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Zoo

by James Patterson (Goodreads Author), Michael Ledwidge

3.24 of 5 stars 3.24 · rating details · 5,538 ratings · 1,257 reviews

Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson's best book ever.

Total

For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.

World

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watc...more

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published September 3rd 2012 by Little, Brown and Company (first published January 1st 2012)

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Oct 05, 2012 Mia Darien rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've never read Patterson before. I thought this premise sounded interesting, and hoped that maybe this book would fill the niche left by my running out of Crichton books I feel like reading/re-reading.

It was all right. It was... remarkably simple in its writing, I thought. I would have expected slightly more elevated prose from a writer of Patterson's experience. It could be said that the First Person sections were written to match the narrative voice, but... even the parts that weren't from Oz...more I've never read Patterson before. I thought this premise sounded interesting, and hoped that maybe this book would fill the niche left by my running out of Crichton books I feel like reading/re-reading.

It was all right. It was... remarkably simple in its writing, I thought. I would have expected slightly more elevated prose from a writer of Patterson's experience. It could be said that the First Person sections were written to match the narrative voice, but... even the parts that weren't from Oz's Point of View were simple, and Oz was allegedly a "promising" scientist. Thus, not simplistic.

I found Oz remarkably stupid. He knows that there is something making animals go crazy, but he's living with a chimp and thinks nothing of having people take care of him when he's gone. Chimp attacks are terrifying. And they are big and strong. He never even thinks, has the slightest hesitation, about this in light of what he's rattling on about knowing with the HAC stuff.

Being dropped into the middle of the story's HAC time line kind of throws one off, too. Loses some urgency, because you don't get the initial build-up and then when the time jump happens in the middle of the book, any new urgency built falls down. Maybe if the story had been built in three parts, it would have work, but the pacing just felt odd. I realize maybe it was more realistic, but could've been done better.

The "big discovery" in Oz's apartment just prior to the time jump feels entirely gratuitous, since it's never mentioned again. Either that or Oz is a cold bastard.

There seemed to be very little that Chloe did, and I expected more based on the promise of the book jacket.

The scenes cutting to people around the planet later in the book felt unnecessary. None of them progressed elements of the plot. They just showed us more animals going crazy in more places, and once we know that, we don't need to see more of it.

Chapters 85-87 were kind of hard to read, but not because of good writing as much as just happening to hit some "nightmare scenario" things I got going on.

The ending was a bit of a surprise, but in a good way. The book was an easy read and at least moved well, so I can't say I didn't like it -- even if it was kind of depressing -- but I think I'll be selling it to the used book store on my next trip. Don't think I'll be reading any more Patterson either, though his appearances on Castle continue to amuse me.(less)

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Sep 24, 2012 Laura Anthony rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have decided to be slightly more harsh with my ratings of supermarket thriller/horror novels (this genre needs it's own rating category) so I give this only two stars not because I didn't enjoy it but because it's just not that great of a book when compared to all the novels out there. So-so writing and stupid science abound as the animals of the world go haywire and start attacking humans. The first to notice is Jack Oz, who is ridiculed by the serious scientific community until the attacks b...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Brittany rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: anthrozoology, sciencefiction

I picked this book up, not because I had even the smallest expectation of enjoying it, but because I kept seeing copies of it at the airport when I was on my way to the annual Association of Zoos and Aquariums conference, and I was curious. I was shy a book to read on the plane, and the first 24 or so chapters were free on my Kindle. (This isn't quite as impressive as it sounds, given that the chapters run about 1,000 words each.)

Plus, I reasoned, even if it was awful, it'd be interesting to se...more I picked this book up, not because I had even the smallest expectation of enjoying it, but because I kept seeing copies of it at the airport when I was on my way to the annual Association of Zoos and Aquariums conference, and I was curious. I was shy a book to read on the plane, and the first 24 or so chapters were free on my Kindle. (This isn't quite as impressive as it sounds, given that the chapters run about 1,000 words each.)

Plus, I reasoned, even if it was awful, it'd be interesting to see how Patterson deals with anthrozoological issues. I figured it'd be interesting on at least a anthropological or sociological level. I looked forward to analyzing its fears and arguing with it. (Notice all the excuses I'm offering. That's because I deeply regret the poor decisions I made in reading this book.)

