Plague

WOW! What a blast from the past!! I remember reading this back when it first came out and I was TERRIFIED by the prospect!! I have not read many of Masterton's works but this is probably one of the best "Plague" books I ever read. The ending is distrubing and as an early adolescent, this book profoundly disturbed me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!

It was so nice, I read it twice. As books on catastrophies go, its in the Top Ten. It's worth your time.

What sets "Plague" apart from many other catastrophe novels is the unbelievably brisk pace of the tale, diving immediately into the foul waters of a polluted Florida beach and traveling from breakneck speed all up the eastern seaboard. Dr. Leonard Petrie is a wealthy physician catering to the sun birds of Florida when a knock on his door brings him to a very sick little boy. Dr. Petrie immediately rushes the boy to the hospital, but its already too late. Within only four days, the State of Florida is quarantined and millions are dying from a mutated bacilli that washed up on their shoreline, some within only twelve hours of exposure. Dr. Petrie, his nineteen year old girlfriend Adelaide Murry, and little daughter Pricilla (Prickles) manage to get past the roadblocks, only to discover that the plague has flown on before them. They decide to head for Manhattan, which they heard was sealed off as a clean zone. In New York, we meet Ivor Glantz, acclaimed research biologist and his lovely step-daughter Esmeralda, aging movie actor Herbert Gaines and his young lover Nicholas, Kenneth Garunisch, president of the Medical Workers Union, and Edgar Paston, an average shop-owner plagued with delinquents ruining his store. Dr. Petrie manages to find his way to Ivor's incredible New York apartment in the exclusive Concorde Towers, where he convinces Ivor to work on a way to slow the plague, while Herbert Gaines is blackmailed into making public racial announcements placing blame for the plague on the black and Hispanic communities. Kenneth puts his workers on strike and escalates the downfall of civilization, while Edgar strikes up an unusual alliance with the leader of the delinquent gang to get himself out of Jersey. From the first page on, you won't be able to put this book down. If you love disaster books like I do, you should scrounge up a copy of this one. And if you like rats...well, you will love the furry parade coming out to greet you and say hello with their sharp little teeth. Incredible pace and juicy subplots make Masterton's "Plague" a winner, with a tiny lesson thrown in about dangerous polluters and having an "I don't care" attitude. Sometimes, things come back to haunt us. Enjoy!

Graham Masterton, while most known for his horror novels (The Manitou, The Djinn, The Sphinx, etc.), wrote a number of thrillers early in his career. Plague is one of those and it is also one of his best works. While the overall premise *may* be a bit farfetched, it is still a highly entertaining read.The novel centers around a plague started from contaminated waste located off beaches in Miami. The plague starts slowly, only infecting a few, but eventually explodes throughout the city, eventually across state lines and further. The novel has two parts -- the infection followed by the survivors trying to stay alive while trying to find a cure. The ending is somewhat unique and leaves something to the imagination of the reader.The book is currently out-of-print, but can probably be found in used book stores or from various websites that sell used books. If you can locate a copy, grab it, read it, and enjoy.