This book was amazing. It spanned quite a few years, but the story was interesting the whole way through. We, as the reader, get to see what happens from multiple perspectives, including the villain of the story. This manner of narrative ensures that not only does the reader understand exactly what is happening, and why, but it also really makes the thrill of the story more intense.

Thrilling, entertaining and the perfect mix of action and science fiction (with a little romance thrown in), this book definitely deserves five stars.

A fast-moving and very visual tale of a fungal threat to the planet Earth, with some black comedy moments.

When the first outbreak occurred (in the Australian outback, 1987) my first thought was "oh, no, not Cordyceps fungus again!" as this has been done to death in both sci-fi literature and video gaming. However the story did pick up with the long-term storage of a small sample of the fungus in a US military facility which was eventually forgotten about and sold off to a private company many years later, with devastating consequences. A tale of government incompetence which will hopefully remain in the realm of fiction.

I found the writing style clear and the plot uncomplicated and linear, however character development was not strong. All characters had backgrounds but there was little in the way of the emotional connection that a great book needs. The author seems to have a good grasp of chemistry but not of biology. I particularly did not like the descriptions of the fungus which implied that it was sentient. Also, spores had been released into the atmosphere - they can travel for many miles very high in the atmosphere, so how come this didn't cause outbreaks elsewhere? There was the occasional inconsistency - for example early on, someone's blood alcohol inhibited fungal growth but later on it grew quicker because it fed off the alcohol? Makes no sense.

All in all, an interesting if unsophisticated book which would make a good film. 3.5 stars.

Great concept, well written, engaging characters, unrelenting action and suspense in a claustrophobic environment. Nothing less than the survival of the world at stake. This adds up to a really good read. We are all so gung ho about the exploration of space but terrestrial history demonstrates time and again how the dangers of contamination from a novel environment can be deadly. Uh, oh, is that Chinese knotweed in the pond?

This was a really fun read, it had horror, humour, and romance. It was a fast paced story with barely time to breathe! I thoroughly recommend it and can’t wait for the next book from David Koepp. I hope it gets made into a film.

I absolutely loved this book - found it totally gripping and fast paced. All of the characters are well rounded and sympathetic where needed - even if they have not always been nice people.
Its a great idea for a book and executed really well You can tell straight away it is written by someone that is used to writing film - and what a great film it will make.
Some might say the premise is far fetched but I thought it worked really well and how the various chemical reactions happened was explained really well and simply.
If I have any thing to nit pick about I would say the ending was slightly rushed - but to be honest I was desperate to come to a conclusion so it worked for me.
A great read that I can imagine will go on to be a best seller.

A mix between Jurassic Park, Contagion and 28 days later. For the last reason alone, I probably shouldn't have read this. Anytime now someone sneezes next to me I'm going to wonder...

It's all very madcap and crazy. A fungus wrecks havoc when some matter falls to earth in the middle of the desert. Two military scientists are sent to take a sample and transport it to the USA. It's kept in a military storage facility and almost forgotten about. Plans are made to use it in some kind of future biological weapon use. The government ( probably the US or the UK one now to be fair) forget about this mass of potential biological matter and later on, all hell breaks loose.

A bit OTT, very scientific with words and ideas often reading like a science book but a crazy read where government ineptitude leads to all kinds of problems for the world. There are thousands of hidden messages here I'm sure.