Instead of an academic interest, though, as soon as I began reading a sickening sense of horror crept over. This book is worse than The Da Vinci Code. This book is worse than Twilight. This is, in fact, the worse book I've ever read.

I'm not sure which is the worst facet of this festering heap of detestableness, but I could break it down into a few headings of horrible:

1. The writing style. It's just awful. The chapters average about three or four pages. The sentences are all short and choppy and written in such an action-adventure that it comes off as a parody of itself. In fact, Dave Barry writing a parody of a Dan Brown novel has better prose than this. He actually used the phrase "rosy-fingered dawn," which I thought was illegal. He also threw in all sorts of things meant to be cute such as, when a grizzly is attacking his SUV in DC, "I assumed he wasn't from AAA." Ha ha. Very clever. At this point, I was rooting for the bear.

2. The stupidity of all the characters, without exception. The gist of the story is that the protagonist Jackson Oz is a "scientist" (more on this later) who believes that animals are going nuts and attacking humans. And yet he thinks nothing of keeping a chimpanzee in his apartment. Chimps are dangerous even if you're not confidently expecting the animal world to run wild.

3. The sexism. The first (and actually only) sex scene in the whole book is so flagrantly written to play up Oz's rampant masculinity and dominance that it was unintentionally hilarious. Later, when Oz meets his obligatory Sexy Science Babe, every single time she's mentioned he reminds us how gorgeous she is, how very pretty and delicate and small, how totally unlike every other scientist woman he's ever met. Blargh. Not only that, but her whole role is to admire, cheer-lead, support, fall in love, and need comforting and defending.

4. The "science." Patterson read, at maximum, two Wikipedia pages as research, and that was it. I would be surprised if he even got all the way through both of them. He may be able to spell hydrocarbon and grasp some extremely basic (third-grade-level) concepts of pollution, but clearly not chemical dissipation, bio-accumulation, or any other chemical, biological, or ecological process. He's just throwing around the words to sound important. And don't get me started on the acronyms. Also, no, Oz is not a "scientist." He got an undergrad in science. That's not the same thing. He's a hack.

5. The fact that, at a critical point in the plot, Patterson skips five years for no apparent reason except that he apparently got bored.

6. The totally unnecessary violence and sickening detail on animal deaths. I'm not even going to go into this. Seldom has a book given me the actual physical urge to regurgitate.

7. The ending. Or lack thereof. In a better, braver, deeper book, Patterson's choice for an ending might be brave or bittersweet or thought-provoking. Here it's an admission of defeat. If you're going to come up with some big thorny problem, you owe it to Science Fiction to at least try to come up with a solution or at least a message. "I dunno, we're screwed" doesn't cut it. (view spoiler)

This is a book that had to be downed quickly, much like a very unpleasant shot of hard liquor you're drinking for some unimaginable reason. I saw someone had it shelved as "burn so as not to inflict upon other library patrons." I thought she was exaggerating, but now I whole-heatedly back that decision up. This book has absolutely no redeeming qualities.

Deep down (Very deep down. Thousands of miles.) this book has two good points:

1. Humans are more distanced from animals than at any other time in history or pre-history and this is not a good thing.

2. We're affecting the environment in unknowable and dangerous ways.

But that's it. This is an execrable excuse for a book. It shouldn't even get a star. No one at all should read it, even as an example of everything you shouldn't do as a writer. Or an editor. Or a publisher. Or a human.

(less)

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Jan 09, 2013 Shawna Cramer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, e-books

It was a little hard to get through at first because it would switch back an forth between the main character an sometimes it would be what a particular animal was thinking which made it very confusing for me. After I got to "book 4" it all started to make more sense an go together which helped! It also kinda makes you wonder if this is something that could really happen at some point....

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Dec 28, 2012 Bev rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: didn-t-finish, kindle

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The only reason I didn't throw in the towel and quit reading the horrible piece of crap that is James Patterson's latest novel, "Zoo," is that I felt if I continued on, it would make good fodder for a journal entry.

I read most books on my Kindle, which tells me how much of the book I have read. I watched the numbers creep from 25% to 50% but by the time I reached 75% my tolerance level had reached its peak and I decided to give it up.

