Zoo by James Patterson

 

Description

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the impending violence becomes terrifyingly clear.

With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide.

This was one of those books that I couldn't put down. It had an interesting plot, action & tension to keep me interested and some scenes that had me a little scared... I was worried, OK?

Animals all over the world are attacking humans. It isn't normal attacking either. It's this crazy coordinated animal mob kind of attack, pets are turning on their owners and the animals are really smart about the attacks. Then of course there is the political aspect of everything. Oz knows something is up and has been trying to warn people for years, but politics blah blah blah and the world is doomed because nobody will listen and politicians are being ignorant. I feel like Patterson was trying to make a point here, making me think he has an issue with politicians and the way things are run; Ignoring the problem until it can't be ignored anymore.

And then there's the obvious undertones: animals aren't the bad guys, we are for ruining the Earth! We brought this on ourselves! (This may be true but still... not a new concept). A different take on why it's happening though, I'll give him that. Something I thought was a little strange was that half way through the book it jumps ahead 5 years in time. Possibly to show that nature won't make that swift of a change overnight? And maybe that's why people don't notice things that happen gradually unless they're paying attention? Just speculating, here.

What I didn't like was the lack of emotion by the main character, Oz. It's (mostly) narrated in the first person and I was getting so angry that he didn't seem to be emotional at all when people around him died. He would be like, oh no! This person I cared about was killed! Death and stuff... whatevs. And then go back to what he was doing, at one point making a really weak joke. Gah!

But, overall, it was an entertaining read for a lazy day. And (added bonus) if you have a kindle and want to sample the book a little bit before you decide if you actually want to buy it or not, you can get a free preview of the first 23 Chapters!

Updated: I also recently (as of June 2013) listened to the audio book. If you choose to listen to the audio book, beware that the guy that reads the book is bad at Chloe's French accent. I considered fast forwarding the parts where she talked because I was so annoyed.