This one hit a little too close to home due to just how close the virus part of the story was to 2020's happenings. It was a DNF for me and another unfortunate victim of my 2020 mental state.

-- This review is several years past the release date due to the many issues of 2020, but a huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy of the book.

An absolutely terrifying book to read only because the situation doesn’t seem as fictional as it might have if we lived 50 years in the past. The author did a great job spinning this tale well and flirting with the line between what is and isn’t possible. I also appreciated the cliffhanger epilogue and how the ending wasn’t tied up neatly in a bow.

The Apocalypse Strain is a quick, entertaining read. Be sure you’re ready for a viral plot before picking this one up; some places hit pretty close to home in these Covid times. A few places dragged a pit for me and some were a little repetitive, it seemed, but overall this was a decent read. I’ll definitely seek out more from this author.

When I first got a chance to look at this book's blurb, I got attracted right away by the presentation of pseudovirus (given that we are currently in the middle of a pandemic), elements of horror dystopian scifi and suspenseful chapters.

This is a story of science madness and a virus with a mind of its own. It is indeed such a fantastic base for a story. I liked the premise but as I go through each pages and chapters, the complexity of each scenes and characters disables me to truly connect with the characters as well as with how the story unfolds. It felt like everyone's becoming a mess that it is becoming a struggle to finish every chapter.

I had such a high expectations and maybe that is one of the reasons why it became disappointing to me.

Yet, I believe if this will become a movie, I think it will be a success; as the set-up perfectly fits a global screen. I see a huge potential in this book and probably a little tweak in prose and POVs might fix the problem.

Got this free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What I liked about this book was how easy it made for me to picture everything that I was reading. Human body parts mutated into alien structures. People heard the voices of their dead loved ones. The virus jumped from one body to another. The scene with the flowers stands out in my mind’s eye even now. It was written very well and so easy to imagine. I’d loooove to see it done in a movie some day.

Now, when it comes to what I didn’t like, things get complicated. Even though I love the way everything was written, this wasn’t a unique story. It’s your run-of-the-mill horror movie with a sentient virus — and we’ve all seen those. In fact, you could probably predict what happened at the end, even without reading the book. I did too!

So, if you don’t mind a rehash of the same ol’ and are more interested in the writing, this is the book for you. Creepy and awesome!

I requested this book based on the title, I love a good apocalypse, and having read a few books by Jason Parent. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in The Apocalypse Strain. It had promise and potential, but fell short. I kept waiting for the story to turn the corner, to feel some tension, and find a character to believe in and root for. I couldn't get behind the virus/bacteria and all its various forms.

The Apocalypse Strain
Author: Jason Parent
Publisher: Flame Tree Press
Page count: 241pp
Release Date: 11th Aug 2020

Well, talk about writing a book that reflects current society; Jason Parent’s latest book is a horror/SF Hybrid novel about a - yep, you got it - virus. A potentially world ending disease.
The novel starts with Sergei, one of six astronauts and astrobiologists, drilling into the Siberian permafrost - a tundra, in preparation for an unlikely mission to the Mars polar caps.
In his microphone, he hears the voice of a little girl call him 'Papa', convinced one of the crew have put a recording echoing his dead daughter, into his helmet as a cruel joke.
But the voice is real; and it's telling him to find the right spot and dig and dig until they can be together.
Wheelchair user Clara St Pierre is six months into MS progression and it has erased her energetic and positive self, whilst her mind has sharpened and her body deteriorated.
Clara works in medical genome and bioinformatics, struggling to find answers to eradicate her disease.
In her early forties, she is on a UN sponsored scientific facility also in Siberia.
Clara is heading to work on 'Molli ', a virus stored in a fridge and the fourth virus to have been extracted from seeds found in an ancient squirrel 's nest under the permafrost, buried for thirty thousand years.
Already, the feel of the book is a multi-characters, literary bio horror, possibly inspired by Carpenter 's 'The Thing '.
Team of scientists - check
Icy tundra - check
Mystery parasite or cryogenic frozen life - check
And oh crap, this team looks to be in trouble.
There’s other characters that appear as the group finds themselves trying to escape horrific mutations at the station, desperate to survive or to just kill the virus.
For Dante, a raggedly dressed prisoner with a black painted cross on his forehead, the mission is clear. Make sure the virus doesn’t get out - at all costs.
Surprisingly, as he starts out a hostage at the research centre, he demonstrates acts of heroism that he’d probably deny, but despite that, and the violence he’s committed, he’s a really likeable character, along with Monty the Aussie soldier and Anju the doctor.
The narrative follows two main groups in their attempts to escape, with a literal time bomb ticking, and relationships forming between the groups.
The book excels in its body horror.
Though it is likened to ‘The Thing’ by myself and in other reviews, Parent’s visual imagination with his creations is gruesome and very disturbing, yet also, at times, very funny. Well, funny if you’re a sadistic nerd like me.
Though the premise is simple are it’s core, the action is really well handled, the gun play is realistic and the characters show their flaws as well as their positive natures.
It’s gross, funny, full of action and genuine tension.
More than anything, it is also scary because we currently find ourselves amid a pandemic, and the author’s vision sounds far too probable.

