Pandemic by Scott Sigler

The long awaited third part to Scott Sigler's Infected trilogy is here at long last! It's been five years since the release of Contagious and I really think I should have reread the first two before jumping into Pandemic. Fortunately there are a few sort of reminder chapters in here to help Swiss cheese brained folks like me. (But I did kind of miss Scary Perry.)

In the years since the outbreak of the alien infection Margaret Montoya has never come to grips with the decision to bomb Detroit or the role she played in the decision. Instead of feeling as though she's saved billions, she feels extreme guilt over those that had to die. And now it's begun again. A sub tasked with searching out pieces of the Orbital reported finding an artifact and within three days everyone on board was dead. The sub fired on its own fellow ships before being hit themselves. Two of the bodies recovered have tested positive for infection and the government has requested Margaret's help. But in the time since its apparent defeat, the alien organism has adapted. This time the fight for humanity will be even more brutal than before.

Any good author has the ability to take their readers out of the real world and fully envelop them in their fictional creation and Scott Sigler is a master at this. He calls it his Siglerverse and I have enjoyed each and every outing that I've experienced there. (And now I have to go dive into Ancestor, one I missed!)

Sigler's latest is a rip-roaring, action packed read but what makes it really, really great is the gore. I'm not kidding. Well, I am a little. It's the fact that he pays such close attention to making it all so believable. A look at his acknowledgements lists, amongst others, military personnel, MDs, and PhDs galore! What does that mean to you and me as the readers? Well, I dare you to read this in public and not get the heebie jeebies when the stranger across the room starts coughing. It's impossible!

As I said, there's a lot of gore here - there's always a major ick factor involved in reading this series - so if you're squeamish or easily grossed out, you might want to have a friend redact all the gory yuck for you before moving forward. Just saying. But that would be taking the fun out of this alien plague tastic horror tale for sure.

Rating: 5/5

(Oh yeah, and note my mention of Ancestor: one of the main characters in Pandemic is in that one as well - Sigler mentions it in the acknowledgements as well - so just go ahead and treat yourself to that one as well if you haven't read it!)