Contagious: A Novel

There's often the danger when you have a fantastic grabbing first novel in a trilogy that the follow up sequel will be unable to match the level of the first, or worse, a total let down. I am pleased to say Contagious is every bit as good as Infected, maybe even a little better.As an immediate sequel to Infected there's not a great deal of character development which takes place as everyone has already been backgrounded in the prior instalment. The main exception to this is Perry Dawsey who continues to fight his self loathing whilst also trying adjust to his new life as the only survivor to the alien contagion and everything that survival involved. Overall? Really damn good. Wish air mail would hurry up with my copy of the final novel, Pandemic, so I can start on it!

Not as good as the first one. Basically just a mishmash of action movie tropes. Characters not interesting enough to compensate for plot holes.

Contagious picks up mere weeks after its predecessor, Infected, leaves off. Margaret Montoya, Clarence Otto and their team--now joined by the unfortunate Perry Dawsey, the only living person able to track down the infected--are still racing to figure out what the triangle infection is and how to cure it. And the triangles themselves are mutating. We learn definitively that this is an invasion from outside our world, a colonization effort by some sort of alien species. But we still have no idea what final form the aliens will take if...when...they succeed in their efforts.Scott Sigler is definitely honing his technique. While still jam-packed with blood, bile, charred flesh, and vomit, this book boasts a plot which is far more well-conceived and thrilling than Infected was. And yes, there will most certainly be another installment in this series.

Can't wait for the third book Pandemic!

Great continuation to the series. This book brings what began as a very focused series about one man into a much more rich and complex world. Those that enjoyed the books mostly contained story about Perry in his apartment may find it strange at first to be thrust into a much larger playground, but the pay off is worth the time. Great book, great series can't wait for the next one.

The sequel to Scott Sigler's amazing thriller Infected, which I listened to as a podcast novel, Contagious starts off with newly elected President Gutierrez dealing with a major crisis. The planet is being quietly invaded by an alien force, which takes the form as triangles that latch onto people's bodies and take over their host."Scary" Perry Dawsey returns, leading the charge against the triangles. To say that Perry is an anti-hero doesn't quite do him justice. He's a hero with a hint of madness to him. After mangling his body to remove the triangles from his body, he is now working with ex-CIA agent Dew Phillips and scientist Margo Montoya as they lead an assault to stop the aliens from taking over the planet. Evil has a new face in the form of seven-year-old Chelsea Jewell, who has a new form of infection that supersedes merely having triangles. All options are on the table including the use of nuclear weapons on US soil to stop the aliens.Scott Sigler is an amazing writer who knows how to grip the reader in his own maniacal style. He has all of the subtlety of a sledge hammer smashing the base of your skull. He's one of the few writers whose work I would be able to recognize blindly. There are no wasted pages. He moves from scene to scene at a fast pace, never leaving lulls for the reader. I read this novel with the voice of Scott narrating since I had listened to Infected as a podcast, which added to my enjoyment. The ending is explosive. Even better than Infected, this is a novel that you do not want to miss.Carl Alves - author of Blood Street

Sehr spannende Fortsetzung, die mich wirklich mitgerissen und gefesselt hat. Der Vorgänger hatte mich nicht ganz so überzeugt.

This novel is an immediate sequel to the author’s plague genre work, Infected. While it may not be strictly necessary to read Infected prior to reading this novel (there are frequent information dumps for those that haven’t), I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t read the original before the sequel. In Infected, an alien construct implants “seeds” into human hosts which mature into “hatchlings”. The hatchlings then leave their human hosts and proceed to build a device for interstellar transport of the alien species to Earth. In this sequel, after several unsuccessful attempts, the alien construct begins to make changes in its strategy, introducing a means for spreading the “disease” among human hosts. This novel details the political, strategic, medical and military responses to each succeeding refinement of the alien construct, culminating in a suspenseful and well crafted climaxThe warning I would have for a potential reader of this novel is that it is incredibly violent, graphic and many times disgusting in its description of the process by which the “aliens” take charge of their hosts and the resulting behavior of those “infected”. I’ve probably never read a more descriptive account of biological processes and responses than I encountered in this book. However, if you read Infected, you know what I’m talking about. If you enjoyed the first book, there is nothing in this sequel that will disappoint you.I enjoyed this novel slightly more than the original, as it contained a good progression of moves and countermoves in combination with good character development. Many of the characters in Infected are present in this story as well, but some will not make it to the third installment (Pandemic). My only criticism would be with the very short chapters. There are 4-5 story threads at work at times, and most chapters are only a few pages in length. A number are one page or less. Constantly switching back and forth between story lines and characters makes it difficult to engage at times. In any event, I found this to be an excellent follow up novel to Infected as it advanced the underlying theme of the series in a progression of action filled and captivating scenarios. I immediately began reading the third book in the series upon completing it.

