingly of their own volition, in a coordinated, determined way. As Neil and his coworkers try to combat the threat, there are a lot of plans and counterplans, ending in a dramatic world-saving climax that was somewhat anticlimactic in the way things essentially go back to normal despite the new existential threat, almost like at the end of a comic book. A supervillain was defeated, a world-ending threat was averted, so back to the old routine.
Nonetheless, I did enjoy this book, with all its nerdiness and (relative) attention to detail.
So this is a story where a smart young kid joins the NSA, immediately impresses his superiors despite repeatedly getting in trouble in ways that would be firing offenses for most, and has to stop a conspiracy born in the Amazon jungle. This is a very traditional sort of story in a lot of ways. It's also a super-nerdy technothriller that delves into mycology, epidemiology, neurology, cryptography, and other -ologies. You'll either like this kind of Mighty Whitey Dudebro Saves the World With Science! narrative or you won't.
I tend to groan when I see a book featuring the NSA, the CIA, or other Intelligence Community agencies. Even if the author isn't an ideologue who watches too many Oliver Stone movies, the research tends to be almost non-existent. Admittedly, it's not exactly easy to get internal details about how IC agencies function... but it's not that hard to get a lot of details right. There is quite a lot of public information available.
David Walton obviously did a fair amount of research, and probably actually talked to some people who work at the NSA. It's not perfect (in particular, he has the main character traveling with DIRNSA, who apparently goes on impromptu field missions with junior analysts unescorted), but he understands the basics of federal civil service, the differences between the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI (most authors can't even get that much right), and just presenting the NSA as not-the-bad-guys was refreshing.
This isn't really a zombie apocalypse story, though. The fungus is much more interesting than that, and the author goes into a lot of detail, through Neil's eyes, as he figures out how this infection works. The fungus isn't sentient and it doesn't really "mind control" its victims, yet it creates a network of people all acting, seemingly of their own volition, in a coordinated, determined way. As Neil and his coworkers try to combat the threat, there are a lot of plans and counterplans, ending in a dramatic world-saving climax that was somewhat anticlimactic in the way things essentially go back to normal despite the new existential threat, almost like at the end of a comic book. A supervillain was defeated, a world-ending threat was averted, so back to the old routine.
Nonetheless, I did enjoy this book, with all its nerdiness and (relative) attention to detail.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2022
De psychobioloog in mij werd hier erg enthousiast van, toch geen 5 sterren want het einde voelde een beetje als een anticlimax. Het verhaal is afgesloten, maar het geeft niet helemaal die voldoening.
June 12, 2019
A few hours later, we landed at Albuquerque International Sunport, overshadowed by the Sandia Mountains to the east. The city stretched to our north, a flat grid of houses and roads converging on the towers and skyscrapers of the city center.
"...towers and skyscrapers"? Uh, whot? The tallest building in Albuquerque, the Plaza Office Tower, is all of 22-stories tall. (Coincidentally, it's the tallest building in New Mexico.) At less than two dozen stories tall, calling it a skyscraper is like calling a donkey a thoroughbred and entering it in the Kentucky Derby. The New Mexican skies are in no danger of being "scraped."
The Genius Plague starts out with great momentum, chuck full of sciencey facts about fungus. The premise reminds me a bit of The Girl With All the Gifts, with a fungus infecting and rewiring (for the better, in this case) humans' brains. Early on, it's clear this is going to be competence porn, with the protagonist, Neil, talking his way into a job with the NSA even though he lacks the required qualifications. Neil is the wunderkind trope, naive and supersmart, and able to solve complex cyphers in a single evening. Like The Martian's Mark Watney, but not
Nevertheless, I was entertained for a time. Unfortunately, rather than explore the ramifications of an infection that actually makes people smarter and holds the promise of curing Alzheimer's, the story goes for the cheap, clock-is-ticking, thriller plotline and dissolves into a mess of stupid character decisions and stale storytelling. Which is made all the worse by the apparent lack of research into anything but fungal biology.
For example, early on Neil takes his brother on a tour of the NSA's server room, a locale which presumable would be off limits to any uncleared personnel, even with a Q- or higher-cleared person as an escort. No one notices or cares. Except this reader who yawned at the obvious steaming pile of foreshadowing.
