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Hot Zone
- The Zulu Virus Chronicles, Book 1
- Narrated by: Charles Hubbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
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Hot Zone
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Publisher's Summary
Something insidious has arrived - right in the heartland of our nation.
Dr. Lauren Hale, a new hospital resident, is nearly killed by a raving mad emergency room patient, in a senseless, unprovoked attack.
Officer David Olson, veteran cop and former Marine, returns from a father-son camping trip to discover that his ex-wife has vanished under bizarre circumstances and his police department is on the verge of collapse.
Jack and Emma Harper, a young, upwardly mobile couple, find their hip city neighborhood rapidly descending into madness.
Dr. Eugene Chang, a research scientist for a major pharmaceutical company makes a shocking discovery that might explain the spreading wave of illness and violence gripping the city.
Eric Larsen, leader of a top-secret, rapid-response unit, circles high above the Midwest, in an unmarked military transport. Mission still unknown, his team waits to parachute into the night.
Within 24 hours, complete strangers from different walks of life will be forced to join together to survive the living nightmare that has been unleashed on their city - and their country.
This is their story.
Welcome to the hot zone!
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What listeners say about Hot Zone
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-09-2018
10/10
excellent writing, characters and story. would recommend to any zombie lovers out there! top tier stuff!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 28-05-2018
Slow narration!
Best listened to at a 1.15x speed. Was good otherwise. Narrator does alternate voices relatively well.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brian
- 16-10-2017
A great start to a series
4.5 out of 5 stars
I can't tell you how long I've had other Konkoly books sitting on my to be read shelf. He just seems to pick genres and topics that I really want to read. I finally bit the bullet when he started writing a bio-thriller based novel. Hot Zone borrows the name of one of my all-time favorite novels and does a pretty nice job showing what would happen if a rage-like virus would sweep the midwest.
The virus itself plays the main character through most of Hot Zone -- allowing the reader to get familiar with it and what it's doing to people. I like that Konkoly based it on seemingly real things. It reminded me a bit of the virus from 28 Days Later -- but a little more docile. People still went crazy, but they weren't crazy all the time. It made it a little scarier to me. I just can't imagine sitting across from my wife who was fine one minute and attacking me with a fireplace poker the next.
The story revolved around a few different people who were all from different aspects of life. A cop, a couple who worked at a biotech company, a mercenary, a doctor, and a researcher. The story bounced around from person to person but ended up weaving into a really nice full story by the end.
The end -- this burned me a little. It dropped it from a 5-star book to a 4.5. It just kind of ended. I know that it had an "ending" but it had a "there is going to be more than one book" ending. Sure, the story was good, the character development was one of the best I've ever read, and the virus was well thought out and explained in a way that made sense -- but the story just kind of stopped.
I will be continuing on with this series (especially if it's on audio). So I think in the end it'll be a wash. But I was genuinely shocked when the story ended.
Overall, a great book that kept me reading. I didn't want to put it down.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-01-2018
C’mon...
Can’t be same guy who wrote Perseid Collapse series — which is fantastic. And, this narrator overacts the characters — turns them into a parody of the regional dialects he’s trying to portray. C’mon, give us another Jakarta Pandemic.
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Russ
- 16-10-2017
Entertaining yarn marred by narration
I had high hopes for this book, I really did - I am a fan of Steven Konkoly and the post apocalyptic thriller genre, so perhaps I was setting myself up for a fall.
Ok I admit that I still get slightly baffled by weapon / gun fetishism , but I now take the "Evil Big Government" view in my stride. ( They may have means and opportunity but what the hell is the motive?)
I couldn't however get past the Narration - some characters in parts sounded to my ears like out takes from a Yogi bear cartoon, and I just could not immerse myself in the story.
That said, the plot is entertaining enough ( not a patch on Steven Konkolys previous books though, perhaps getting just a little too formulaic) however I do not think I will be returning to hear of the survivors progress .
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Rob H
- 04-04-2018
Zombie Story without Zombies?