Contagious is the worthy sequel to Scott Sigler's demented alien infection that follows "Scary" Perry Dawson, the man who withstood unGodly amounts of pain and self-inflicting torture. The book continues the story and we finally get a look at the alien outbreak. I hesitate to say more for fear of ruining the surprise. Scott Sigler is my literary hero.

Wow. The FDO sure kicks some ass with this one. I gotta admit to having a bit of a lit-crush on General Siglerisimo. If you haven't read his books or listened to his free podcasts, you really are missing out. Head over to Podiobooks on iTunes and thank me later. On second thought, thank me now.Contagious takes place right after Infected, and never lets up. There are two great character arcs that are completed in this book that show Sigler's character building chops. Fantastic stuff. The Big Bad is great, a really wonderful concept made better by really nailing what makes the B. B. so bad; it's (no spoiler here!) not evil, just all id. That's what's great. Sigler didn't make it easy to hate the B. B. because the B. B. is evil. It's not. It's not the Big Bad's fault. But the B. B. is SO BAD. You sympathize and hate all at once.And the Spanky Spoon. Oh, the Spanky Spoon.Full of gore, humor, action and horror. Also full of great writing, characters, and research.A winner for sci-fi and horror fans alike. Bow to the FDO and his Evil Queen!

Sigler is actually a good writer. He doesn't really need to overdo the gore, even though he is really good at that. I'm not very squeamish at all -- bit of a cold fish actually -- but Contagious contains some scenes that made me cringe.

Sigler has matured his writing style somewhat since Infected, the precursor to this visceral romp. This time there are far fewer distractions as Sigler steers this heavyweight sci-fi horror to it's grand conclusion, less of the sarcasm and quips that disrupted the flow of the first novel. Sigler still manages to balance science with fiction, explaining both technology and biology in terms that are easy to relate to and without becoming laborious. With tight control of the characters Contagious is a thoroughly enjoyable story of an invasion by the 'triangles' introduced in Infected. The cast remains largely the same, although the approach here is wholly different. This is an action story, with hearty elements of suspense and horror and a few killer twists. Far better than Infected, it's still recommeded that readers catch up with the first book before venturing in to a smart, witty, enjoyable sci-fi horror second instalment.

HOLY SHIT!! BEST BOOK EVA!! EPICC!!!!!*spoiler*I just sad though since most main characters were dead in the end.. sob

Wow. This novel was great! I liked how it provided more background information on the aliens and their hidden agenda towards Earth it gave the story more depth and the story is well rounded out. As in Infected, I also liked how there are scientific terms and theories, but it was easily explained and not complicated to understand. We all know some science fiction novels have a lot of technological jargon and you're left wondering if you're reading an encyclopedia on physics or rocket science. Here, everything is kept at Science 101 which is good, at least the reader is not stuck with having to go back to their college notes. I also liked the idea of the virus being able to evolve and to adapt so no matter how hard the government tries to fight it, it somehow gains the upper hand I thought it was an interesting way of keeping the story going.The use of Chelsea in the book is very well done. It makes the story more eerie and creepy by using a child - a very beautiful and innocent like girl to become one of the most horrible creatures I've ever read in my life. You also get to see Perry Dawsey evolve from a psychotic raging killer doing down the downward spiral to a more calculated one, but with good intentions thanks to Dew. There is a lot of action in this novel. It's so fast paced and well done it's almost as if you're watching a movie instead of reading. There are also a few military terms here and there but it shouldn't really bother the reader if they're not familiar with the terminology (same with the science terms). There is a lot of gore and swearing for those that aren't keen with that sort of thing. Other than that, this is a very pleasing sequel, is there room for more? well, I suppose it's up for the reader to decide. Personally, I wouldn't mind wondering what happens to the characters but then again perhaps it's better if it stays with two books instead. It could go either way I guess.Overall a wonderful, fast paced, sequel to Infected. A great read for sci fi action lovers anywhere. If the gore and swearing don't bother you pick up both books and read them straight through. You won't be dissapointed. Also, in this book is one of the most wonderful, awesome, feel-good "tell-offs" I have ever read in my life between Murray, President Gutierrez and Vanessa. I will never forget that part in the book. (If you're curious, read the chapter: "Murray and Vanessa, BFF" to find out)