Descriptions of every location read like they came from a guide book. Case in point, the excerpt above, with Albuquerque's "skyscrapers." Again, I've lived in the area for decades. Trust me. We ain't got no stinkin' skyscrapers! Description of Kirtland AFB, Sandia Labs and the landscape south of Albuquerque possess a similar lack of authenticity.
Ultimately, The Genius Plague's greatest sin is that it's a thriller absent thrills. Nearing the end of the story, at a point that should have been fraught with tension, all I could think was, Needz moar zombies!
April 14, 2018
I have landed in the middle on this one and settled with 3 stars. I do not plan for a full review, but I want to share a few quick thoughts. The original concept fascinated me. I love the idea of sci-fi story exploring an invasive fungus that alters mankind's mentality. There are so many possibilities here! Overall, the writing is fluid and original. However, what began as a unique plot eventually turned into more of an almost political thriller as there is a shift to focus solely on the race to stop the fungus. This perspective seemed to greatly overshadow so much of what I was hoping for that a large portion of my interest dwindled. I am sure it will find an ideal audience among those who enjoy a good "time-crunch" and race to the finish style thriller.
August 22, 2021
Read in one sitting. Well-crafted sci-fiesque story line.
July 16, 2019
SF is al niet echt mijn ding, maar gaf het eens een kans. Boek zit op zich wel goed in elkaar, maar wanneer ik een woordenboek moet bovenhalen, om sommige woorden op te zoeken, om in het verhaal te kunnen blijven...dat is een afknapper voor mij.
November 4, 2017
I absolutely loved the concept and ideas behind this book, but I felt the execution didn't measure up. It was so fast-paced that the characters seemed underwritten, to the point that even Neil fell flat with little perceptible character development. I spent much of the novel wishing that the author had spent a bit more time exploring the characters.
June 6, 2019
I’m taking the side of the fungi on this one.
September 6, 2024
The Genius Plague is a sci-fi suspense novel set in the U.S. and Brazil in present day that revolves around the Johns’ family. It follows their connections to a fungal organism from the Amazon jungle that has the capacity to infect people causing altered emotions and genius level intelligence. This fungal infection manipulates humans into acting on whatever the person feels would best promote the survival of the fungus. As the pandemic occurs, it leaves death, destruction, and chaos in its wake.
Paul Johns is a mycologist that barely made it back from a research trip to the Amazon. He is over his lung infection, but his family notes a change in his behavior. His brother Neil – the main protagonist – is a newbie analyst at the NSA and is following his medically retired father’s career path.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nick Thurston. It opened with Paul’s suspenseful ordeal in the Jungle and then switched gears to Neil. It took a bit of time to crank the suspense and action back to a level matching the book’s opening scenes. From there the pacing remained consistently fast paced. It has a nerdy undertone throughout (expostulating on ciphers, hacking, mycology, infectious dieses transmission modes, ....) that I found welcoming.
The premise and my curiosity as to where this plot would go is what kept me listening. After witnessing the COVID pandemic unfold, it enhanced the plausibility of this fungal invasion.
Around the climax, I became a bit fuzzy on the plot details. There was a lot going on and it was difficult at times to determine which side people were on. Nevertheless, I understood most of the conclusion. The ending left me wondering if there might be a second book in the queue.
However, it was the narrative voice of Neil that fell short. It seemed like he was as either a comic book character come to life, or this was a young guy’s daydream of grandeur where he solves problems by sheer luck, possesses extraordinary powers of logic, has everyone from the NSA elite to the president seeking his opinion, and has beautiful women calling him.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a sci-fi fan because of its fantastic premise and would be interested in reading other works by the author.
Paul Johns is a mycologist that barely made it back from a research trip to the Amazon. He is over his lung infection, but his family notes a change in his behavior. His brother Neil – the main protagonist – is a newbie analyst at the NSA and is following his medically retired father’s career path.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nick Thurston. It opened with Paul’s suspenseful ordeal in the Jungle and then switched gears to Neil. It took a bit of time to crank the suspense and action back to a level matching the book’s opening scenes. From there the pacing remained consistently fast paced. It has a nerdy undertone throughout (expostulating on ciphers, hacking, mycology, infectious dieses transmission modes, ....) that I found welcoming.
