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A review by paulabrandon
Cold Storage by David Koepp
2.0
Roberto Diaz is part of an expedition to neutralise a deadly fungus threat in the outback of Australia. It is buried in cold storage in a little-used military base.
Thirty years later, the military base has been privately sold and is now a normal storage facility. Global warming has helped thaw out the fungus, and it is eager to spread. It likes to take over a host body, and when the host body explodes, spread its fungus even further. Two storage guards - Teacake, and ex-con, and Naomi, a single mother, hear a beeping noise and go to investigate, little realising what they are in store for.
Meanwhile, Roberto Diaz is contacted about the unfolding threat, and heads to the site to try and stop the apocalypse from happening.
Wow, this one was disappointing.
After a decent start, this settles into a pretty dull, unremarkable virus thriller with a smattering of zombie-movie style scenarios. But surprisingly little happens in this 308 page book. There is far, far too much time dedicated to a forced, unconvincing romantic subplot between Teacake and Naomi. Far too much time is spent with them making their way down to sub-level 4 to find the fungus. We already know what's down there. It's boring waiting for our characters to catch up!
And for a book about a fungus that could wipe out humanity, I could barely feel the stakes. This feels too much like a mass-appeal movie screenplay, littered with wisecracks from characters straight out of central casting. Indeed, the film version is currently in production, starring Liam Neeson as Roberto Diaz. (Yes, that's right, cast a white Irish man as a Mexican character.) I never felt the suspense or danger because everyone was too busy being a wise-ass.
Some descriptive chapters feel like they go on forever. For example, when Roberto receives the phone call about the emerging situation, we get about FOUR PAGES of description of ROBERTO FINDING THE PHONE. This is a book about mutating fungus about to end the world! Why are we wasting time on shit like this?
There are some suitably gory moments. The story just manages to maintain interest. But I expected a lot more action, suspense, thrills and dread from this concept, and got precious little of it.
Thirty years later, the military base has been privately sold and is now a normal storage facility. Global warming has helped thaw out the fungus, and it is eager to spread. It likes to take over a host body, and when the host body explodes, spread its fungus even further. Two storage guards - Teacake, and ex-con, and Naomi, a single mother, hear a beeping noise and go to investigate, little realising what they are in store for.
Meanwhile, Roberto Diaz is contacted about the unfolding threat, and heads to the site to try and stop the apocalypse from happening.
Wow, this one was disappointing.
After a decent start, this settles into a pretty dull, unremarkable virus thriller with a smattering of zombie-movie style scenarios. But surprisingly little happens in this 308 page book. There is far, far too much time dedicated to a forced, unconvincing romantic subplot between Teacake and Naomi. Far too much time is spent with them making their way down to sub-level 4 to find the fungus. We already know what's down there. It's boring waiting for our characters to catch up!
And for a book about a fungus that could wipe out humanity, I could barely feel the stakes. This feels too much like a mass-appeal movie screenplay, littered with wisecracks from characters straight out of central casting. Indeed, the film version is currently in production, starring Liam Neeson as Roberto Diaz. (Yes, that's right, cast a white Irish man as a Mexican character.) I never felt the suspense or danger because everyone was too busy being a wise-ass.
Some descriptive chapters feel like they go on forever. For example, when Roberto receives the phone call about the emerging situation, we get about FOUR PAGES of description of ROBERTO FINDING THE PHONE. This is a book about mutating fungus about to end the world! Why are we wasting time on shit like this?
There are some suitably gory moments. The story just manages to maintain interest. But I expected a lot more action, suspense, thrills and dread from this concept, and got precious little of it.