The Hot Zone

Title: The Hot Zone
Author: Richard Preston

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is a non- fiction novel about the movement of many unknown deadly viruses that originated from Africa to America. Preston does an exceptional job by making his readers “relive” the events that led up to the many discoveries of different viruses, such as Marburg, Ebola Zaire, and Ebola Sudan. The book explains thoroughly about each virus, what it does, and it even gives stories about people that have been affected by these viruses. There were many scientists mentioned in this book, and each scientist plays a major role in the discovery of many unknown “agents.” The author does a splendid job of explaining each person mentioned in the novel. There has never been a time when I wasn’t aware of a person mentioned or what they did. The Hot Zone is a book that will keep you interested and begging for more. From the descriptive facts about viruses to the humorous smart remarks scientists made, this novel is definitely a great non- fiction piece that attracts all age groups.
Preston starts the novel off by introducing a man named Monet, who was a Frenchman that lived in Western Kenya. He lived in a bungalow by himself. He worked at a sugar factory near Mount Elgon taking care of the water- pumping machinery. Monet was a man who mainly kept to himself, except when it came to his animals. Monet spent most of his free time around birds and animals. He would just sit and bring food to them. It was apparent to others that Monet was an affectionate person, especially towards monkeys. Now, these weren’t just your average type of monkeys, they were monkeys from the wild. When I first read that they were “wild monkeys,” I knew that they could possibly carry a disease that Monet could catch. One reason for this is because Preston stated in the beginning of the book that Monet came to Africa during the time that HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, was becoming a major issue in the human race.

The climax, in my opinion, was in the first few chapters of this novel. After Preston introduced Monet, he started to describe the events that led up to Monet getting infected with a deadly disease known as Marburg. The first event that happened was that Monet started developing a severe headache and backache. At first, he decided not to go to the doctor and just stay home for a few days. Then when his coworkers came to visit him, they noticed that he looked really sick. So they encouraged Monet to go to Nairobi Hospital. While at the hospital, Preston describes that Monet was in his “last phase.” The author wrote, “Suddenly he goes into the last phase- the human virus bomb explodes… they say that the victim has ‘crashed and bled out,’ or more politely they say that the victim has ‘gone down,’” (page 23). Clearly, this fatal disease does more than a simple “headache or backache” to one’s body. It extremely takes over and controls the “host.” A “host” is basically an organism/ living thing that the virus controls. Once Monet was admitted to the hospital, a young experienced doctor named, Dr. Musoke, treated him. One interesting scene that Preston described was when Dr. Musoke was soon in risk of catching Marburg because of Monet. Specifically, page 26 included, “The black vomit blew up around the scope and out of Monet’s mouth. Black- and- red fluid spewed into the air, showering down over Dr. Musoke.” The author did an exceptional job foreshadowing a problem that will happen later on in the book. In other words, since Monet’s vomit splashed over Dr. Musoke, then Dr. Musoke was now in risk of catching this deadly virus. Later, Dr. Musoke soon developed the same symptoms as Monet, and realized that now he was a victim of Marburg. Unfortunately, Monet died, but Dr. Musoke lived and survived. These two cases have challenged scientists to develop cures for the virus and try to stop it from spreading to other countries, such as the United States. The Hot Zone is centered on many cases of people affected with Marburg and Ebola and how scientists dealt with it.

This book definitely relates to science concepts, for it includes definitions and explanations of words such as, virus, host, agent, HIV, AIDS, cells, diamond knife, electron microscope, etc. One specific example of how the author mentioned a science term was stated on page 198 and Preston said, “As the virus grows inside a cell, crystalloids, or bricks, appear at the center…The viruses are shaped like threads. The threads push through the cell wall and grow out of the cell, like grass rising from seeded loam.” Evidently, every time Preston introduced a new science term, he would explain it in great detail. The main science topic focused in the book is biology. A LOT of biology is included, well for the apparent reason that viruses affect the inner system of your body.

I believe that this book has changed society’s awareness on the dangers of many viruses that live in our human world. Personally, I already knew about HIV/ AIDS before I read The Hot Zone, but I didn’t however know about Marburg or Ebola. This novel is not only entertaining, but the readers actually learn a lot about medical terminology and viruses/ diseases. I didn’t think that Americans were aware about the hard work that scientists and researchers go through to develop cures and vaccines for many viruses. This novel definitely showed the daily life of a researcher that deals with many hazardous chemicals. Preston, in my opinion, did an excellent job of praising the scientists and I think that their worked definitely paid off.

Overall, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston was a well- written non- fiction classic that had millions speechless on the existence of many harmful viruses. From the style and creativity of his writing to the informational facts, Preston did a wonderful job. This book taught me a lot. For example, it made me want to research more about deadly viruses in Africa, and what solutions scientists are coming up with. I also learn a few things, such as that military people deal a lot with unknown viruses. I mean, I knew that there had to be people working in the military that deal with medicine and sick patients. But as far as researching viruses and coming up with vaccines, this was new to me. In the future, I would love to read more of Preston’s novels to see what else is going on in the world around me. In conclusion, The Hot Zone was one of the best non- fiction science books I have read by far.