The Global Pandemic and The Cure

The Cure - Glen Cooper

I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for classic post-apocalyptic fiction. You know, like The Stand, The Dog Stars, or Lucifer’s Hammer; and some older goodies like the The Andromeda Strain and Alas, Babylon. Glen Cooper’s The Cure is right up my alley, then, except perhaps the “classic” part.

It’s postapocalyptic fiction of the “global pandemic” subgenre (like The Stand), and I’ll grant that the premise of The Cure is inventive. Unlike the standard flu global pandemic, victims don’t die. Instead, they develop complete amnesia: no speech, no memory, no comprehension; just pure creatures of instinct (albeit trainable). The cause is an unholy marriage of a manufactured virus (intended to help cure dementia) and a wild virus that should never have come into contact with it. All because of a cascade of… well, stupidity.

As luck would have it, the two scientists who helped manufacture that virus are both among the one in five who seem immune. Problem 1: the hero (Jamie) is in Boston and the heroine (Mandy) is in Indianapolis. Problem 2: the hero’s teenage daughter (Emma) is, to put it nicely, tabula rasa. Problem 3: civilization has collapsed, and we all know what that means… the meek sure as heck will not inherit the earth.

What follows is stock postapocalyptic fiction; with the stereotypical brutal, violent fiefdoms and a harrowing journey across the country. That Jamie runs afoul of not one but two colonies of violent religious nutters may say something about the author, or perhaps something about the  state of this country. Cooper has an MD, which suggests that the science he uses to describe his weirdo virus is plausible; albeit at a level that will give some readers headaches. If that’s you, just go with the flow and willingly suspend your disbelief. It’s only a couple of chapters. 

What gave me a few headaches of my own wasn’t the medical science, though. No, that was the episodic nature of the action. It’s as if the book was written for serial television, neatly chopped into bite-sized chunks instead of forming an end-to-end narrative. 

In that, The Cure shares structure with many recent thrillers I’ve encountered, making this reader (at least) suspect that the author was torn between writing a scripted series or a novel. Each episode – or story arc, if more than a couple of chapters – ends with a thrilling escape or the death of yet another semi-major character; all compressed into what seems to be an improbably short period. Truth be told, though, it was hard to get a handle on the duration covered by the action.  

Cooper deserves kudos for an inventive premise. On that count alone I’d be inclined to award five stars. However, his inventiveness failed when it came to the “balance of good and evil,” as so well depicted in The Stand. Add to that a milquetoast main character and the lack of consistent timing, and I have to knock off some stars, leaving The Cure with three and a half.

copyright © 2026 scmrak

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in return for my honest review.

  

Dez Goes Underground for Storm Warning

Storm Warning - James Byrne

Meet Desmond Aloysius Limerick, Dez to his friends (he insists on it). Dez could be charitably described as a tank: 5-foot-8 with a 50-inch chest… and all muscle. Brawn, but with a healthy helping of brain: he’s a Gatekeeper: he can open any door and keep it open as long as necessary, allowing in those who belong and keeping out those who don’t. Between gate jobs he’s a professional musician (bass guitar and piano) and a has recently spent time as a sous chef. Oh, and despite his unusual physique, he’s apparently irresistible to beautiful women.

It's for his skill with doors that the FBI reached out to Dez this time. Seems that a high-end research station deep (underground) in the Canadian Maritimes has gone radio silent, along with the staff of an underground mine and the village of Fuchstown ion the surface. The Feebs are mounting a hostage rescue team, and Dez asked to go along to open doors. He’s happy to join them, seeing that his occasional squeeze Petra Alexandris is one of the people with whom communication has ceased.

Just getting to Fuchstown proves to be difficult, partially because of violent winter storms and partially because of the mercenaries employed by the evil co-presidents of a mining equipment company; hell-bent on getting into the facility before anyone else… for some unknown reason.

The storms prevent the HRT from reaching the site, but Dez and a small group of non-FBI types make it to a deserted Fuchstown to find the sole elevator to the underground complex disabled. Well, disabled for anyone who’s not a Gatekeeper. As Dez repairs the machinery, a gaggle of mercs show up slinging lead with a .50-caliber machine gun. Dez’s party heads underground, where they find a standoff between the surviving townspeople and an unknown number of Russians; suspiciously militaristic for “mining engineers.” Oh, yeah, and there’s also an assassin roaming the tunnels and chambers. Well, at least Dez and Petra are reunited…

Given a surprising number of moles -- they ARE underground after all – and plenty of suspicion, misdirection, lies, and backstabbing (some literal), the action underground will prove to be non-stop. Expect plenty of action sprinkled liberally with surprises and not a little of Dez’s wry humor. Don’t worry about the psychopaths directing all the mayhem, though: they’ll get their just deserts. 

