
A rogue scientist has manufactured his own deadly virus to sell to the highest bidder and when terrorists get a hold of it, we know the world will soon be in serious trouble. This is the premise behind Bradley Michael’s dystopian novel, The M Strain. When a thief steals the virus and becomes infected within its deadly grasp, in his death throes he crashes his car into a tree in the front of the unsuspecting Taylor residence. Before they know what has happened, Homeland Security have whisked them off to the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) in an attempt to control the spread of what may be the most deadly virus in mankind’s history. Agent Johns from Homeland Security with his crack team will seek to find and recover the missing vials of virus before they can be unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
The M Strain was a relatively short, yet still satisfying read of the potential that exists for something, be it pandemic or deliberately released disease to decimate the world’s population and leave civilisation teetering on the brink of collapse. Bradley Michael has a simple, straightforward writing style that is easy to read and certainly the story is action-packed and moves at an excellent pace. There is no indication yet whether this is a continuing story, but there is definitely room for a sequel, given the ultimate ending of the story. Although I found the over use of real names as opposed to pronouns a little distracting at times, it wasn’t enough to limit my enjoyment of a good story that has the potential for an excellent dystopian sequel, which I hope the author is considering. A good, solid read is how I would describe The M Strain.