The premise and my curiosity as to where this plot would go is what kept me listening. After witnessing the COVID pandemic unfold, it enhanced the plausibility of this fungal invasion.
Around the climax, I became a bit fuzzy on the plot details. There was a lot going on and it was difficult at times to determine which side people were on. Nevertheless, I understood most of the conclusion. The ending left me wondering if there might be a second book in the queue.
However, it was the narrative voice of Neil that fell short. It seemed like he was as either a comic book character come to life, or this was a young guy’s daydream of grandeur where he solves problems by sheer luck, possesses extraordinary powers of logic, has everyone from the NSA elite to the president seeking his opinion, and has beautiful women calling him.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a sci-fi fan because of its fantastic premise and would be interested in reading other works by the author.
January 29, 2020
This book was very entertaining. The last third of it was a little hard to get through and didn't make a lot of sense in terms of a solution to the fungal problem, but the first 2/3 of the book was riveting! It was a highly interesting concept overall.
October 15, 2017
Summary: This was an incredibly fun, fast-paced read. Very cinematic, would make a great movie.
"What if the pandemic you thought would kill you made you more intelligent instead? In the Amazon jungle, a disease is spreading. To those who survive, it grants enhanced communication, memory, and pattern recognition. But the miracle may be the sinister survival mechanism of a fungal organism, manipulating the infected into serving it. Paul Johns, a mycologist, is convinced the fungal host is the next stage of human evolution, while his brother Neil, an analyst at the NSA, is committed to its destruction. Is the human race the master in this symbiotic relationship, or are we becoming the pawns of a subtly dominating and utterly alien intelligence?" (Source)
From the moment I started reading this book, it felt like a movie. The detailed descriptions of each scene and the foreshadowing reminded me of starting a disaster movie. As with most disaster movies, whether or not the story would be too ridiculous to be good or not seemed like a toss up. I'm happy to report, this was one of the good ones! The detailed descriptions continued throughout and I loved them. The details of the science, both the mycology and cryptography, were good enough to convince me. The authors apparent knowledge of local geography and cuisine from upstate NY to Brazil really brought the story to life.
Like any good disaster story, this was a page turner. I hated to put it down! Unlike a lot of sci-fi and spy thrillers I've read, this book also had amazing female characters. The characters whose perspectives we get are both men and they definitely notice women in a sexual way, so I do think we get more physical descriptions of the women. That bothers me in books where women are exclusively portrayed as objects of sexual desire. In this book, however, it was believable that the main character would notice how women looked, but there were women he related to in other ways as well. And although he noticed attractive women, their appearance was never their defining characteristic. They got complete, complex personalities. There were women who excelled athletically and many brilliant women at the NSA, in linguistics, in medicine. Even the main characters' mother was an astrophysicist. The main character related to these women as people and admired several of them as mentors.
To digress a bit, as I'm writing this review, it strikes me as crazy how notable this is. If many key characters were male, I might notice and be annoyed at it because I’m getting tired of that sort of thing. On the other hand, I might not notice and I would certainly not be surprised. Again, it’s crazy that this is so unusual, but I really enjoyed it.
Circling back around to the point of this review, this was an awesome, action-packed read. The story was engaging. The description of each scene was detailed and cinematic. The characters were all well-developed, fascinating people. If this isn't made into a movie, I'll be highly disappointed, but at least I have the author's backlist to get to either way!This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
"What if the pandemic you thought would kill you made you more intelligent instead? In the Amazon jungle, a disease is spreading. To those who survive, it grants enhanced communication, memory, and pattern recognition. But the miracle may be the sinister survival mechanism of a fungal organism, manipulating the infected into serving it. Paul Johns, a mycologist, is convinced the fungal host is the next stage of human evolution, while his brother Neil, an analyst at the NSA, is committed to its destruction. Is the human race the master in this symbiotic relationship, or are we becoming the pawns of a subtly dominating and utterly alien intelligence?" (Source)
From the moment I started reading this book, it felt like a movie. The detailed descriptions of each scene and the foreshadowing reminded me of starting a disaster movie. As with most disaster movies, whether or not the story would be too ridiculous to be good or not seemed like a toss up. I'm happy to report, this was one of the good ones! The detailed descriptions continued throughout and I loved them. The details of the science, both the mycology and cryptography, were good enough to convince me. The authors apparent knowledge of local geography and cuisine from upstate NY to Brazil really brought the story to life.
