Book Review: Virals

Virals (Virals #1)

by Kathy Reichs

Genre: Crime-Thriller, Mystery, Sci-fi, Suspense, Young-adult

Publication: First Published November 2010

Format: Paperback, 454 pages

Website: viraltheseries

Kathy Reichs is the author of Temperance Brennan series that have been adapted into the TV show, Bones. I’ve read the first book, Déjà Dead last month, and didn’t like it as much because it’s a bit heavy to my liking. And for that, I have little expectation for Virals.

Tory Brennan is fourteen years old. She’s smart, fearless, pretty, and she a dog lover. Her curiosity was influenced by her aunt, Temperance Brennan. She lives quietly with her father, Kit after her mother died. She had a group of nerdy and techie guy friends, Hiram, Ben and Shelton.

It started when they found an old military dog tag. Tory and her friends sneaked into the lab (where her father work) to use a machine to clean the tag. It was then when they found a wolfdog, infected with a parvovirus trapped into a secret lab. Determined that the wolfdog was trapped for an illegal research, they decided to kidnap it. It’s not like the parvovirus could infect human. But, what they didn’t know is that the dog was infected with a new parvovirus. And the virus is transmitted to them. The four of them; Tory, Hi, Ben and Shelton have to solve a mystery when the dog tag led them to the discovery of human bones, while fighting the new virus infecting their body.

Like I’ve said, I’ve little expectation for Kathy Reichs’ Virals. I thought that this book will be about a crime solving teenagers, more difficult science terms and nothing more. I was wrong. It was more than that. Kathy Reichs’ added in a bit of twist with the parvovirus which infected those kids. The virus turned the kids into something else – virals. I was really surprised when I actually like the book. A lot! There were a lot of surprises, suspense, mysteries and bits of romance which makes me wanting to read more and more. I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t put the book down. Yes. It was that good.

I totally recommend you to read this book. Especially if you’re a mystery lover. There’s a lot of unexpected twist and suspense up till the last chapter. You’ll love it.

Book Cover’s Description

Fourteen-year-old Tory Brennan is as fascinated by bones and dead bodies as her famous aunt, acclaimed forensic anthropologist, Tempe Brennan. However living on a secluded island off Charleston in South Carolina there is not much opportunity to put her knowledge to the test. Until her and her ragbag group of technophile friends stumble across a shallow grave containing the remains of a girl who has been missing for over thirty years. With the cold-case murder suddenly hot, Tory realizes that they are involved in something fatally dangerous. And when they rescue a sick dog from laboratory on the same island, it becomes evident that somehow the two events are linked.

On the run from forces they don’t understand, they have only each other to fall back on. Until they succumb to a mysterious infection that heightens their senses and hones their instinct to impossible levels. It’s becoming clear that the island is home to a secret that has driven men to kill once. And will drive them to kill again…