Storm Warning is the fourth Dez Limerick book from the pen of James Byrne (The Gatekeeper, Deadlock, Chain Reaction). Limerick has the skills of your typical Jason Stratham hero while combining many of the skills of a Mission Impossible team; not to mention a wicked sense of humor – definitely a modern-day renaissance man. While the breadth of his skillsets isn’t particularly believable (and Byrne needs more help with technical stuff than he’s getting), a trip into the willing suspension of disbelief with Mr. Limerick is always highly enjoyable.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

copyright © 2025 scmrak

In Which Orphan X Draws Closer to Humanity

Antihero - Greg Hurwitz

If you’ve been reading the Orphan X series since the eponymous introductory book in 2016 (as have I), you have noticed by now that the famously stoic, OCD-riddled Evan Smoak has been doing quite a lot of “personal growth” through the first ten installments. Number eleven, Antihero, takes The Nowhere Man to places in his psyche he’s never visited before… and it’s pretty fascinating.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of mayhem — as you might expect — but his latest “mission” has placed some restrictions on him, among which is a version of the biblical fifth commandment: don’t kill anyone on my behalf. Trust me; if you were in X’s Original S.W.A.T.s and knew what had happened, you’d be hard-pressed to obey that command.

The Werewolves of Seattle...

American Werewolves - Emily Jane

One of my household’s favorite television programs of this century has been the six seasons of NBC’s “Grimm.” I think we’re now on our fourth – or maybe it’s our fifth – cycle through the entire series. Not familiar with the show’s premise? Simple: there are people who look just like everyone else who can change into humanized versions of animals: sheep, wolves, foxes, pigs, beavers, rats, even bees. These people can be either benign or evil; although most of the predator types are evil.

Parker's Newest Protagonists: Keeping Secrets, Finding Killers

 Wild Instinct - T. Jefferson Parker

I’ve been reading T. Jefferson Parker since the days of Little Saigon and Laguna Heat, so yes – four decades now. And although I’ve never been in California’s Orange County, I sometimes feel as if I know its landscape and people from Jeff’s descriptions – the wild Pacific coast, the tumultuous border with Mexico, the deeply-ingrained Latinx culture. His latest, Wild Instinct, introduced me to a new aspect of the region; its Native heritage. For that, I thank him.

Wild Instinct, like about half Parker’s works, is a police procedural: when the tale opens, OCSD detective Lew Gale (né Luis Gallego) is on the hunt for a mountain lion presumed to have killed local real-estate developer Bennet Tarlow III. But when the ME finds a bullet in Tarlow’s brain, the hunt turns into a murder investigation. Paired with newly-minted homicide detective Daniela Mendez, Gale burrows into the workings of OC’s richest family, three generations of Tarlows, and Bennet III’s biggest project: a five square-mile city he would call Wildcoast. The usual suspects abound: local NIMBYs, the small but vocal indigenous communities, and all those politicians with their hands outstretched.

Second Verse, Same as the First: Adam Kinzinger, Renegade

Renegade - Adam Kinzinger

Way back in 2005, Christine Todd Whitman (once the moderate Republican governor of New Jersey and Bush II’s first head of the EPA) wrote the book It’s My Party, Too.  No, it wasn’t a shout-out to Lesley Gore; it was Whitman bemoaning the cooptation of the Republican party by its “social fundamentalist wing.” The more things change, the more they stay the same: in 2023, Whitman’s complaint is echoed by none other than Adam Kinzinger, retired Republican Representative from Illinois who is reviled by the modern version of that wing, MAGA Trumpists, for having the temerity to vote to impeach their… their… whatever he is: god, oracle, führer...  

In case you’ve been asleep for the past two-plus years, Kinzinger (along with Wyoming's Liz Cheney) was one of two Republicans who served on the House committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021. He’s a small-town boy from Bloomington, Illinois; a decorated veteran who served in Iraq as an Air Force pilot; and a six-term congressman from his home state. His background is that of a life-long conservative with a fundamentalist Christian upbringing. And, like Whitman before him, Kinzinger is aghast at the cult of personality that has taken over the party to which he has devoted the past thirty years of his life.

The Brothers K: The Best Novel You've Never Read

The Brothers K - David James Duncan

Author's note: republished to celebrate the 2023 release of David James Duncan's first novel in more than two decades, Sun House.

 

It's a fairy tale. It has no sleeping princess, no handsome prince, no troll under a bridge, no voracious and avaricious giant. Or perhaps it does. It's a story of the Chance family - a father, a mother, four sons and two daughters - and how they all grew up (even the parents) during the turbulent 60s. It's a story of the strength of love; a fable about the force of faith; a parable of the power of one's dreams. But most of all, it's a saga of the strength of the ties that bind a family. And, yes, it is a story about baseball.

