Book review: Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

This week it is book review time and it's something different now that I've finished the Throne Of Glass series, I am reviewing the Science fiction thriller Zoo written by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge published in 2012. 

First thing to say is that this will contain spoilers, so if you have not read the book and plan to I suggest reading it first.

The book follows Jackson Oz, a scientist who has devoted himself to collecting data on the increasing number of mammal attacks on humans and trying to convince other scientists to listen. On a trip to Botswana he survives an attack by a large group of lions during which over a hundred people are killed throughout the country in other attacks, he saves Ecologist Chloe Tousignant who was studying a change in bird behaviour. They return to New York and find that his chimpanzee has killed and partially eaten his girlfriend.

Five years later Jackson and Chloe are married with a three year old son called Eli. His theory gets accepted as fact as all over the world packs of animals are entering densely populated cities and killing humans. Jackson is recruited by the president to research the cause however the president's daughter is killed so she launches military strikes on large groups of animals, this only worsens the attacks. By continuing his research he discovers that animal pheromones have been changed due to the widespread use of radio communication and petroleum products, this has caused enlargement of the amygdalae leading to the increased aggression. All world leaders order all electricity, mobile phone and vehicle usage be banned for two weeks, animal attacks cease almost immediately. However after three days people begin to return to normal and by one week the whole world has done so, this causes the animal attacks to restart this time with increased ferocity. After the White House is over run Jackson, Chloe and Eli along with several scientists and political leaders are evacuated to Thule in Greenland, there are basically no animals so they are safe to conduct research into how to reverse the changes and save the human race.

I will start by saying that I have enjoyed several of James Patterson's books over the years and my mother is a big fan having read most of his books, he has published 147 so far, so that was my introduction to his work. I also like that James often collaborates with other authors making each book have a slightly different feel which is always interesting.

Now for Zoo, this is a book I have wanted to read for a few years and am so glad that I finally got round to it as it is a brilliant book. The concept of the animals attacking humans in a coordinated way and becoming the more dominant species was what drew me in, it is intriguing and makes you wonder if it might happen in the real world (luckily we are still safe three years after the world went apocalyptic in the book). I really enjoyed the book as a whole with the scientific nature of discovering the cause and it making a lot of sense, while the book was primarily focused on Jackson and his research we also got to see several other points of view. The one we see the most is Attila, Jackson's chimpanzee, we get to see how the change affects him and what it does while also demonstrating that initially there is still of the historic animal in him, however we also see that the second wave wipes that out and therefore it has been made much worse. We also see from the viewpoint of a lioness towards the beginning and a male lion in Botswana, both planning attacks. We also get the viewpoint of several humans when being attacked by animals, there is a wolf attack in Russia, a dolphin attack off the coast of America, a leopard attack in India, as well as a gorilla and rhino attack Rowanda, this all added to make a more complete picture of the situation and made for some exciting action scenes. I also like the realistic nature of the book with the five year build up between parts one and two of the book and in particular the very human response to the ban, 'Oh things have improved, let's go back to what we were doing before' Obviously this was going to have a disastrous effect however it's what we as a species always do.

I liked the character of Jackson Oz as he is a really intelligent man and incredibly perceptive to have noticed what so many others dismissed, the fact that he is shunned by a lot of the scientific community made it all the more significant that he was so persistent to find the truth. I found it really interesting that he is also the sort of character who would rather have been wrong so finds it bittersweet that he was right all along but in the end is angry that humans are so predictable and make the situation worse yet again. The only slight issue I have with the book is that the ending feels a little rushed as they head off to Greenland, along the way they are attacked by bats and have to stop for repairs but manage to get on fine all in a couple of short chapters, it's not a bad ending I just feel like it could have been fleshed out a little bit as they were attacked but with no serious consequences.

I have also discovered there is a sequel in the form of a short story so I plan on getting that to find out what happens next and there is also a TV series based on the book so I plan on watching that at some point too, hopefully it matches up to the book.

To finish then I obviously enjoyed this book quite a lot and may well read it again in the future, my rating for Zoo is 7/10