20 Minutes To Go Viral

20 Minutes #1.5

by Daniel Hurst

Something is spreading in the peaceful town of Amberfall.
Something that threatens the whole of humanity.
Something is going viral.

20 Minutes. 20 People. 20 stories that will make you want to stay inside and never greet another human being again.

This is a short novella about a viral outbreak in a small town in the Lake District and shows how quickly disease can spread amongst the population. This isn't the Coronavirus. But it's just as scary.

Humans. Viruses. Panic. Fear.
There goes the countryside...

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Mystery

54 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 16, 2020

About the author

Daniel Hurst is an Amazon #1 bestselling author of fast paced psychological thrillers. His most popular titles include Til Death Do Us Part, The Passenger and The Doctor's Wife, the latter title reaching #1 on the Amazon UK Kindle store in February 2023. A regular KDP Select All Star since he became a full-time author in 2021, Daniel prides himself on writing fast, releasing stories often and engaging with his readers.

You can visit him at www.danielhurstbooks.com, where you can also download a copy of his FREE thriller 'Just One Second.'

Reviews

[Sharah Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

20 Minutes To Go Viral is a novella about a deadly virus that quickly spreads through a small English village. In this day and age this story was just so realistic and scary! This is the second book I have read by Daniel Hurst and it was just as good as the first. Thanks to the author for my digital copy.

[Sterlingcindysu · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a 20 minute read, it was fine...but it would have been better as a longer book. All the work is done--the setting is described, the characters are named, the plot is zooming along. Think bigger Hurst!

Another freebie for Kindle from Amazon.

Glad covid doesn't spread as easily as this did.

Shooting the chickens!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very scary account so very similar to what has happened worldwide with Covid 19 this year. I went back to check the publication date to see if the Covid epidemic was the basis for this story. Published in Feb 2020, this was prior to all the Covid shutdowns. This author has described the pandemic almost exactly how it could spread in the community.

[Lisa-Jaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The effects a virus has in a sleepy village and town and the far reaching effects obviously reminding of the Corona virus but really well done in that we find out where the virus originates from and how it is spread. Interesting and thought provoking.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW 20 Minutes To Go Viral a short story by Daniel Hurst (downloaded book) This is a stand alone 20 Minute book and nothing to do with Daniel's 20 Minute series of short interconnected stories.

ARC-12B is a deadly biological infection from poultry and jumps to humans attacking their immune system, causing fever, muscle pain and rashes before paralysing the heart and lungs with twenty-four hours.

This deadly virus originated in a small town in the Lake District called Amberfall and it claimed its first victim a poultry farmer whose chickens had been infected by the deadly virus and all of them had died.

The poultry farmer had drove into the market town unaware that he had been contaminated with the virus from his poultry and the virus spreads far and wide.

The virus can be passed on through close proximity with infected chickens, a handshake, a friendly kiss, money and paper. Tourists to the town can also get infected and take it back home with them thus spreading the virus as far as Lancaster.

This virus spread through England and Wales and these zones had to go into quarantine in order for it not to spread around the world. 17 million death toll in Uk and the Public Health Authority stopped it from spreading further because they contained it.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could be an amazing longer story than what we were given: virus and small towns. In a matter of minutes, we see how quickly a virus takes hold of the countryside yet, and we do not see how it affects the cities and then the country that has to be shut down, which is why I gave this book four stars. I wanted to see what happens even after the countryside Amberfalls is hit with this virus, and I wanted to know what caused the meat to become infected. In a way, this was like the Covid virus, and it makes you think.
As short and to the point that it was, I was flipping pages quickly to see what would happen next. With this story, I wanted more! Not sure if this should be part of the 20-minute series that he has going on unless in book 12 we will see maybe a few of these characters, but that doesn't truly deter from this being a good read.

[Booksandcoffeemx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something is spreading in the peaceful town of Amberfall. Something that threatens the whole of humanity. Something is going viral. 20 minutes. 20 people. 20 stories that will make you want to stay inside and never greet another human being again.

20 Minutes To Go Viral is a short, scary and high paced novella told from multiple POVs about a viral outbreak in a small town. This is my second book from this author and both kept me at the edge of my seat.

Thank you @danielhurstbooks for giving me a copy of your book in exchange for an honest review.

http://www.instagram.com/booksandcoff...