Like any good disaster story, this was a page turner. I hated to put it down! Unlike a lot of sci-fi and spy thrillers I've read, this book also had amazing female characters. The characters whose perspectives we get are both men and they definitely notice women in a sexual way, so I do think we get more physical descriptions of the women. That bothers me in books where women are exclusively portrayed as objects of sexual desire. In this book, however, it was believable that the main character would notice how women looked, but there were women he related to in other ways as well. And although he noticed attractive women, their appearance was never their defining characteristic. They got complete, complex personalities. There were women who excelled athletically and many brilliant women at the NSA, in linguistics, in medicine. Even the main characters' mother was an astrophysicist. The main character related to these women as people and admired several of them as mentors.
To digress a bit, as I'm writing this review, it strikes me as crazy how notable this is. If many key characters were male, I might notice and be annoyed at it because I’m getting tired of that sort of thing. On the other hand, I might not notice and I would certainly not be surprised. Again, it’s crazy that this is so unusual, but I really enjoyed it.
Circling back around to the point of this review, this was an awesome, action-packed read. The story was engaging. The description of each scene was detailed and cinematic. The characters were all well-developed, fascinating people. If this isn't made into a movie, I'll be highly disappointed, but at least I have the author's backlist to get to either way!This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
January 26, 2018
Hypothetical Doctor A: Glad you came in to consult, Hypothetical Doctor B. This is the worst case of Protagonist Syndrome I've ever come across.
Hypothetical Doctor B: My pleasure. Explain how you reached your diagnosis.
HDA: Well, Neil is a straight white male, they are without question the most susceptible to Protagonist Syndrome.
HDB: It's true. Are both his parents still alive?
HDA: Yes, but one of them has a degenerative disease and he is in a quasi-caretaker role.
HDB: Hmmmm. Is he very smart, but doesn't do well in school, or get along well with authority?
HDA: Failed out of three prestigious universities, applies to a job at the NSA with no qualifications except chutzpah, his dad's good name and "I know codes real good", gets a job there anyway, and commits two boneheaded errors on his first day that would get anyone in the real world blacklisted.
HDB: Dear God. Does his supervisor reluctantly admire his spirit and determination?
HDA: I'm afraid so.
HDB: This is not good. Is he at the epicenter of the apocalypse?
HDA: His brother is the main reason it reaches the States, he decodes the infected's secret language, he's dragged along on a mission to Brazil solely because his childhood BFF is Brazilian, said childhood BFF is there, still friendly, and smuggles him out of Brazil when everything goes to hell, and he makes amazing jumps of logic even without the fungus heightening his brain function.
HDB: If there's a mysterious woman in love with him, there may be no hope.
HDA: No, it hasn't progressed that far. A beautiful woman he met by chance at the hospital impetuously volunteers to sleep with him after talking to him for an hour, but he declines. Still gives her his number for "once all this is over", though.
HDB: Does he ever describe her in terms of her breasts?
HDA: He does not. To his credit, he is respectful of women throughout the book, and accepts a "no, not interested" from a female coworker without even a murmur about being a nice guy. He also--and this is interesting--gets called out on his Protagonist Syndrome by said female coworker, who points out that because he's a young, smart, photogenic white dude, he'll get rewarded and praised for acts that would be punished if done by other types of people. Which is exactly what happens, medal and all.
HDB: That's good news. But, would the world have been saved without him?
HDA: Only somewhat. The worst of the fungus threat is averted, and the US is not nuked into oblivion, but it's still out there. Sporulating.
HDB: It's Protagonist Syndrome, no question. However, this seems to be a controlled case, with the story and the plotting both good enough to cover the majority of the symptoms. And since you say there are other interesting and well-developed characters, there's a good chance they'll have their turn to shine in future books.