Would You Turn Your Back on this Librarian?

How Can I Help You - Laura Sims

Call me old-fashioned if you like, but the style of entertainment that includes television shows like “Dexter” and “Breaking Bad,” content built around deeply flawed protagonists, just leaves me cold. In the same vein, I’m perfectly happy to say that if I don’t like the characters in a book, it’s a pretty safe bet I won’t like the book. That’s the reason Laura Sims’ How Can I Help You just didn’t click with me at first: I wouldn’t turn my back on either of the protagonists.

Please Tell Me This Isn't the Last Orphan!

The Last Orphan - Greg Hurwitz

It’s not normal for Evan Smoak, otherwise known as Orphan X, to find himself shackled to a bench in a prisoner transport. Truth be told, it took a large, well-coordinated, and very well-trained team of America’s finest to land him in this predicament. In fact, the only way that even worked is that X’s only chance to slip the trap would have been to gun down an innocent FBI agent… and he doesn’t do that to innocent people. That’s how he ended up talking to the person who put the whole capture operation in motion, Victoria Donahue-Carr. You’d think the POTUS would be more grateful, given that X is essentially the only reason she’s sitting in the oval office.

So Much Can Happen in Just Two Nights in Lisbon.

 Two Nights in Lisbon - Chris Pavone

After reading the first pages of Chris Pavone’s latest, Two Nights in Lisbon, a more skeptical reader might feel that buzz somewhere deep of their brain that suggests, “There’s something off about this.” I know I did… but once I found myself immersed in the urgency of Ariel Pryce’s desperate search for the husband who walked out of their Portuguese hotel and disappeared into the morning sunlight, I forgot about it. Mostly.

A frantic Ariel reaches out to the Lisbon police and the American embassy, certain that her husband has been kidnapped. Despite police assurances that her (much younger) husband has probably just gone on for drugs or hooked up with one of the many beauties Lisbon boasts, Ariel is sure that he’s been taken. A demand for three million euros’ ransom makes her point.

Overall, I prefer Driving a Tacoma to Reading About One

The Russian - Ben Coes

Some days the willing suspension of disbelief goes only so far... and today was one of them. Well, actually, the last few days – even I couldn't read The Russian - Rob Tacoma Series, Book 1 in a single day. One of the main reasons I couldn't is that I had to keep stopping to puzzle through author Ben Coes' bizarre word choices and strange notions about science and everything else. 

Coes is the author of a slew of Dewey Andreas novels, none of which I've ever heard of, much less read. FWIW, Andreas makes a cameo appearance in the final chapter as a, to be quite frank, half-assed deus ex machina. More on that later. Coes' bio says he served under two presidents (an intern under Reagan and a speechwriter for a Bush I cabinet secretary). But we're here to talk about the book...

The New Neighbor - It's a Cozy Spy Thriller?

The New Neighbor - Karen Cleveland

If, like me, you read a lot of mystery and thriller novels; you’re well aware of the subgenre of “cozy” mysteries: a protagonist, usually female, stumbles over dead bodies (always free of gore) in the everyday course of business. Cooking is a favorite profession, so are crafting and bookselling. It’s a classic case of willing suspension of disbelief – after all, Crabapple Cove, Maine, is unlikely to have a higher murder rate than Chicago, Bogotá, or Mogadishu. Even with that in mind, though, today’s book is a new subgenre for me; something I call the "cozy spy thriller." Meet Beth Bradford, heroine of Karen Cleveland‘s fourth novel, The New Neighbor.

This Time, Death Rode a Dark Horse

Dark Horse - Gregg Hurwitz

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare… Aragon Urrea came home from an errand and found his 18-year-old daughter Angelina gone. Kidnapped by a business rival, sort of; but when that rival is the head of the most brutal narcotics cartel in northern Mexico, you cannot call the Feds. What’s a father to do? Urrea picked up the phone and dialed 1-800-NOWHERE… and Evan Smoak answered with that signature phrase, “Do you need my help?”

Rosenstiel's Latest is More Thoughtful than Thrilling

 The Days to Come - Tom Rosenstiel

Everyone knows Washington, D.C., is gridlocked. At least it was until David Traynor was elected POTUS. Like a recent real-world president, Traynor had campaigned as a disrupter; but unlike that president he intended to disrupt for people instead of party; so much so that he chose his running mate from the opposition. One of the reasons their campaign succeeded is the team of Rena and Brooks, the investigation/image firm that saved the career of Traynor’s VP. But even as the new president set out to change the way government works (for the better…), Peter Rena’s world began crumbling around him.

