Acknowledgements and grateful thanks to NetGalley and Alex Lettau for the opportunity to read and review this e-ARC: 'Night Plague by Alex Lettau'. All opinions are my own and are not a reflection of the publishers and/or author, of which I have no association with.

Five out of five stars (3/5 stars).


<B><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204001866-night-plague">Night Plague</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14193856.Alex_Lettau">Alex Lettau</a> is a medical thriller about a little town with what seems to be anger issues but hosts a deadly secret.</b>
<I>THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.</I>

<B>TRIGGER WARNINGS:</b> <I>Animal harm, violence, and death.</I>

<B>Pre-Read:

<I>//I read one of Alex's books earlier this year and I really enjoyed myself, so I am looking forward to approaching this ARC. Kris reminds me of Bones.//</I>

Review:</b>

<I>"A virus that causes permanent insomnia triggers an ongoing outbreak of violence in a Southern town. Kris Jensen races to solve the epidemic before it spreads nationwide.. "</I> — the GoodReads website for Night Plague.

— I adore outbreak stories and movies, and I enjoyed my first adventure with Kris.
I now understand why there aren't a lot of outbreak movies and books <I>without</I> zombies. No disrespect to Alex and his writings/profession but it can feel tedious reading them without a lot of action and / death and that can often be disrespectful to actual patients, survivors and or the people lost to similar ailments. Of course, an insomnia virus isn't exactly deadly and we spent the first half of the book interviewing other characters. Thankfully Alex has a great amount of knowledge of medical issues and then has the charisma to explain it to us in a way that is easy to read and understand.

I often find that authors that are in the medical profession often focus too much on labels and using the medical lingo and narrative which can often be confusing and/or long winded for most readers. Of course, I often lose myself in the language and terminology—I actually prefer it over people simplifying technology so others can understand. I like having to go and research terminology, new words and meanings, and Google really is your friend these days. You can even paste a bit of text into A.I. programs now and ask them to explain or deep dive and you can find out so much. Technology is so freaking amazing and I'm always in awe of it so why would I disrespect it by simplifying what makes it the most interesting thing to me.

That being said, Lettau managed to keep things interesting with his character conflicts, information gathering and even the back and forth of the interactions between Kris and the people she was interviewing was kept interesting and fresh.

You're probably noticing the three stars, hear me out. I should have paced the books further apart because I was still on a high from the first book I read which really blew my mind and left me wanting for more. I think I let that need win and I should have waited.

But. I would have missed out and that wasn't going to happen. Do you know how long, I personally, would have had to wait? I can't afford to buy anymore books, not right now.

So even though I am disappointed, I am not disappointed because it was a brilliant story with a tear jerking end (and a few moments in-between that we will NOT be talking about). Honestly, it takes a lot to be able to make me cry, even a few tears, unless you're a sad book / movie about dogs or a nappy advert, you're out of luck— most of the time.

<B>ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</B> Alex Lettau is the penname for Ludwig Alexander Lettau M.D., an infectious disease specialist who currently lives and works in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States of America. He writes novels in the thriller and horror genres and has a talent for writing intense character dialogue and medical scenes that engage and titillate his readers.

I sure was titillated. However, his first Kris Jenson novel is definitely my favourite. After talking to him, myself, I asked him why he'd decided to write the third book instead of the second and he showed great passion for his newest project with is always one of my most favourite things about authors — their passion for their writing, for their stories.

Despite the three stars, I would recommend this story of an insomnia virus if you like outbreak stories and novels filled with laughter, tears and mean action scenes.

Dark, I enjoyed the prose. Characters were somewhat hit or miss for me, but the plot was extremely interesting and Im excited to see where this takes you in July!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced reader copy! All thoughts are my own:

Night Plague follows infectious disease doctor Kris as she tries to investigate an insomnia outbreak that is causing widespread violence in a small town in the south.

The prose of this book actually made this a pretty accessible book, despite all the medical talk. Rather than feeling locked out, I was drawn in and interested in the medical talk throughout most of this book. I’m no medical expert, so don’t expect me to have researched how accurate any of it is, but the author is an infectious disease specialist, so I’m definitely gonna trust it.

I think towards the middle of the book, the story got a bit dull as it was mostly just interviews and theories, but I also understand that to be a necessary component in this particular story. I just think it was drawn out a bit long.

The resistance Kris faces throughout her investigation is unfortunately too close to reality in many ways. Very well written and interesting story. Would definitely recommend.

This is my first book by this author. and was intrigued by the book's plot about an unknown virus. I work in healthcare and I enjoyed all of the medical details although they may be a little too technical for a lay person. Overall it was a good read with some suspense and plot twists that kept me guessing.

This is my first book by this author. and was intrigued by the book's plot about an unknown virus. I work in healthcare and I enjoyed all of the medical details although they may be a little too technical for a lay person. Overall it was a good read with some suspense and plot twists that kept me guessing.

This is my first book by this author. and was intrigued by the book's plot about an unknown virus. I work in healthcare and I enjoyed all of the medical details although they may be a little too technical for a lay person. Overall it was a good read with some suspense and plot twists that kept me guessing.

