The Cobra Event: A Book Review

Fun fact: This book alarmed Bill Clinton so much that he had his intelligence experts read it to see if it was actually possible.

                This post is partially because I should have starting doing book reviews a long time ago, and partly because this book makes me frustrated, and I want to rant.  I can’t complain, since I didn’t even spend ten dollars on the thing. I found the book at the “Free Store”, which is the pile of junk along the road that the local garbage man puts out (I find lots of books there, one man’s trash, right?).

The Cobra Event is a thriller about biological warfare.  The writing is overly descriptive, mechanical and dry, but for some reason…I can’t put it down. Maybe it’s the absolutely chilling concept, or the extreme detail that makes me wonder if the author knows a little too much about all this. The Cobra event has me frustrated, because in some parts I feel like Preston thinks the reader is a complete moron, such as when he describes a sample tube “about as big as your pinky” and has the character put a cottons swab tip in it, then goes on to describe the fluid inside and mention AGAIN…there’s a cotton swab tip in it. Uh…I know. I got that the first time, thanks bud.  In spite of my annoyance I find the book strangely fascinating.  It reminds me a little bit of the movie Contagion, except that in this book it’s deliberate and in the movie it was just a flue type thing that was killing everyone off.

So, I may snort in annoyance every few pages, but I can only blame myself because I keep reading. It’s one of those things, like cheap candy. It doesn’t taste that good, but it’s there so you eat it. Okay, I guess that isn’t a good comparison. Cheap candy doesn’t make me paranoid. I swear, this book is bad for my nerves; every time somebody sneezes I jump out of my seat.

“Oh my gosh, you think you have the common cold but in a minute your brain is gonna turn to mush and leak out your ears, get away from me!”

Next up: I've been hearing a big internet buzz about The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. I hold in my greedy little hands a brand new hardcover copy! (I may or may not be stroking it and whispering my precious.)