Super-Bugs and First Novels

The holidays are past for another year, I hope you found time to read amongst the madness joy of your festivities! My choice for my first non-Booker book, and my last novel of 2012, was Daniel Kalla's medical thriller "Resistance". I figured I had a few extra days off so I could afford to be kept up all night! It took me 10 days, between December 20th and 30th, I'm just a bit late to posting about it!  I read two of Kalla's other titles, "Cold Plague" and "Pandemic", a few years ago and they were fantastic! Both those novels feature Noah Haldane, an investigator with the WHO, who puts me in mind of a more realistic Robert Langdon, jetting around the world solving mysteries. I think I finished both of them in under 5 days, they were so intense!

"Resistance" wasn't quite as suspenseful as the Haldane books, but it was still a very fun read. It was more of a mystery than a thriller, about a super bug being intentionally spread among drug addicts along the west coast of North America. The medical terminology is kept light, and all necessary concepts are explained clearly and concisely. Some science professionals get too technical in their novels, and I find myself just skimming any parts that I don't get. I've never felt that the story is held back by the technical aspects in any of Kalla's novels, which is nice. It also helps that the topics he explores are socially relevant. An antibiotic resistant super bug is a real threat, and the over-use of antibiotics is frequently covered in the media, so the base knowledge is already there. I found it directly relevant to my own life as well, as a friend was admitted to hospital with pneumonia (and several other infections) shortly after I started reading this novel, so that certainly helped with my own fear levels!

I found this story read a lot like a 'first novel', even though it's Kalla's second, in that the bones of the structure are fairly obvious. It really doesn't hurt the story any, I just found myself noticing what he was doing as a writer. Also, with such a large cast of characters - a drug researcher, a CDC official, an infectious disease specialist, a police detective, and a shady criminal all share narrative space - some of them do come across a bit... not stereo-typed, but maybe flat? It's difficult for a character to show real growth when you're only 'with' them every fourth chapter. I am looking forward to reading his more recent novels to see how his writing has progressed. I've heard particularly good things about "The Far Side of the Sky", which I understand may be the beginning of a trilogy.

My first read for the new year is Rob Thurman's "Moonshine" - the second book in her Leandros series.  Although it also suffered from some 'first novel' issues, I loved the first book! The characters were interesting and funny, plus the story was action packed! I've heard great things about how the series progresses, so I'm really looking forward to this one!

A very Happy New Year to you all! May all your 2013 reading be enjoyable!