Now when I read Infected, I ended the book rather puzzled by what had actually been taking place. And really, I found this book mush, much better than the first one!!!! Scott Sigler has a fabulous, edge-of-your-seat thriller right here. What a gem!!!!This book actually explained a little more about what was actually going on, which was nice seeing that I was so lost after the first book. These strange little creatures in the shapes of triangle with tentacles were looking for another planet to try and take over. But they seemed to take on all the abilities from their hosts, such as speech - as they didn't really understand the language until they did that. And they slowly learned, which allowed them to adapt that much easier. When they finally realized that they were trying to be destroyed by the human race, well, they had to change the way that they took their hosts, thus, they became contagious.Throughout the book, there are various chapters that go through the medical phase of what this disease was doing to their hosts. This was amazing. It was amazing in the last book and probably had to have a lot of research behind it, to understand how our body and cells change with different things. And it was kind of creepy at the same time.The book was filled with surprises and the biggest one came in a very small, young package. And I'm sure you've guessed, but no spoilers here from me. I'm always up for a good, creepy, alien story. And Scott's lead characters, kind of reminded me of Scully and Molder from the X-Files - The Truth is Out There - of course, with a little twist of psycho!!!!Hope everyone has a great reading day! And if you haven't tried Scott Sigler's books, then come on - whatcha waitin' for? LOL

My review of sorts:I listened to the author narrated podiobooks for both of these books and all I can say is WOW! They were awesome. Full of action, blood, violence, death, mayhem you name it, it's in there somewhere I assure you.I loved the story line and the characters had me pulling for them right from the beginning. The big gruff football player and the sassy female doctor and the military boys all were like able and interesting characters.The funny thing is I even liked the creepy crawly invaders too. The blue triangles with the single black eye on each side. They're just right amount of creepy to give you goose pimples and yet you still kinda secretly like them just a little even though they are out to get you.These books are not for the faint of heart though. There is a lot of blood, language, violence and creepiness in them to fill a stadium. So if you are squeamish in anyway they're probably not your thing but if your not...Read them!

Contagious picks up shortly after Infected ended. Perry Dawsey, the only survivor of the triangle parasites, joins a government team to find and contain other people affected by these parasites. Unfortunately for his group mates, Perry is only interested in killing the affected. The government has to find the triangles constructs, destroy them, and try to get living ones to dissect without the public knowing about it and trying to prevent Perry from killing all of them. This novel is a great fast paced thriller that holds on to you and doesn’t let go.This book features a variety of very detailed characters, including the crazy Scary Perry Dawsey, the struggling new President of the United States, and two of his rivaling aids. None of them is entirely good or evil and have their own motivations and drives. You feel for each character, no matter how annoying or psychotic they might be.There are a couple of great additions to Contagious that did not appear in Infected. The government plays a much larger role. There is an added political angle within the president. He has to negotiate between his ideals and how to deal with the very real situation he was unwittingly thrown into. How much does he tell the American people? Are Americans citizens expendable to stop a hostile alien invasion? Another great addition to the story is the alien perspective. The alien's motives are pretty clear with this, as well as their frustration with the humans (especially Perry).Contagious is an excellent sequel to Infected. It takes the story and its characters to the next frightening level. I highly recommend this novel.

Exciting, fast-paced thriller about the US military fighting an invasion of alien microscopic spores. Finished it in two days. Good characterization, great dialogue. Will definitely read the next in the series. (Probably would have given it 5 stars except it went 1 chapter too far, just to set the stage for a sequel.)