Inhuman Acts

When rabies breaks out in a provincial community, Letty Dequesne, within a whisper of attaining a PHD in disease ecology, feels the need to intervene.

Duquesne is already traumatised by the accidental death of her sister, and is already viewed by her colleagues as damaged goods. She is to find that her concerns about a possible large-scale rabies outbreak are not given much credence by the locals either. However, she is not one to give in easily, and finds allies in a local vet and policeman Andrew Marsh.

This novel does seem to suffer somewhat from an identity crisis of sorts. It appears to start out as a scientific thriller on disease ecology, but actually morphs into a whodunnit, where virus is being spread about deliberately.

Actually, as a whodunnit, this story worked much better - the characters and local politics are developed on a way that made the reveal really satisfying: that 'I could have kicked myself'' for not pegging a perpetrator that was hiding in plain sight.

That maybe is the direction to pursue in future novels.

When two rabies cases are discovered in Chattanooga, Letty Duquesne volunteers her help. Although she is still grieving the death of her sister, she knows that two cases of rabies in the same area are more than a coincidence. She’s a researcher specializing in disease ecology, understands how rabies is transmitted and knows which animals are usually responsible.

After Chattanooga policeman Andrew Marsh kills a rabies infected popular local pastor as the man attacks Marsh’s partner, he’s put on leave and uses his spare time to help Letty with her investigations. There are animal suspects. Bats and raccoons are the usual culprits but recently arson at a research lab led to the release of several animal species. Charismatic local veterinarian Pete Hendrick helps Letty track down the source. Can they find that source before more people are infected?

Author Brooke L. French quit her day job (attorney) to write. This is her first novel and it shows she made the right decision. If you are a fan of James Patterson’s Zoo or anything by Michael Crichton, Brooke L. French is the author to watch! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing and Brooke L. French for this ARC.

This was a new author for me . I never read anything from this author before but for the most part I really liked this book. I thought the whole story was amazing. I honestly didn’t want this book to end. I can’t wait to see what this author comes up with on the next book they write. I usually judge a book from the cover because for me it shows if it’s going to be interesting or not and I loved the book.

Letty Duquesne is a disease ecologist who is on summer leave until a teaching position opens in the fall when she hears of a human rabies case in Tennessee. She decides to go down there offering her assistance even while knowing they probably won't want an outsider coming in without their asking for help. Letty loves working in the field so she thinks maybe she can find the trace animal before others get infected because that's what her job is all about. (Tracing possible disease sources). Letty is definitely unwelcome in Tennessee but that doesn't stop her especially when another rabies case arises and she knows that the source must be found immediately before the disease contaminates other animals which will result in many more human cases. Letty knows that something has been happening in the the zoological environment for awhile since her sister was killed a year ago in an unprecedented event that was unnatural in the animal environment and she is still trying to understand and make sense of her sister's death.

This was an unexpected, enjoyable and entertaining book from an author that I had never read before. The writing, storyline and and editing were so well done, that it was a pleasure to read and I finished the book in a day or more because I just couldn't stop reading. The story was contemporary and realistic and not too dark for most of the book and the parts that weren't quite real just didn't matter since the story was so good and just had an easy flow to the writing. There were some terrific twists along the way especially at the end of the story. Brooke L. French is an author that I would definitely be on the outlook for and I highly recommend this book to any readers who enjoy medical as well as enviromental mysteries.

I want to thank the publisher "Black Rose Writing" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 4 RABID AND BITING 🌟🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!

This is not my usual genre of novel however I really enjoyed this. It was quite an interesting plot and the author tried to develop the characters over the book. I read it quite quickly however I felt that the end was a bit of a let down. I would be willing to read another book in this series, and would certainly try another by this author.