James Patterson used to be good. He used to be quite good, but...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Roxanne Barbour rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Blurb:
All over the world, brutal attacks by animals are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence ahead becomes terrifyingly clear.

The premise for this novel lacks scientific validity, and common sense.
For example, blaming the degeneration of the animal kingdom on cell phone use and petroleum products over a number of years is almost u...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Kathy D. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, adult

Something is making animals all over the world violent. Jackson Oz has taken notice and desperately tries to warn politicians and scientists of the impending danger, but no one will listen. Until the animal packs get too large and deaths skyrocket. Enjoyably different from most of Patterson's books in recent years. It actually seemed more like a Crichton story. It is more serious and dense than his Cross, Bennett, and Women's Murder books. It will definitely give you second thoughts about trusti...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Something is making wild animals and house pets go crazy and turn on humans all over the world. I just finished reading this book and it is totally different then most of James Patterson's books. But the book is so different that it compels you to keep turning the pages to see what happens next.

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Oct 02, 2012 Christian Fiction Addiction rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Zoo is a novel built upon a fascinating plot-line of animals world-wide becoming more and more violent and attacking humans on a wide-spread scale. The theory underlying these attacks (of which I won't say more so that I don't give spoilers) is one I have never considered before, and though I may not resonate with the strong purely evolutionary underpinnings of the book, the actual premise of the book is enough to make me stop and wonder if such a thing could happen. The pacing of the book is sw...more

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Apr 09, 2013 David Roberts rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am reviewing the novel Zoo by James Patterson et al which is an excellent thriller which I bought from kindle. Actually this book is like a science fiction novel. The plot starts with a zoo keeper being savaged to death by a lion in Los Angeles Zoo. I hope the zoo if it exists isn't as bad as depicted in this novel. The moat around the lions enclosure runs dry and they get out and cause all sorts of mayhem. Animals all over the world are attacking people. At first they think it may be a diseas...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Keye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was a great read. I don't know if I would call it entertaining in that feel good way,it was more disturbing because you could totally see something like this happening. Oz researched all of these instances where animals were attacking humans and no one would listen to him.

The reason I found the book "disturbing" is that here, the animal world and the human world once again collide with awful circumstances. Now don't let the "disturbing" bother you. This book is still a good read. It i...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Trish rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It started out really interesting, with all of the different views of everything that was happening, but like some other reviews it was weird how it skipped 5 years. I liked the idea of the story, and it's different than really anything I've ever read before which is always nice. My issue was with the dialogue- it seemed very disjointed in some places, and was kind of strange to move to different animal thoughts all of a sudden which slightly confused me in a few places where there wasn't really...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Dana rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ok, I've actually been reading this book on and off for months now. I got a promo copy of the book from my workplace, so I didn't actually pay for this book thankfully.

I didn't like this book. The story could have been good but it just wasn't.

This review will contain massive spoilers though, so don't continue reading unless you just don't care or unless you've read the book.

Probably the biggest problem with this whole book was that it was just like a bad sci fi movie, except those are good beca...more Ok, I've actually been reading this book on and off for months now. I got a promo copy of the book from my workplace, so I didn't actually pay for this book thankfully.

I didn't like this book. The story could have been good but it just wasn't.

This review will contain massive spoilers though, so don't continue reading unless you just don't care or unless you've read the book.

Probably the biggest problem with this whole book was that it was just like a bad sci fi movie, except those are good because you can at least laugh and make fun of them. This was just...horrible.

This is just one of those typical humans have messed up nature, animals are attacking (though usually in movies its 1 type of animal or something not all but eh) humans and of course we have our main character, who is the typical 'I know somethings wrong but no one will listen to me!!!!!' type.

So that got old reallllly fast. Oz is so whiny about everything, and he does some of the most stupid things in the book. Things that just don't help him at all and I was just like, really dude?

Plus the fact that he doesn't even hardly care when his "ex" girlfriend died. Or the fact that Attila was missing. He never talked about any of that and then we go to the time skip where hes married to this chick he met earlier (who he said he was in love with after knowing her like a week? come on!) and has a kid with her too! The worlds ending and you didn't think oh hey maybe its not the best time to have a baby. Whatever.