Psychopaths on the Warpath

 Never Saw Me Coming - Vera Kurian

If Vera Kurian is to be believed – and apparently, she has the proper training to make this statement – there’s about a 2 or 3 percent chance that whoever’s reading this right now is a psychopath. That’s not to say that you are, as popular fiction might have it, a serial killer. No, you’re merely antisocial and/or empathy-impaired and/or egotistical. Based on that description, 2 or 3 percent of the population seems rather low…

…but the main characters of Kurian’s debut novel, Never Saw Me Coming, are pretty close to 100% psychopathic. That’s because they’re members of the seven college students enrolled in a study run by renowned psychologist Leonard Wyman; youngsters who’ve received full-boat rides to a DC-area college so he could study them in the wild. Well, actually, one’s faking it – a rather strange twist given that psychopaths usually fake being “normal.” Anyway, protagonist Chloe Sevre – 18, gorgeous, smart, psychopathic coed – is really there so she can murder Will Bachman. Truth be told, he kind of deserves it…

Paretsky's Warshawski Mystery has a "Breakdown" Along the Way

 Breakdown - Sara Paretsky

Some people have a knack for being in the right place at the right time: I’m thinking PowerBall winners, venture capitalists, or the guy who Youtubed the video of a kid biting his brother’s finger. At the other extreme, there’s V. I. Warshawski, whose knack is clearly for being in the wrong place at the right time. Case in point is the night her cousin Petra called her looking for one of the teens in her book club. The girl and her friends had sneaked into a cemetery to dance in the moonlight, hoping to summon the heroine’s alter ego from a runaway bestseller series of teen VampRoms. Vic found the girls, of course – she’s a good detective – but she also found a body... and not one of the cemetery’s clients.

Brennan's New Series Starts with a Dud

The Third to Die - Allison Brennan

When you read at least fifty mystery or thriller novels a year, you can’t always depend on a half-dozen or so favorite authors to have a new release ready for you when you finish your latest. As a consequence, I read a lot of novels written by authors whose work, to be kind, I will probably not seek out again in the future. The latest in my string of one-and-dones is Allison Brennan, who released The Third to Die – Quinn & Costa Thriller Book 1 last year. Given the pace of Brennan’s work, she’s probably already finished number four. Here’s the plot in about 115 words:

The Title Sounds like Ludlum, and So Does the Science

The Twin Paradox - Charles Wachter

I received a free copy of Charles Wachter’s The Twin Paradox in return for my honest review. Well, they asked for it. Here's the book: Begin by constructing a skeleton of “the hero’s journey” overlain by a skin of LOTR, stir in heaping helpings of Robert Ludlum’s The Holcroft Coventant, Nancy Freedman’s Joshua Son of None,  and Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. Coat the entire recipe with pseudo-science too weak to fool a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” fan and sprinkle the result with word-usage errors and desultory research. You got yourself The Twin Paradox. The Holcroft Covenant reference is to Ludlum’s sonnenkinder; children of the Third Reich born in secret to take over the world forty years after Hitler’s demise. Joshua Son of None gave Wachter the idea for cloning a dead world leader decades before Dolly. The reference to Jurassic Park will become clear, and the rest? I’ll explain.

Carey Baldwin's Stolen a day of My Life

Stolen - Carey Baldwin

 

“For a moment, he just held her, his hand coasting up and down her back in time with the rhythm of her heart as it beat against his.” I don’t normally begin a book review with a quotation from the book… but this time I wanted you to know what kind of torture I put myself through to finish Stolen, an installment in the Carey Baldwin romance-mystery Cassidy and Spenser series. Let’s dissect that… stuff: first, “coasting” is a ridiculous verb in this setting. Second, is he really rubbing her back at something like 70 stokes per minute? And third, if her heart is beating against his, the two had better be conjoined twins! I won’t go so far as to say that all of Stolen is this poorly written, but way too much of it is. First, though, here’s the story:

Agent Zero - Disengage Disbelief Before Reading

Agent Zero - Jack Mars

I don’t review a lot of books these days, although I still power through about three books a week. Every once in a while, though, I get the urge to spit out a few hundred words to share my opinion of some thing I’ve just finished. Sometimes it’s because the book is so good – Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars or Alexandra Oliva’s The Last One come to mind. On the other hand. Some books are just plain lousy, and I get a kick out of lambasting them. There’s the third option, too: the book’s neither great not execrable, but… something about it tells me to sit down and write. That’s what happened with Agent Zero, the first book in a series by some guy who uses the pseudonym Jack Mars.