The memory of the Bird Flu epidemic was refreshed in my mind as I read this book. At the time, there was vigilance regarding the transference of the virus from the birds to humans. It never happened, but in the book "Sector C" the unthinkable happens. A 'Mad Cow Disease' sort of epidemic is triggered by some scientists who have managed to clone some extinct Ice Age beasts. In the process of replicating a Sabre Toothed Tiger, they also brought to life the mutant prion or protein that supposedly brought on the extinction of the large Woolly Rhinoceros and Mammoth. The science is interesting as is the process of determining that there is a problem in the first place as the incidence of stroke like symptoms escalated in the hospitals near the infected area of the US mid-west.
It has been a while since I have read any science fiction and regardless of the good reviews that this book has received, I did not care for it much. It is written by a person with veterinarian background and as such is a die-hard animal lover and her philosophy of animal love above all else comes through a little too strongly. She presents her arguments at the most inopportune moments in the story. An example is when the two heroes of the story have just escaped the antagonist and his attempts to let them perish in a fire, they have had no food or water for more than a day in the hot mid-west summer, the woman is suffering from the onset of the disease and has tremors, and a Saber Toothed Tiger is stalking them as they sit in the high branches of tree fearing for their lives. At this moment they choose to have a 10 page dialogue on the eventual extinction of the human race and how we always get what we deserve.
'Nuff said. Don't bother to spend the 99 cents in the Kindle store. You get what you pay for.
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