Plus in the time skip we see that the government is listening to him now. That would have been kind of nice to see how that maybe happened, but nope.

I'm not going to get into the biology of the book much, because I'm not good with biology anyways, but it just didn't seem a very plausible reality. The fact that on the back of my promo copy they said this book was amazing and on par with Stephen King, I laughed at. I just can't believe that, sorry!

And the ending of this book...so many things wrong with the ending! The government shuts everything off for 2 days and thinks the problem is solved? I'm sorry, I know the government can be idiotic at times, but they wouldn't be that stupid. I can see them not shutting off power for themselves and whatnot, but for other places they had shut down to only do it for 2 days? No. I could see it after 30 or a few months or something but 2 days? Its just so stupid.

Theres just too many problems with this book. Its not scary, its not really realistic, its just boring. The characters are mostly dull and I only finished the book for the sake of wanting to write a review (I don't believe in writing reviews on a book I haven't finished). The book never got better though.

That said, I'm going to give my promo copy to my friend now and I hope this terrible book is never made into a movie. :/(less)

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Mar 08, 2013 Jenn rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So I picked up this book because the premise seemed really interesting and I have heard great things about James Patterson. I have never read any of his books so I thought I would give this one a try. On the cover flap there is a quote from the New York Times: "Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson's Best Book Ever." Well if this is the best book ever then the world really has gone downhill and I weep for humanity. This was the worst book I have ever read and...more So I picked up this book because the premise seemed really interesting and I have heard great things about James Patterson. I have never read any of his books so I thought I would give this one a try. On the cover flap there is a quote from the New York Times: "Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson's Best Book Ever." Well if this is the best book ever then the world really has gone downhill and I weep for humanity. This was the worst book I have ever read and I simply kept reading it because I was curious how they would wrap up the ending, which I was severely disappointed with. Beware there are spoilers in the rest of this review.

Ok so the basic plot is that Oz is a scientist (if you can even call him that because he drops out of school, because that is what every scientist does when they come across startling evidence...drop out of school and don't complete your degree, everyone will listen to you then)and he realizes that animals around the world are acting really weird and are attacking people. So he heads off to Botswana to get proof of his crazy theory, while leaving his pet monkey (yes the man who thinks animals are killing humans has a pet monkey) at home for his girlfriend to take care of. In Botswana he is attacked by lions and then conveniently finds a girl and rescues her. What should have been a totally cool scene where they fought for their lives to get back to civilization is completely skipped. Hey I saved the girl, then poof now we are back at the camp. Every time there is some sort of heightened situation it either gets resolved ridiculously quickly, or they simply jump past it. In Botswana they are warned to leave quickly because of what they have filmed, I thought they might have to avoid rabid animals or people trying to stop them, but no the next thing we know they are back in New York City. Where conveniently the old girlfriend has been killed by his pet monkey, something he freaks out about for like five minutes, then simply shrugs off.

The worst thing is that Patterson literally jumps ahead like five years in the middle of the book, randomly for no particular reason. The world has gotten even worse and they have not managed to come up with any solutions. Chloe (the girl Oz rescued in Africa) could have been a very cool character, a scientist (with an actual degree) she was described as tough and smart. But all she does in the book is sit at home with her child and support Oz and wait for him to come defend her.

I finished this book and thought, why, why did I read this. I hope the rest of James Patterson's books are better than this one, because this was truly terrible.(less)

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Feb 18, 2013 Alexinks rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2 & 1/2 out of 4 stars

randomly walked through a Barnes & Noble (bookstores do
exist!) and saw the novel ZOO, cool cover, neat premise
(see above) on the back.Decide to give it a listen, get
audiobook version.

what we’re given is an uneven eco-logical world
horror/thriller novel. think stephen king’s cell/
28 days later unleashed on the wild kingdom. our
protagonist speaks in first person, Jackson Oz.
He’s had a theory on HAC (human animal conflict) virus
which is proven true via the first...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Alex rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

ZOO (Pub. 2012) by James Patterson/Michael Ledwidge is a different read. Which is why I was excited to get my hands on it - definitely not a formula-driven story. Zoo is about the world-gone-wrong when something makes animals start behaving violently. It begin with lions at the zoo, and a violent act against their zookeeper. It goes on from there, with the violence of the animals including household pets that turn on their owners.