Wasn’t able to read this one digitally but I did order a copy of the book so will be reviewing it after I’ve read it. I’m really excited for it as I’ve only heard great things about it.

I love a good zombie story this looks like this might be similar I’m having surgery today just the right opportunity to read something light
The story follows an infectious disease doctor who arrives in a small American town to investigate an outbreak of insomnia associated with violence and antisocial behaviour.i was not aware of this series of books but I think this doctor is the recurring character .altgoygh part of a series this book works as a stand alone novel
The author has a clear easily read prose style the book was a relaxing read despite its subject matter
There are times towards the middle of the book when it felt rather dull like reading an epidemiology lecture
Thos is probably because I am a doctor and this reminds me of uni lectures
I read an early copy on NetGalley uk in return for an unbiased review
The book is published in the uk on 1st July 2025 by Apex Lettau
Thos review will appear on NetGalley uk ,StoryGraph .and my book blog Bionicsarahsbooks.wordpress.uk

Thank you NetGalley and Alex Lettau for the ARC!

I love vampires, and I really enjoyed the fresh take on vampires here. That said, I found the medical procedures and terminology to be a bit much and distracting.

This was a fantastic thriller. Twists, suspense, tension. The mystery was riveting. I . Right away, I was hooked with how odd this situation was, and things only increased, which had me on the edge of my seat.

This book was difficult to get into, let alone finish. I commend the author for writing this novel, it takes a great deal of effort and time and I know sometimes it is not appreciated the dedication that goes into putting your thoughts and feelings into words for a story. I felt this story contained a lot of exposition on medical terms and diseases that were not really necessary. Detailing the procedural processes the characters were going through was also too long. Although I enjoyed the writing when the the author is describing scenery or actions the characters are doing, I did not enjoy the dialogue of the characters. It seems forced and not really what people would say if they were sitting next to each other talking it out. While I appreciate placing a good message in the body of one's work, I think such issues such as gun violence or perceived non-disease states (such as fibromyalgia) could have been handled better. I saw an obvious message in the majority of what I was reading. I felt the author was using the characters to overstate their own opinions (which is fine, just could have been shortened or phrased differently). Additionally, the pacing is very slow. I had a hard time dealing with how slow it was and not much happening from chapter to chapter. At first I was actually skipping chapters and could find I easily kept up with the story. I only went back and reread the book to make this review.

Loved the idea of the book . Good story, a bit too much dialog for me I feel like a higher ratio of story telling to dialog would be better

There were lots of twists and turns throughout and well developed character. Would recommend this thriller..
Thank you the author and NetGalley for the arc of this book

When Kris is contacted by her friend, Dan, she is intrigued to hear of the number of people suffering from sleep disorders and their impact on a small country town. She offers her help, as an infectious diseases expert, in getting to the bottom of this 'plague'.
In view of the recent Covid pandemic, I found this book mesmerising as Kris searches for patient zero and how this 'plague' is transmitted. A clever but entertaining read.

Night Plague has an intriguing premise, blending medical thriller elements with vampiric horror, but it doesn’t fully deliver on its potential. The concept that vampirism as a blood-borne disease feels fresh and offers an interesting scientific spin on classic horror mythology. However, the execution is a bit uneven.

The medical details are well-researched and add realism, but at times, the heavy exposition slows down the pacing. The characters are serviceable, but they lack the depth needed to make their struggles feel truly compelling. There are moments of tension and action that work well, yet the book doesn’t maintain a consistent level of suspense.

Overall, it’s an interesting read with some strong ideas, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the best medical or vampire thrillers. A decent book for fans of the genre, but not a must-read.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

I don't like heavy religious content in books. I wouldn't read a book about Christians, so I felt a bit duped by so much praying in what is pitched as a virus novel. Frankly I think religion should be a private matter so if an epidemiologist started praying in front of me, I would probably feel just as angry as I did about the turn this book took.

Night Plague centres on an epidemiologist, Kris, who used to work for the CDC and is invited to a town called Stevens Crossing to help unpack what is causing an avalanche of violence. It is heavy in medical jargon: "Most often a respiratory or GI illness with a high crud titer" or "He corroborated that the cirlicue rash is circumdemic that the author makes no attempt to explain. The descriptive writing leaves a lot to be desired: "Dr Emmit Hardy was a large African American man, 6 feet 6 inches tall." While it gets going in the middle, it peters to an end in a church service as a way of wrapping up the impact of the epidemic with each character in turn approaching Kris to explain how their story ended (crude). She hands them a business card (awful). I would only recommend it to confirmed virus novel fans. I think the heavy religious content should be mentioned in the description.

3.5 stars

This was a fascinating read. It felt a little long in some parts but it did keep my attention the whole time. I didn’t realize when I started reading that it was part of a series. It read fine as a stand alone but I’ll definitely be looking into the previous book/s

I absolutely loved this book, I'll definitely be looking into more books by Alex Lettau. It's not my typical genre so made for a great change

I really enjoyed reading this book. The plot was interesting and well written. The insights into sleep, mood and behaviour were an eye opener and encouraged me to do further research. The characters were well formed and easy to relate to.
I will definitely be reading more by this author.