The Hot Zone Book Review

The Hot Zone is a scientific non-fiction thriller written by Richard Preston. I would have to agree with the San Antonio Express-News because he really does deserve a lot of credit for his "...great skill in turning interviews and scientific data into a compelling human story (San Antonio Express-News)." The book that Richard Preston has written is about numerous deadly viruses that are scattered around the world, but seems to focus mainly upon the viruses of the Andromeda strain. This group includes Marburg, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, and Ebola Reston. The actual plot revolves around the scientists that work with these viruses on a daily base within the highly confined walls of USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases). To me, the book appeared to have a character that showed up the most throughout the story. I feel that this could be the main character. But, while reading this book, I also wondered why the author had written it and what was he trying to tell his audience.

I am not sure if it was just me, but Nancy Jaax emerged quite a number of times throughout the book. This was a bit hard to come to a conclusion that she could be the main character (I will just call her that for now) because the book exposes nearly all of the scientists' thoughts when they are undergoing certain events. Towards the beginning, it briefly mentions Lieutenant Colonel Nancy Jaax (was just previously known as Nancy Jaax) being a veterinarian before starting her work at USAMRIID. She assisted in the dissecting of monkeys in a specific area after they had died of an Ebola virus. She found this task difficult to complete from time to time because of her background. But then, "as a scientist, she believed that it was her obligation to perform medical research that would help alleviate human suffering" (pg. 79). After only working in this Level 4 research area (an place consisting of terrible deadly viruses which is pretty much all of the Andromeda strain thus requiring scientists to where pressurized suits to keep extreme caution) for a few times with Ebola, she discovers a whole in her outer glove of her suit and finds herself face to face with the virus and nearly gets infected. This seemed to leave a huge impact on her life because, she thought about if the incident had gone wrong, what would she tell her family.

Nancy Jaax is married to Jerry Jaax. They have two children in the book (one a boy and the other a girl). Jerry Jaax is mentioned in the book as an employee of the army and a veterinarian as well. Approximately half-way through the book, it fast-forwards quite a few years. Nancy and Jerry both get promoted in their army ranks, their children get older, and sadly her father (who does not leave too big an effect on the story) dies. Nancy does not have to work with Ebola for a few years, but then all of a sudden, as a Lieutenant Colonel, she finds herself being called in by the army to work in an operation where a possible Ebola threat has found its way into a little town in America called Reston (I am going to stop right there so I do not give away too much of the story). When she arrives home, she talks to her husband about it and says, "It's killing me- I'll never get away from this bug" (pg. 234). The way that I had annotated the book was by centering it on the viruses of the Andromeda strain, their history, and the way how it affects people that get infected and people that work with it in laboratories. Because of this quote, not only I, but Nancy Jaax also admits that the Ebola virus plays a huge roll in her life. And because of this, I had a whole lot more annotations for her than any other character.

While reading the book I kept wondering what the author wanted to accomplish in having other people (such as myself) read it. The story was just so filled with information that I decided almost right away that Richard Preston was clearly trying to educate the public in what diseases lurk around all parts of the world. I thought that it was just going to be a story full of information on how people get sick from viruses, what they do to the victim's body, how scientists test them, and where they originate. As always with all of my predictions, I was wrong. Richard Preston ends the story and just decides to go on and give a little talk to the readers. In this, he states, "Nature has interesting ways in of balancing itself... The earth's immune system, so to speak, has recognized the presence of the human species and is starting to kick in. The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by the human parasite" (pg. 407). I have never thought about it this way in my whole life. I was astounded by reading this quote and thought right away, what if he is right. The earth is an ecosystem almost exactly like a human body. We are killing the earth by robbing it of all its natural resources and multiplying within it, just like how a virus kills a human. And now, the earth is fighting back by using viruses to kill humans so it can try to return back to its previous naturally balanced state. This leaves me wondering, what kind of virus is the human race. Are we one that can be fought off easily like the "common cold." Or, are we the incurable virus (a lot like Ebola) that offers no hope for its victim whatsoever. In the end, there will most likely be only one of us remaining, unless we can find a way to cooperate.

Richard Preston's scientific thriller titled The Hot Zone is written on events that he obtained from interviews and scientific research. The book seems to place Nancy Jaax and her family in the limelight the majority of the time (second to the viruses). This allowed me to come to the conclusion of her being a main character. The Ebola virus has played a large role in her life ever since she joined the team at USAMRIID (also known as the Institute) and helped in the dissection of Ebola infected monkeys. Even as Nancy nearly succeeds in finally ridding her life of the virus, the army calls her back for a mission to stop a possible Ebola outbreak in the United States from spreading all over the country. Richard Preston created such a great analogy between humans, viruses, and the world. In the end, humans and the earth may never find a way in co-existing and end up wiping one another out. All that I can say is, only time will tell of Richard Preston is correct or not.