The Apocalypse Strain read like a mix of sci-fi and horror. I really enjoyed this novel; even if it’s not the type of book I normally read.

I caught myself reading quickly because of the fast pace of the novel. The first half was a bit slow to start, but the second half blew me away. It read like a movie for the last half of the novel with the action beginning to build. The diverse cast of characters in this novel includes paramilitary officials, and scientists trying to prevent Molli from escaping the facility.

The whole time I kept feeling like I was trapped with no means of escaping this virus. Several times I kept thinking that the characters were not going to make it out alive. I remember my heart was racing towards the end of the novel; all the secrets were slowly being unwound thread by thread.

I really enjoyed this book, but I know it’s not for everyone. It was a very graphic read; some parts made me nauseous with how much detail was given into how Molli consumed people and spread consuming everything and everyone in sight. I would recommend this book to sci-fi/horror readers who enjoy virus novels.

A research team studying in a remote research centre. The leading expert suffers from MS so invested in the work they’re doing. They are researching a pandorvirus called ‘Molli’. It could be Life changing. However in the wrong hands it could be deadly, and they need to make sure it never gets into the wrong hands.
It has an interesting storyline, creatively written but I had a hard time relating to the characters. However it was fast paced and full of action which made up for it. I got a real nostalgic sci fi/horror vibe from the writing. And enjoyable and easy read.

This is going to be hard to review without spoilers but here we go.
I should mention off the top that this is definitely not a pandemic story. It is more the story of a virus that is more than a virus.

A team of scientists and astronauts are training in Siberia for a planned mission to Mars. A scientist who is grieving the loss of his daughter drills into the permafrost and is "led" to a scientist's version of a goldmine in an ancient squirrel's nest. One of the specific finds in the nest is an unknown virus that is nicknamed, "Molli" who has a mind of it's own and wants "out". I didn't release any pertinent spoilers. So far, so good.

The pace was set very quickly and the story was very plausible up to a point. When I am reading a fictional story, I appreciate when an author is able to blend reality into fantasy smoothly. Parent obviously did his homework on the scientific portions of the story and the added fictional parts fit in nicely.

I wasn't keen on most of the characters but then that was not the purpose of the story being told. I came to understand what made some of them tick but it kept the focus on the storyline. One thing I did appreciate was the fact that there was no love story added. I don't mind romance in a horror novel but it is refreshing when the author keeps to the story itself with no substories.

I am a fan of Jason Parent simply for the fact that his ideas are always original and though he writes horror, he varies in the stories he shares with readers. I really like his style of writing. If an author is able to create a world or set a scene that I can imagine in my head then I am hooked.

This horror/sci-fi mashup was fun as all get out!

At an isolated lab facility in Siberia a group of scientists are studying a material they nicknamed "Molli." Of course, everything is not as it seems on the surface, and not everyone at this lab is here to study. As with any new discovery, many creative uses for this new substance can be found, but what if it falls into the wrong hands? Is that what happened here? You'll have to read this to find out!

This isn't about a pandemic, just to be clear. Mr. Parent did not jump on that bandwagon. I chose to read this book as an homage to John Carpenter's The Thing, as well as, maybe, Alien. In that regard, as an homage, you really couldn't get much better than this. THE APOCALYPSE STRAIN evokes all the emotions and feels that those two films did, plus some.

With a diverse cast of characters, there's a certain point where everything takes off, however, the start is a little slow to get going. The second half of this revealed itself to my brain as a film.

There were a few things that didn't quite make sense, (the protestors outside a remote Siberian lab? What?), but I let them roll off because, hey-this is supposed to be fun! I'm sure some will say this is derivative of the films I've mentioned and other things too, and maybe it is. For me, reading it as an homage, it worked!

I had a lot of fun reading this, especially in the second half where everything really takes off.

Recommended, especially to fans of The Thing and/or Alien!

*Thank you to Flame Tree Press and to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*
12 likes

The Apocalypse Strain by Jason Parent is a story about a virus that is ancient and brought out of a dormant state after being discovered in the Artic. I found the story to be really unoriginal. It was so predictable that I finally just skipped to the ending to see if I had surmised the plot. Yep. I'd figured it out totally. For the younger set who hasn't seen, "The Thing"... then, the story may have some appeal.

The apocalypse strain is a fast, fun read, full of twists and turns which some I did not expect to happen at all. As the book goes along, you get to see the POVs of multiple characters and that was super fun.⁠❤
It was a fair amount of blood and guts, but nothing horror like and I really enjoyed the concept of this book. The execution was not as smooth always, but I really enjoyed it and gave it 3.5 stars.⁠

Rating: 7.5/10

Who doesn’t want to read a book about a potentially apocalyptic virus-type organism in the middle of a pandemic? Amirite? Not to mention the entire story takes place in a research facility while we are all stuck inside under lockdown. Count me in! Anything to get the blood going, these days.