I was disappointed in this story. I made it to page 85, and still...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the 3rd book I have read by James Patterson and will most likely be my last for a while. I am a big..no wait...huge fan of apocalyptic novels where the world gets turned upside down. That said, I can put up with a lot of hokey writing or bad plots and what not, but this book was so bad I stopped reading about a 3/4'ths the way through it. By that point I couldn't see any viable ending that made me want to stick it out.
*** possible spoilers****
It wasn't the overall plot that ruined it f...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Jordan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The idea behind this book is what initially drew me, and it is actually quite an interesting idea. A young college dropout with a background in biology starts noticing strange things going on with animals all around the world, and after a while he starts realizing that its probably not a coincidence. The animals are becoming violent and savage towards humans in ways they never have before. He comes up with a theory that animals are going to go wild and bad things are going to happen to the huma...more The idea behind this book is what initially drew me, and it is actually quite an interesting idea. A young college dropout with a background in biology starts noticing strange things going on with animals all around the world, and after a while he starts realizing that its probably not a coincidence. The animals are becoming violent and savage towards humans in ways they never have before. He comes up with a theory that animals are going to go wild and bad things are going to happen to the human race. Of course, his theory ends up being correct and he has to work to prevent this from happening.
The book itself is interesting, but I didn’t really care for how it was written. I don’t think the characters really fit very well into their personalities, and some of the decisions they made and things they said were just plain stupid. Oz, the main character of the whole story who comes up with the idea that every animal in the world is going to go mad and run around killing people, owns a chimpanzee. A chimpanzee that he keeps inside his apartment. This confused me. If you think animals are slowly going bonkers and killing humans, why on Earth would you keep one in your living space with no safety precautions?
I’m also kind of confused on why he would just skip five years out of nowhere. The plot wasn’t getting slow, it wasn’t getting boring at all, but then all the sudden its five years into the future. I didn’t have a huge problem with this, but I personally wouldn’t have skipped five years of important time. I wanted to know more about how all the animals started getting loose, how many people knew or how their story spread. It left me with a lot of questions about what was going on.
At first the book starts out with a lot of action, Oz is running around trying to prove his theory, but right before the book skips five entire years is when it got a bit boring. Everything that happened wasn’t very interesting and if it was trying to suspenseful and action packed it didn’t work out. The events started out interesting but kind of slowly fizzled off for me, and it was just a bit confusing and odd.
I personally love animals, always have, always will. Some of the scenes just made me want to cry and go sit alone in a corner. There is way too much detail about how people and animals die. I really didn’t need to hear about a twelve year old kid shooting his dog in the face and getting covered in the blood. It was awful and I didn’t even feel bad for the people anymore, just the poor dog. I really don’t think that much detail was necessary on such a gross and disturbing subject.
The last major thing that irritated me about this book is that it was constantly jumping around. It kept switching from the main storyline to small little side stories about animals going wild on people. It just started to get predictable after a while, and it took away from the main story.
All in all, I really did enjoy the idea of the book and it was interesting to read, but I didn’t care for the story itself. I wouldn’t really recommend this book to anyone unless its the only option they have to read, because it wasn’t that great in the end.(less)

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Dec 04, 2012 Cameron Kalua rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 13, 2012 Fons rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult-or-adult-books

Meh.

At first I thought this book would be a more action-filled, fast-paced, quick-and-dirty version of Frank Schätzing's Der Schwarm. And it sure starts of that way, but then within a matter of pages the story leaps, tries to pull some stunts, but crashes miserably.
I think there are several factors why this book doesn't work. One of which is the constant intermissions that are strewn throughout the book like a news feed, but being not less annoying than adverts during a movie. Next to this is...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Aaron rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a tough one to read. I really have a lot of empathy for animals, and all the animals of the world take on the role of bad guy in this one. Jackson Oz is a young biologist who dropped out of school because of a theory he has about an increase in animal attacks all over the world. For the most part, he is viewed as a bit of a crackpot. That all changes when he takes a short trip to Botswana to check on reports of bizarre lion behavior. In the process he captures some video footage of the...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Fence rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sff, horror, light-reads

For years now Jackson Oz has been tracking animal attacks on people. It started out as a joke, but as the data kept coming in he began to think it was more than that. He has even named the phenomenon HAC. Human Animal Conflict.