Is it possible to write a zombie apocalypse story without zombies? Perhaps. but this isn't the book to accomplish that. I got the distinct impression the author wanted to write a ZA story, but didn't want to jump on the zombie bandwagon. I get it, the ZA genre can be cliche, but there is a reason it's a popular genre.
Overall, it was a good story, and it pulled me into all three books in the series. Decent action with an interesting plot and good characters. Even though a mob of crazies can still kill you, it lacked the zeal of the walking dead hungry for your flesh.
I've read some reviews on the narrator making the character voices cliche or caricatures. While I think this is true in some sense, I thought the narrator did an excellent job of making all the main characters have a distinct and easy to recognize voice.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- RJ
- 03-03-2018
Unknown virus takes out population.
A Rage Virus has been turned loose in several metropolitan cities and it is spreading at an alarming rate. People turned violent attacking each other without understanding why. The news media reported flu-like symptoms and neglected to mention the scope of the infection or the violent reactions. Those who worked in the specific field knew better though and suspected a modified weaponized virus had been released on the population. The unanswered questions in their minds were how large is the affected area and who is behind it. The story transitions through several individuals or groups of survivors recounting their travels and the hardships they encounter during the crisis. The characters are well-defined and likable.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Stephen
- 14-08-2019
Guilty pleasure
I bought this book in error. Trying to get the hot zone that was the true story about Ebola. I generally read real science books and biographies. But I figured since I already got it I would give it a listen. I feel ashamed to say that after the first hour or two the book got a little addictive. Working in medicine I know that there are some wild in accuracies in how this virus works, and how the hospital workers/hospital itself work… But it seems that the author has some military background as he seems to have a very in-depth knowledge of how a lot of military procedures would go.
Ashamed to say that I kind of loved the action and suspense and I actually enjoyed myself during this book and...I guess I’m going to get the next one.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sharon Quinn
- 25-02-2018
Another Awesome Read
While I found some of the narrator's accents a little odd, it did nothing to derail a great story. Wonderful to read a story with a believable premise that didn't include an EMP, my usual preferred method of the EOTWAWKI.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- M. Wallace
- 24-11-2019
Good book cringe- worthy accents
The book has a good premise and I will listen to the second one. When the narrator is doing a normal middle aged man’s voice he is great but for some reason he gives one couple these southern accents that make the book almost too difficult to listen to. And there is a boy who is supposedly 17 and heading to the marines and he reads him like a 10 year old baby-it’s so odd! Otherwise he is good- just those two and it’s frustrating! Book is decent- waiting for it to pick up some in the second installment!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Christine M.
- 14-04-2019
Enjoyable
I don't understand why some people knocked this book. It was fast-paced, dangerous/thrilling, and I enjoyed it. The lack of zombies was actually a plus for me, although the virus-damaged people were scary enough. A group of strangers banding together to survive. I knocked the rating down on the story because it ended abruptly, and now I have to go buy the next one. I think books -- even in a series -- should be intact within themselves, and not end suddenly in the middle of things. But, I'm excited for the next book!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Melissa Embry
- 04-05-2018
Disappointing..
Have loved all of your books to this point .. The narrator was a special kind of bad .. Dumb redneck voice for half the characters? I actually feel dumber after listening to him speak ..
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Maxine
- 05-07-2020
I love the contagion apocalypse
Another story about conspiracy and contagion .
I liked it ! Thoroughly enjoyable . The narrator worked for me . But killing the dog ... no !
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jack Epplestone
- 15-08-2018
Couldn't stop listening
Haven't been hooked on a book like this for a while. Such a good mixture of tense scenarios each character goes through. Highly recommend.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Thomas Tobias Dinsen Hove
- 02-01-2020
Zombie entertainment cut and paste
Fairly run of the mill Zombie / Apocalypse story with a conspiracy twist.
Nothing new storytelling and / or narrative wise. Story does not keep you hooked apart from wanting to find out what happened to the dog. Otherwise rather bland characters.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jlocko
- 29-09-2019
Great stuff
Great story, well paced with superbly developed characters. However, what made this standout was quite possible the best narration I have experienced. Well done Charles Hubbell.
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