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Richard Preston, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story (Random House, 1994) Reissued by Anchor in mass market paperback in 1995. Preston's account of the Ebola virus outbreak in African jungles and a northern Virginia monkey holding center will curdle your blood. But, better that his prose curdles your blood than the Ebola virus. The people in The Hot Zone — the scientists, explorers, African tribesman, and veterinarians — are less important that the virus itself, which speaks only through the horrific deaths of its victims. At times, Preston commits mawkish descriptions of intense moments when simpler prose and fewer words would have just as effectively conveyed the importance and horror of an Ebola outbreak just a few miles from Washington, D.C. However, even the unnecessary words contribute to the overall horror of this account. Preston traces the emergence of three strains of Ebola from their suspected home in central Africa near an extinct volcano called Mount Elgon. The strain of virus that threatened Washington, D.C., was first noticed in monkeys that were imported from a rain forest in the Phillipines. That strain, Ebola Reston (named after the town in Virginia where the outbreak occurred), ultimately proved non-threatening to humans. It killed hundreds of monkeys with the same symptoms as Ebola strains in humans, but caretakers and scientists who had contact with the monkeys escaped infection and gruesome death. The Hot Zone is a fascinating, quick read, but it's unclear what Preston wants his readers to glean from the text. If he's after a queasy stomach and wariness of wildlife, he got it. But if he's after something more lasting, he fails to produce that reaction. MORE: Richard Preston's Website Archived radio interview with Preston |
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