And it is getting worse. All over the world mammals are acting strangely, coming together in unusual groupings and attacking humans. When Oz manages to film a group of male lions acting in concert to overwhelm a tourist resort he knows that things are only going to get wor...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Richard Cosgrove rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I first started reading James Patterson way back when Along Came A Spider came out (I still have a first edition hardback) and used to pick up everything he put out. When he started co-authoring, though, I felt that he lost his own voice somewhat (though thankfully he has remained solely at the helm of the Alex Cross books) and his stand alone thrillers seemed to get weaker and more 'by the numbers' to the point that some of them, I'm thinking Sail, The Quickie, You've Been Warned, felt more lik...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Jennifer W. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wish I could give this book 3 1/2 stars because I can almost say I really liked it, but not quite. Although I've not read many (if any) James Patterson books the description and advertisements of this book really caught my attention. The title was also interesting enough to keep my attention as I looked for it. I ended up reading it over a vacation.

The book centers around a main character, Jackson Oz, and his somewhat far-fetched scientific theory that over the last 5-10 years animal attacks o...more I wish I could give this book 3 1/2 stars because I can almost say I really liked it, but not quite. Although I've not read many (if any) James Patterson books the description and advertisements of this book really caught my attention. The title was also interesting enough to keep my attention as I looked for it. I ended up reading it over a vacation.

The book centers around a main character, Jackson Oz, and his somewhat far-fetched scientific theory that over the last 5-10 years animal attacks on people have been increasing. He calls this HAC, Human Animal Conflict, and is laughed out of his doctoral program and the scientific community in general. This is where we meet him, and we follow him as the HAC concept gets worse and worse, and he is eventually proven correct.

I was definitely turned off by the overly descriptive attack scenes which were almost B movie-esque in their gore. I literally had to skim over them because they would turn my stomach, while this accomplished the appropriate level of shock and awe in me as a reader, I don't think it actually added to the storyline. That lost some points for me. Patterson also takes some character development short cuts (and story developing short cuts) by suddenly leaping forward a number of years part of the way through the book. This does allow the reader to see both the beginning and the "end" of the HAC theory, it's frustrating because it seems lazy, and to be honest, it is.

When the book was done, I was left a little disappointed. The second half of the book had a kind of roller coaster feel to it and right where I felt we could have taken the big plunge for a screaming, energetic ending to the ride, it petered out and left me with a "oh... that's it?" feeling. This took points off for me, and took the whole book down a couple of notches in my personal reading history.

Is HAC an interesting and thought provoking theory? Absolutely. It does a good job of drawing you in and keeping you there, especially if you were ever a fan of the Discovery Channel. Are the characters well-written? Not really, but they do the job of moving the book along. Unfortunately, the concept of HAC just isn't enough to make me want to shout from the rooftops, but it's a good enough book for a vacation.(less)

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Oct 12, 2012 Jocelyn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-new

Oh dear sweet baby Jesus. The next time I think it's a good idea to read anything written by an author that writes an average of five novels a year, will someone please remind me of this literary travesty and that I have better things to spend my time reading?

This is one of the worst novels I've read in a long, Long, LONG time. And the only, I repeat, the only reason I bothered finishing it is because the idea behind it could have come out as a truly amazing work of fiction in the hands of almos...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Frishawn Rasheed rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My Thoughts
I must preface this review by saying that this is my first experience with a James Patterson novel.

The premise set forth in zoo is one that lends itself to the "what if" factory that is the human imagination.
Animals rising against humans is a fear that has not yet been civilized out of the human psyche, and as a result will always be a "bump in the night" at which we will always jump.