HDA: Let's hope so, sir. Let's hope so.
I wanted a thriller with a threatened apocalypse, and this book delivered. It's fast, it's fun, there's at least one spot where you think we're all doomed, etc. I liked it--hell, I read it in one day! If you like the plot synopsis, you'll like the book, it is exactly what it says on the tin. But Neil as Marty Stu Protagonist Center of the Universe was evident (to me) from early on, and I am weary unto death of guys like him.
Hypothetical Doctor B: My pleasure. Explain how you reached your diagnosis.
HDA: Well, Neil is a straight white male, they are without question the most susceptible to Protagonist Syndrome.
HDB: It's true. Are both his parents still alive?
HDA: Yes, but one of them has a degenerative disease and he is in a quasi-caretaker role.
HDB: Hmmmm. Is he very smart, but doesn't do well in school, or get along well with authority?
HDA: Failed out of three prestigious universities, applies to a job at the NSA with no qualifications except chutzpah, his dad's good name and "I know codes real good", gets a job there anyway, and commits two boneheaded errors on his first day that would get anyone in the real world blacklisted.
HDB: Dear God. Does his supervisor reluctantly admire his spirit and determination?
HDA: I'm afraid so.
HDB: This is not good. Is he at the epicenter of the apocalypse?
HDA: His brother is the main reason it reaches the States, he decodes the infected's secret language, he's dragged along on a mission to Brazil solely because his childhood BFF is Brazilian, said childhood BFF is there, still friendly, and smuggles him out of Brazil when everything goes to hell, and he makes amazing jumps of logic even without the fungus heightening his brain function.
HDB: If there's a mysterious woman in love with him, there may be no hope.
HDA: No, it hasn't progressed that far. A beautiful woman he met by chance at the hospital impetuously volunteers to sleep with him after talking to him for an hour, but he declines. Still gives her his number for "once all this is over", though.
HDB: Does he ever describe her in terms of her breasts?
HDA: He does not. To his credit, he is respectful of women throughout the book, and accepts a "no, not interested" from a female coworker without even a murmur about being a nice guy. He also--and this is interesting--gets called out on his Protagonist Syndrome by said female coworker, who points out that because he's a young, smart, photogenic white dude, he'll get rewarded and praised for acts that would be punished if done by other types of people. Which is exactly what happens, medal and all.
HDB: That's good news. But, would the world have been saved without him?
HDA: Only somewhat. The worst of the fungus threat is averted, and the US is not nuked into oblivion, but it's still out there. Sporulating.
HDB: It's Protagonist Syndrome, no question. However, this seems to be a controlled case, with the story and the plotting both good enough to cover the majority of the symptoms. And since you say there are other interesting and well-developed characters, there's a good chance they'll have their turn to shine in future books.
HDA: Let's hope so, sir. Let's hope so.
I wanted a thriller with a threatened apocalypse, and this book delivered. It's fast, it's fun, there's at least one spot where you think we're all doomed, etc. I liked it--hell, I read it in one day! If you like the plot synopsis, you'll like the book, it is exactly what it says on the tin. But Neil as Marty Stu Protagonist Center of the Universe was evident (to me) from early on, and I am weary unto death of guys like him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2017
It's true I couldn't put it down. It was a page turner. However this was the case only because the author had clearly infected the book with spores to force us to keep reading despite the plot holes, illogical twists and happenstances. The book is clever and the premise is fascinating, but I didn't find it as well written as some of the gushing reviews might suggest. For me it became more of an "OK, how is the author going to make this come out?" type of read. The ending is far too neat a bow for the premise. Though I applaud the author's choice to not leave us with a cliffhanger or an "or is it?" trope I found the ending a bit too mundane. It didn't leave me desirous enough for any potential sequel.
October 18, 2018
An excellent "bio-thriller" melding the shadowy world of espionage with the surreal world of parasitic fungi. The pace is unrelenting, the characters vivid and appealing, and the science is more alarmingly realistic than most readers may realize.
March 31, 2020
A really fun thriller, I'm going to read more of his writing. While other speculative fiction might be deeper or get me thinking more, this book was plain fun and I hardly could put it down, I finished it in one day.
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