[Valerie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short read was clearly published around the time that Coronavirus was at its height, although the blurb states it is not about Coronavirus. The book is a clear timeline from the first case, spread by individuals. I liked the way the author has clearly demonstrated how quickly and easily the virus spread by providing snippets of information about each character.
I thought it was an interesting quick read, I was engaged throughout, and it served as a clear reminder of how quickly we've dropped all those good practices of handwashing, particularly at risk times like handling money. There were a few mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar which dropped my rating by 1 star.

[JJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think this book belongs in this series. It is more an account of actions leading to a viral infection - obviously inspired by recent events. But rather than having introspective and developed characters with interguing interlinking backstories we get an a description of an action in a single moment. I doesn't fit as nicely with the format with too much taking place in the 20 minutes beyond my ability to believe which is sometimes a problem with books in this series but is made more glaringly obvious with the lack of substance.

[Nikki ໒꒱˚｡⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A good short read. I would've liked to see it be a little longer though as I felt myself getting sucked in and wanting to know more.

I'm glad I have read this now and not back when Covid-19 first came about last year as I can definitely see how it could cause some people anxiety. Even though the virus in this story is different and much more contagious, you can still see the similarities.

Very intriguing and thought provoking.

[Roberta Marquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was certainly prescient of things to come with Covid! Thankfully Covid was not quite as bad! 😥

I, like others, found myself researching the timeframe of Covid to the release date of this short story……scary!

I did feel that the writing in this book was not as strong as the other books I have read from Mr Hurst so far…I found it a little stilted and much of the dialogue felt forced, however this will not at all prevent me from continuing with this series! 😊 📚

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something is spreading in the small town of Amberfall. Something that threatens the whole of humanity. Something is going viral.

In this novella we get twenty new people who are all in the small town of Amberfall. It's only fifty-four pages long, so it doesn't take much more than twenty minutes to read. It tells us how quickly a disease can spread, and from the different things we could pick it up from. t was similar to how quick Covid 19 spread.

#KindleBook

[Ian Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to read especially in the current climate of a Pandemic.
A selection of short chapters following each character as they come into contact and spread the highly deadly virus that starts in a small rural area, but quickly escalates to the extent where the whole of the UK is isolated off.

[Keith Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Describing how easily a virus can spread and alongside Covid. Was ok to read but not sure what all the hype is about this 20 minutes series but I won't be rushing to read another.
however I do like this Author and have read many of his books.
His writing style tends to have the hook at the end of each chapter which I like.

[Maureen Tunstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read

Just finished the 5th 20 minutes book, can't wait for the next one. Love reading about the different characters what a great idea. A shame the books are not longer

[Sara Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the year and a half that we have just lived through - this might not have been the best subject for reading at the moment. That being said, it was a very fast read. I once would have dismissed the premise as exaggerated...but not any more.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book! A story of a virus spreading, written before covid became known. An amazing prediction of the future. Congratulations Mr Hurst! I will certainly b on the look out for more of your books. In fact I've just downloaded 20 minutes earlier.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fast paced story on how quickly diseases spread. It's an eye opener especially with the recent covid situation. Each chapter is told from a different person's perspective and how they unknowingly received and spread the virus. 

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

A killer virus?

Seems too far fetched to be true doesn’t it? But this is how the ARC12B quickly spread through a small village in the Lake District and on to the rest of the world

[Raymond St. Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh

I can't recommend this book takes to long to get to the point of the plot an just kept dragging onward to my eventual skipping pages just to if anything interesting happens.

[Jane Wynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the near future, a new strain of bird flu spreads from a small country town in Cumbria and shows how quickly such viruses can spread. Very short tales from those involved from patient zero. Interesting.

[Brian Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good quick read.

A clever idea. A story that takes place over 20 minutes.
I read it in one go.
I must have a look at more book by this author.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

It was a very interesting read and most certainly something that could very well happen today in these crazy times.

[mark fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

How scary is that

I guess we have already seen how a virus have spread with corona in the last eighteen months and does make you think!!!!

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome 👌

Great book,everyone should read it ,very informative about how it starts and how it ends..it's a must read keep you glued to the end..

[Trudi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viral spreading

I really enjoyed this. I liked how each chapter was a new character. I just wish it could have been longer, because it was so good!

[Kamla · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really good as far as I remember - you can't find this one anywhere. I can't even remember where I found it!
However it's not for sale now.

[Urša Zgonec · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think im gonna end with this series

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nicely-written short story about a small English village, a deadly virus, and how it speeds through the village.

[Jools Brooksbank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book

This is fab. Just shows you how fast a virus can spread.. Especially for the uncertainty we are living in these days . Very well written