Germ, by Robert Liparulo, is a thrilling read from start to finish. The back of the book does not really give away what the true story is about, it just uses a generalized summary of an overarching plot point: a new form of the Ebola virus exists that is transmitted airborne, and it will only target certain people. Only the last sentence of the back cover hint at what the majority of the book is about: “Pray the assassins get you first.”

The book consists of ninety-nine relatively short chapters, as well as a prologue and an epilogue. The POV is always third person, with most chapters devoted to one character’s limited viewpoint. However, the novel does primarily revolve around the central character, Julia Mattheson and the supporting characters of Steven and Allen Parker.

The entire journey of reading this book is a thrill ride in itself. There is hardly a dull moment, and when the characters are given a short reprieve from being on the run, their thoughts revealed to the reader are never close to having a chance to rest. Frequently, a chapter will end on a cliffhanger and switch to a different POV in the next, leaving you to wonder and forcing you to continue to read.

The plot of this thriller is plausible, but luckily not quite reality (as far as we know). The main protagonists are trying to prevent the unleashing of a:

…strain of the Ebola virus that seeks out specific individuals through their DNA. Once released into the atmosphere, the virus probably travels from host to host like a flu bug, but harmless. It checks the DNA of each host, comparing it to some set of instructions he has encoded within the virus. If it matches, it turns into full-blown Ebola; if it doesn’t, it moves on to another host … until it finds a match. (Germ, p. 372)

As far as I know, a virus that can target individuals based on DNA has not been developed (yet!), but how scary would that be. So good work on coming up with a realistic and thrilling plot.

The main chunk of the thriller however, revolves around Julia, Allen, and Stephen running from an assassin named Atropos whose primary weapons of choice are a spiked gauntlet and laser sighted pistol. These scenes are priceless, and yet, it begs the question, “How lucky can you get to keep escaping all these times?”

I did like the backstory mythos behind Atropos and the power players behind the creation of the virus. It certainly added dimension to the story and the development of the characters.

One slight issue I had was in the first part of the story, a Wall Street journalist was introduced who was sent a list of the people the virus targeted (he was not informed about the significance of this list). He began some research on what the list could mean and then all of the sudden just dropped it and dropped out of the story line. Now I realize that the main reason he was there was to reveal to the reader that ten thousand individuals–high, middle and low class–were infected around the country. I just wish that this would have tied in better with the rest of the plot and story line.

Characterization was on par with what I would expect a quality thriller to achieve. The main characters had depth and feeling to them, yet it was not overly dramatized. Dialogue was natural sounding and easy to read.

The settings seemed real enough, ranging from Atlanta to Chattanooga to Paraguay. Descriptions were quite vivid and very easy to picture.

I was impressed with the author’s ability to pay close attention to details, and acknowledge them by following what the reader would be thinking. At one point in the book, I tried counting the number of bullets Julia had left, and two sentences later she is doing that exact thing.

The story has the classic good guys win ending, but not without some hurt. I was thankful that it did have a Christian character in it, but did not try to be preachy about it or make the whole point of the story or the denouement about someone becoming saved. The example was there, but things were left open like they should be. The characters should have free will, just like we do in real life.

All in all, this was novel that lives up to its subheading: A Thriller. Great job Mr. Liparulo!