Seriously, though, I enjoyed reading this book immensely. It was cover-to-cover action (literally first page to last) as the characters either fought the strain or tried to figure out ways to evade it while attempting to escape the facility. In many ways, this story is classic sci-fi/horror, with many scenes of building tension until the shit finally hits the fan and the characters are suddenly left with a choice: fight or flight (though, honestly, even in flight most of the characters still have to fight… so what choice is there really?).

The setting of a research facility was perfect for this story, as well. Everyone was in close proximity to each other, and there are plenty of ways for the strain to get through the building. It really sets a creepy scene that made for great jump-scare opportunities. And even at the end, that tone was still present.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the awesome cover. The cover art is really eye-catching, and it sets the mood for the entire story.

I definitely recommend this book for fans of sci-fi and horror.

From reading the synopsis Apocalypse Strain seemed to be the usual virus outbreak, race against time thriller type book so imagine my surprise when the virus starts to mutate people into some sort of alien creature! If I had known this in advance I probably wouldn't have requested to read the book as it's just not my thing that I enjoy in a book.
A multi-national team of scientists are all working with recently discovered ancient pandoraviruses. An incident happens where a lab worker gets infected with the virus and things very quickly escalate. The virus and anyone infected with it clearly cannot be allowed out of the facility. All it takes is one touch of the virus to become infected yourself and this thing can spread, mutate it's shape and form, and scarily, it can think, comprehend and learn! The plot felt very reminiscent of 80's / early 90's horror books and films such as Alien and The Thing, which is great if that's your jam. Unfortunately it isn't mine and I couldn't really get into the story. It didn't help that none of the characters were likeable or relatable. I did like the body horror though as I'm a bit messed up ha ha....
I didn't particularly enjoy the book but then neither did I particularly hate it so it just naturally fell into the average 3 star read group.

This book is a fast paced sci-fi horror about a "virus" wreaking havoc on a research facility. It's very action packed and very thrilling. At times it felt like I was reading a comic book or watching an anime. I can't really explain why, just the style of writing especially in the beginning of the book. I actually think this book would be a great horror anime, but that's another story. I've always been a sucker for a good "outbreak" story, so this was right up my alley. I really appreciated the attention to detail when describing the horrors that were unfolding. Also loved the open ending.

The Apocalypse Strain is a science fiction/horror mashup that tells a story of unimaginable terror when a recently uncovered ancient virus named Molli gets loose in a research facility in an isolated part of Siberia. This virus is scary on multiple fronts - not much is known about it due to its recent discovery, but once its set loose, the virus begins to make itself known in unexpected, gruesome ways that just evolves as the virus takes in the world around it and becomes more intelligent. Scientists and security guards on the team residing in the research facility team up, each bringing their own unique approaches to how to battle the virus. Will it be enough to prevent the virus from being set loose in the world?

The science fiction/horror elements of it reminded me of The Thing. The author did a good job of capturing the horror and action elements that come with this sort of story telling. The science fiction aspects of it weren't too over the top. The character development was predominantly in the virus itself rather than the research institute staff which just added to the suspense. While this may not seem like a good genre to read in the world we're currently living in, I would not pass this one up.

Right from the start I knew I was going to love this book and be taken on a wild ride. Paying homage to classic eighties horror films, which as a young girl I devoured. As I’ve got older horror isn’t quite as scary yet I loved the nostalgia that crept in as I read.

With a diverse cast of characters. The real standout for me was Dr Clara St.Pierre a microbiologist, wheelchair bound by MS of which she is hoping to cure. Now let me tell you that as a person with a progressive, systemic auto immune disease of which there is no cure I have never come across a book that hits the nail on the head about conditions like this did. I almost felt like I was reading about myself at times. “Clara could never rid herself of her sarcasm. That was ingrained, a security blanket that had cloaked her since her disease had set in.” Also a big thank you to the author for bringing awareness, having a disabled lead character and also making her sharply intelligent. Our bodies may not work properly but our minds still do.

The other standout character was the virus itself “Molli”. Deviously clever and dangerous. I’m purposely avoiding the plot so as not to spoil but if you like classic sci-fi horror then this is an action packed blast that really hits home that some things are buried in ice for very good reason. It’s like the classic horror moment when you are shouting don’t go down there but instead of the dumb teenager going in the dark basement these are intelligent scientists in the frozen tundra of Siberia.

With elements of sci-fi and horror, the premise really did appeal to me. Thrown in for good measure there’s a shady organisation with religious undertones. On paper it would have been a gripping read - right up my street. However I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. There were multiple points of view, but I only wanted to learn more about Clara and the mysterious Dante. There’s lots of gore and suspense in here - it just wasn’t for me sadly.

With the way the world is today I was a bit hesitant to read this. I already feel as though I am living a nightmare from one of the books I have read but still I proceeded and got just as much enjoyment out of it as I usually do with stories like this which are one of my all time faves! I think this was a tiny bit of every horror book or movie I have ever watched and geniously sewn together into one entity.

It's a story of madness and science and how folks cope with it. Dr. Clara St. Pierre who suffers from MS is invited to work with "Molli" the name given to the virus and she hopes it will somehow cure her but Molli actually has a mind of its own and has an agenda for itself.

While it didn't really have me sitting on the edge of my seat it was still a thrilling read and I enjoyed it!