The Who Of the Whole Thing.
Jackson Oz
Jackson Oz is the best thing and the worst thing about this story...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Linda Munro rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to admit that I am like every other James Patterson fan, I see his name as author of a book and I have to read it; but, haven't you wondered how much of these books with co-authors are actually written by him? Since the style of this book is identical to the Michael Bennett books co-authored by Michael Ledwidge, and so dissimilar to the style of other Patterson books, let's finally give credit where credit is due... Ledwidge is brilliant! After all, who else knows how to slip just the ri...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Ramona rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Patterson is at his finest with Zoo. What a superb idea for a unique story line. Makes one wonder if this could actually happen in our lifetime. Animals of all species are herding all over the world & attacking humans--even the domesticated pets. Jackson Oz sees in the early stages what's happening before it becomes a worldwide epidemic. He tries to get people in the scientific world & then the government to listen to him with little or no avail. The novel spans a decade of time and kept...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Let me start off by saying that the premise of "Zoo" sounds like a very promising story. It's a techno-thriller set in the present day and explores a mystery illness suddenly spreading around the world that is causing all sorts of mammals to inexplicably attack humans on sight (and smell). From domesticated pets to wild animals, we've suddenly become nature's favorite snack.

In reality, this book should probably be named, "50 Shades of Prey." The writing style leaves quite a bit to be desired. Th...more Let me start off by saying that the premise of "Zoo" sounds like a very promising story. It's a techno-thriller set in the present day and explores a mystery illness suddenly spreading around the world that is causing all sorts of mammals to inexplicably attack humans on sight (and smell). From domesticated pets to wild animals, we've suddenly become nature's favorite snack.

In reality, this book should probably be named, "50 Shades of Prey." The writing style leaves quite a bit to be desired. The story alternates between poorly written third person narratives describing various animals attacking humans and tortuous first-person accounts from a "scientist" named Oz -- an arrogant manic drop-out with ADHD from Colombia University who you would probably find calling into Art Bell's Coast to Coast each week. Oh, he also has an insane chimpanzee for a pet.

Anyway, the story opens with two lions from the LA Zoo attacking their keeper (whom they've been familiar with for years) and escaping into the urban jungle known as Los Angeles and generally wrecking some major havoc.

From there, we meet Oz, a self-proclaimed pioneer of a little-known theory called HAC -- human-animal conflict. For roughly the last 10 or so years, he's been tracking every instance of animal attacks on humans and is the only one who notices a disturbing trend: they've been increasing exponentially!

It probably doesn't help that his main / preferred companion is a chimp and he is a chronic homebody. (Interestingly enough, he still manages to have a girlfriend or two in the book.) Coupled with his caustic attitude toward other scientists who looked down upon him (and the constant snarky quips and comments he shares throughout the book), I can't think of a single reason why anyone would have a hard time believing him.

Anyway, all of this leads to an interesting thought experiment: What happens when rats, bats, dogs, and dolphins (all lead by a single chimpanzee) take over the world and potentially lead to the fall of human civilization as we know it, while our only savior is a crazy introvert who knew this was going to happen all along?

Let's just say that I really wanted to like this book. The concept had a lot of potential. Sadly, I found myself wanting to get through this book just so I could get done with it and move onto the next thing on my reading list. The parts describing the animal attacks tried to emulate a Stephen King horror novel while the first-person accounts with Oz were just downright torture to read.

Fortunately for me (and probably for you too), it's a relatively mindless and quick read. I struggled with whether to give this two stars or three stars. The entire story started to unravel and grow more ridiculous toward the end (kind of like this review). Ultimately, I decided to give it 2 stars.(less)

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Sep 11, 2012 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, read-2012, on-my-ipod

Jackson Oz, former Columbia U. Ph.D candidate/golden boy, dropped out after becoming fascinated by an emerging pattern of increased HACs (human animal conflicts) that no one else acknowledges. He goes from the fast track to unemployed blogger putting out the word on the HAC911. Soon, though, the odd attacks by mammals, and the aberrant behavior of animals all over the world (and at sea--dolphins are mammals to, ya know) can't be ignored, and Oz goes from laughingstock to Expert.
What's good? I...more

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Zoo	30	103	Mar 21, 2013 11:40am
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The subject of a Time magazine feature called, "The Man Who Can't Miss," James Patterson is the bestselling author of the past year, bar none, with more than 16 million books sold in North America alone. In 2007, one of every fifteen hardcover fiction books sold was a Patterson title. In the past three years, James has sold more books than any other author (according...more

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“The world was becoming a zoo, without cages.” — 3 people liked it

“Then the doctor broke my nose and I cried like a baby” — 1 person liked it

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