Contagious » (Unabridged)

SCOTT SIGLER is the world’s most successful podcasting author, with a rabidly loyal following of more than 30,000 subscribers per book. His books have held the number one audiobook position on all the podcast aggregators, including iTunes, and his remarkable triumph has made him the subject of profiles in the New York Times and the Toledo Blade, as well as coverage in the Washington Post, BusinessWeek, and elsewhere. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Jody, and their two dogs. You can find him online at scottsigler.com and infectednovel.com.

From the acclaimed author of Infected comes an epic and exhilarating story of humanity’s secret battle against a horrific enemy.

Across America, a mysterious pathogen transforms ordinary people into raging killers, psychopaths driven by a terrifying, alien agenda. The human race fights back, yet after every battle the disease responds, adapts, using sophisticated strategies and brilliant ruses to fool its pursuers. The only possible explanation: the epidemic is driven not by evolution but by some malevolent intelligence.

Standing against this unimaginable threat is a small group, assembled under the strictest secrecy. Their best weapon is hulking former football star Perry Dawsey, left psychologically shattered by his own struggles with this terrible enemy, who possesses an unexplainable ability to locate the disease’s hosts. Violent and unpredictable, Perry is both the nation’s best hope and a terrifying liability. Hardened CIA veteran Dew Phillips must somehow forge a connection with him if they’re going to stand a chance against this maddeningly adaptable opponent. Alongside them is Margaret Montoya, a brilliant epidemiologist who fights for a cure even as she reels under the weight of endless horrors.

These three and their team have kept humanity in the game, but that’s not good enough anymore, not when the disease turns contagious, triggering a fast countdown to Armageddon. Meanwhile, other enemies join the battle, and a new threat — one that comes from a most unexpected source — may ultimately prove the most dangerous of all.

Catapulting the reader into a world where humanity’s life span is measured in hours and the president’s finger hovers over the nuclear button, rising star Scott Sigler takes us on a breathtaking, hyper-adrenalized ride filled with terror and jaw-dropping action. Contagious is a truly grand work of suspense, science, and horror from a new master.

From the Hardcover edition.

Publishers Weekly

Alien invaders threaten humanity in Sigler's over-the-top thriller, the sequel to Infected. In the near future, U.S. president John Gutierrez goes straight from his inauguration to crisis management when his national security team informs him that he must focus his attention on Project Tangram, a secret government program to stave off an epidemic caused by alien parasites, which form itchy blue triangular patches on the skin. Victims eventually become paranoid and violent. As the infestation spreads, Gutierrez must decide whether the outbreak can be contained without the use of tactical nukes on American soil. Meanwhile, the creatures responsible for the parasites get a foothold in Michigan through a seven-year-old girl, who manifests possession by drawing blue triangles on her dolls. While lacking the psychological sophistication of Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers or David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr series, this page-turner builds inexorably to an explosive ending. 5-city author tour.(Jan.)

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