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Product Description
A virus engineered for genocide has been released in Colorado Springs, leading to mass, and seemingly unexplained violence. Some of the survivors of the infection begin to evolve into something that is both less than and more than human. The race is on to prevent world-wide release of the virus.Editorial Reviews
Review
"Hybrid is a slick, tight thriller which when you step back and think about it, is scarily possible. I couldn't put this book down... If you like Michael Crichton or Dean Koontz, this is the book for you!" --The Bibliophilic Book Blog
"From the first page, I was hooked and could NOT put it down until the ending forced me too.... Hybrid is AWESOME! Any fiction you read this year has to include this mind-blowing book from Brian O'Grady." --True Crime Book Reviews
"This book is absolutely fantastic.... You do not want to miss this book. Make room on your book shelf, your night stand, your coffee table or your Kindle... and get this book! It's worth every penny spent and every second of your time." --Outnumbered 3 to 1
"This book is both exciting and suspenseful. It is the type of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat and makes you want to keep reading from the beginning to the end." --Dad of Divas
"I thoroughly loved reading Hybrid by Dr. Brian O' Grady! This well written suspenseful thrilling novel will keep you on your toes waiting for what happens next. Move over Michael Chrichton there is another medical thriller novelist on the block!" --Gather
"Hybrid is a slick, tight thriller which when you step back and think about it, is scarily possible. I couldn't put this book down... If you like Michael Crichton or Dean Koontz, this is the book for you!" --The Bibliophilic Book Blog
"From the first page, I was hooked and could NOT put it down until the ending forced me too.... Hybrid is AWESOME! Any fiction you read this year has to include this mind-blowing book from Brian O'Grady." --True Crime Book Reviews
"This book is absolutely fantastic.... You do not want to miss this book. Make room on your book shelf, your night stand, your coffee table or your Kindle... and get this book! It's worth every penny spent and every second of your time." --Outnumbered 3 to 1
"This book is both exciting and suspenseful. It is the type of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat and makes you want to keep reading from the beginning to the end." --Dad of Divas
"I thoroughly loved reading Hybrid by Dr. Brian O' Grady! This well written suspenseful thrilling novel will keep you on your toes waiting for what happens next. Move over Michael Chrichton there is another medical thriller novelist on the block!" --Gather
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews48 of 50 people found the following review helpful.
Well Crafted Medical / Psychological Thriller By LeaF
Hybrid opens with an alarming e-mail exchange between the novel's protagonist Amanda Flynn and Dr. Nathan Martin, the Director of Special Pathogens, at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Amanda became personally acquainted with Dr. Martin and the CDC 7 years earlier as she was the sole survivor of an outbreak of a deadly virus named EDH1 in the jungles of Honduras. Amanda was a member of the American Red Cross serving in the country. She asserts that she was detained - essentially kept prisoner by the CDC in America for 3 months following the viral outbreak that wiped out the population of an entire village, including Amanda's team. During what becomes a rapid exchange of e-mails, readers learn that Amanda vanished following her release from the CDC and despite having the resources of the FBI at his disposal, Nathan Martin has been unable to find her to continue his research into EDH1. However, there is much more to Amanda's story.
What has prompted Amanda to let her guard down and contact the good doctor, despite her lack of trust in him and his motivations? Amanda is convinced that Pandora's Box has been opened and that EDH1 has been unleashed and is spreading amongst the populace of Colorado Springs. How does she know this? Incidence of a flu-like illness has been reported in the city coupled with an unusually high outbreak of random violence, events similar to those that occurred in Honduras. What Dr. Martin doesn't know is that as a result of her exposure to the virus Amanda has changed, the virus gave her biological enhancements that are fascinating as well as terrifying. I would describe Amanda Flynn as an antiheroine, while she has endured a lifetime of losses, she is also quite creepy.
Using the e-mails to set a solid foundation for a meticulously crafted medical/psychological thriller that at the very least caused chills to run up my spine, author Brian O'Grady then weaves a well developed main group of characters into a very complex narrative. The most vile of these characters is the novel's antagonist Klaus Reisch, a maniacal sociopath whose link to EDH1 and the powerful enhancements it has afforded him can only be described as terrifying. Reisch leaves a path of carnage in his wake and experiences no remorse, in fact he enjoys his 'exploits'.
