“On every level, Cold Storage is pure, unadulterated entertainment.” —Douglas Preston, The New York Times Book Review
For fans of The Martian, Dark Matter, and Before the Fall comes an astonishing debut thriller by the screenwriter of Jurassic Park: a wild and terrifying bioterrorism adventure about three strangers who must work together to contain a highly contagious, deadly organism that could … strangers who must work together to contain a highly contagious, deadly organism that could destroy all of humanity.
They thought it was contained. They were wrong.
When Pentagon bioterror operative Roberto Diaz was sent to investigate a suspected biochemical attack, he found something far worse: a highly mutative organism capable of extinction-level destruction. He contained it and buried it in cold storage deep beneath a little-used military repository.
Now, after decades of festering in a forgotten sub-basement, the specimen has found its way out and is on a lethal feeding frenzy. Only Diaz knows how to stop it.
He races across the country to help two unwitting security guards—one an ex-con, the other a single mother. Over one harrowing night, the unlikely trio must figure out how to quarantine this horror again. All they have is luck, fearlessness, and a mordant sense of humor. Will that be enough to save all of humanity?
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This book contained all the elements I enjoy best: sci-fi, horror, romance, and comedy. It was a blast from beginning to end, and I loved it :). If you are looking for a cute and fun sci-fi/horror comedy with lovable and diverse characters who seem like real people, then this is the book for you. It was a very quick read, and I laughed so much. I hope Koepp continues to write novels, because I will gladly read them.
(PS – There is a lot of cursing in this book, just FYI for those who consider it a deal-breaker :).)
It’s not often you come across an edge-of-your-seat, scary, end-of-the-world read that is so funny you actually laugh out loud. This is my NEW favorite author!
Wow.. I am impressed! First of all, I didn’t know that David Koepp had written the screenplay for Jurassic Park (how would I have known that bit of information?). It was just the thing to tell me, however, to get me interested in buying this novel and reading it on my Kindle. Turns out it is a wonderful story, scary and hilarious, too, in its way. A fungus that that is able to strategize and plan ahead, and has an appetite that will end the world, is discovered in Australia. It is eventually put deep underground in cold storage by the USA government. After a number of years – yep, you guessed it — the fungus starts to eat its way out. The characters are very well drawn and are believable and real people …. Koepp knows how to write people and these are individualized and delightful. Even though the subject matter is terrifying, I was grinning a lot as I turned the pages. Some of it was gruesome and some frightening, and some was really, really funny. Best of all, the ending is satisfying, terrific and complete with no loose ends. I’m now ready to read anything Koepp is ready to write; he reminds me a bit of one of my favorite authors, Stephen King. And – that’s a very good thing!
ARC received for an honest review
This is David Koepp’s debut novel, however you can see the screenwriter in him shine through in his story.
Cold Storage is an entertaining, if at times farcical sci-fi/horror story about a killer fungus that could take over the world.
Now, I am not sure if this book was supposed to be funny or serious, however I found it had many laugh out loud moments. I know it is fiction and supposed to stretch our belief, but gees, come on sometimes it was just u eye-roll worthy.
I found that the story flowed well, but it did lack character development. They were all a little 2 dimensional for me. I felt that they would probably come across better on the screen than the page (not surprising though with the author’s background).
The highlight of the story for me was a character called “Teacake”. I don’t want to spoil anything, however is quite delightful.
So, whilst this isn’t the heaviest of reads, I did find myself picking it up each lunch time to dive a little more into this fantastical adventure. It’s not the greatest book out there, however it was enjoyable enough for me to keep reading.
Fungi are the interface organisms between life and death. – Paul Stamets
This was a fun, gruesome horror tale. An unknown fungus somehow comes to life in a Skylab artifact being displayed in remote Western Australia.
When people start dying, a microbiologist and two government agents are sent in to stop the spread of the deadly fungus.
It ends up being packed tightly away and transported to a deserted government facility in the U.S. Everything was fine until 2019.
The facility is now being used as a self-storage facility and it’s time for the STHF.
I loved the characters. I loved the story. There was humor thrown in once in awhile to go along with the stomach roiling horror. I highly recommend.
I received this book from Ecco Books through Net Galley and Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
A blend of Robin Cook and Stephen King. (I could have gone with less Stephen King.) Suspenseful. Definitely horror genre. David Koepp is the screenwriter of numerous films – “Jurassic Park”, “Mission: Impossible,” “Spider-Man,” etc. This is his first novel and it shows with the lack of character development. But the characters are likeable – most of them. The dialogue is great, loads of action, and there are actually quite a few comical moments mixed in there.