Multiple characters are introduced in this story who all serve major and minor roles in advancing a plot that is rife with revelations and surprising twists and turns. However, the destinies of four key players intersect as a result of exposure to EDH1, a virus that is rooted in horrific terrorist plot.
Using graphically descriptive prose, Mr. O'Grady doesn't spare details regarding the ravages of disease other than the virus and its impact on families. Further there are many violent, bloody action packed scenes, and again the grisly details are not spared. Brian O'Grady is a neurosurgeon and he does use a fair amount of medical terminology which for the most part explained. It is quite evident this novel was extremely well researched particularly regarding the fictitious EDH1 and it's origins.
There is extensive up front character building in this novel and the author frequently steps back in the plot's timeline to show where, and more important what is happening to a specific character. I found the use of this method assisted my understanding of what was happening at any given time, and reminded me of who was who. The author also penned humor and a miracle or two into Hybrid which made me smile and feel relieved.
As the plot of Hybrid progresses, the highest level of government is involved and special police forces and the military are mobilized across the country. I became completely engrossed in Hybrid and kept turning the pages to find out how the terrorists would be contained and millions of people saved. As well, two Goliath's emerge whose powerful biological enhancements result in a battle that is waged on a field well above a normal human's understanding. I had to know how the evil guy would finally get his-I wasn't disappointed. I will say, the ending of Hybrid does offer potential for a sequel. If you enjoy a thought provoking, very intelligent medical/psychological thriller you may like to give Hybrid a try.
4.5/5 stars
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Fascinating By Dr. Rollo K. Newsom
This is an exceptional book. Usually stories of this kind require too much "suspension of belief" for me to enjoy but O'Grady's ability to create realistic characters sucked me right in. I could hardly stop reading even to eat. Most of the key characters, if coolly and objectively considered just could not exist. But before I was half way through the book I was "pulling" for some characters and damning others as if they were people I knew. Detailed settings and physical charateristics can enhance or corrode believeablity. In Hybrid the characters were always dressed for the time, place and nature of the action. I could easily picture the labs, clinics, offices and living places that where the settings. People were even driving cars appropriate for the time and place. All this could really happen. I am impressed and anxiously await O'Grady's next book.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
CDC Put to the Ultimate Test By Deborah J. Sloan
How many times have we thought about having special powers-mind control, telekinesis, telepathy. For Red Cross worker Amanda Flynn the one survivor of a deadly virus outbreak EDH1 in Honduras who escaped from quarantine seven years ago, battling the demons of evil thoughts using her new found powers has kept her on the run in hiding finding a balance in life has been her goal. That is until a re-surfacing of a similar virus breaks out in Colorado Springs, Colorado and the hunt is one once again for Amanda Flynn when authorities in the CDC think she is the cause.
But there is another. One who thrives on evil and killing, who's one goal is to destroy human kind. Hunting him down and stopping the evil outbreak that may kill hundreds of thousands will require cooperation that Amanda is not sure if she want's to risk. But how many others may become just like her if this virus is let loose on the populations by a mysterious terrorist cell. How many will become like the other- relishing in the death of strangers? She may just be the only chance for humanity's survival.
"Dr. Brian O'Grady, a neurosurgeon, explores these intriguing questions in his pulse-pounding medical debut thriller HYBRID (The Fiction Studio; April 7, 2011). "We have limitless connections between the nerve cells in our brains, yet we only use about 10 percent. Imagine if we could unlock our vast potential?" he asks."
It is believed that a few select people in our society today possess one or another of these gifts of the mind. Imagine thousands having all three. Would you want your private thoughts, feelings, and experiences known by another? Could a virus's accidental release cause mass homicides and suicides? We are aware of how chemical changes in the brain can affect behavior, so if a virus is targeted to the brain, I would think it could. As a practicing neurosurgeon, perhaps Dr. Brian O' Grady believes so as well, and it shows in this fabulous medical thriller!
I thoroughly loved reading Hybrid by Dr. Brian O' Grady! This well written suspenseful thrilling novel will keep you on your toes waiting for what happens next. Move over Michael Chrichton there is another medical thriller novelist on the block! I myself, can't wait for another great one from Dr. Brian O'Grady and wish him the best of success! I highly recommend picking up a copy of Hybrid as soon as possible if you love a great read like this one! Available in Paperback and Kindle versions.
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