Hybrid

by Brian O'Grady

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.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Mystery, Ebooks, Medical

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 20, 2011

About the author

Dr. Brian O’Grady’s second novel Amanda's Story was released in November, 2012 after his best-selling debut with Hybrid.

Dr. O’Grady, a neurosurgeon, explores the untapped abilities that lie within the human brain with his series, starting with Hybrid. The key in Dr. O’Grady’s debut novel is a virus, which unleashes a chain of events in the same spine-tingling spirit of suspense as The Andromeda Strain and the X-Files.

O’Grady follows in the tradition of Michael Crichton as a physician who brings his in-depth medical knowledge to his craft. A practicing neurosurgeon, O’Grady is a graduate of the University of New Mexico who completed his residency in neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic. His deep insight into the mysterious workings of the human brain brings HYBRID and Amanda's Story realistically to life.

When he is not writing or performing brain surgery, he struggles with Ironman triath- lons. He lives with his wife in Washington state.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A deadly virus is tracked by the infected and infecting. I really think this book was close to being good. Like, it had a lot a lot a lot of work to do to be good, but I think there was only one flaw, and that is that it tried to be way, way too much. It was character-driven and plot-driven; it was a medical thriller and scifi, oh, and fantasy; it was a police procedural and Russian spy book and, oh yes, an Islamic terrorist novel, and who the hell knows what else. There were new characters introduced every flipping chapter for the first half of the book, and new ones still introduced 80% of the way through. I don't know if the quality of the writing could have held up under all of this with some sustained exploration of themes and people, but the author also decided to manage this mess by switching perspectives approximately every four pages. I'm looking forward to the author's next work, which I assume will be a bit matured. A lot of culling would leave the possibility of a good story behind.

[Rosy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hybrid involves a virus that wipes out hundreds of people in Honduras and that has resurfaced in Colorado Springs. Vital to the plot are the telepathic woman who survived the original outbreak, the doctor who performed unspeakable tests on her, the evil antagonist who released said virus, and a pathologist with what I assume is bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. And this was only a fraction of the characters introduced in the small portion of this book I could trudge through.

Try as I might, I couldn't finish this book. I made it through a third of the way and couldn't go any further, as it read like a lesser Dan Brown novel. The chapters were choppy, there were too many characters, the prose is eye roll inducing (i.e., "His daughter Laura had from the day she was born the unique ability to make Rodney feel good about the world." Eye roll.), and the adjectives repetitive (i.e., everybody's face "darkens"). I hate to give up on books but just didn't have the patience for this one anymore. It was an interesting premise and I thought I could speed through this as an easy summer read, but it got on my nerves.

Full disclosure: I got this book as a free download on Amazon, so I didn't feel too bad about abandoning it.

[Abbey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was interesting. The idea was good, and it was fairly well written, consistent, free of typos, easy to read, but there were some easily correctable issues that would have made it MUCH better.
For one, there were WAY TOO many characters. So many that by chapter 17, I was already having trouble keeping them straight. Some of them should have been condensed, or eliminated all together. We do not need to hear the inner monologue of a waitress at the cafe as if she is an important character. We did not need to meet Patton's daughter, or know that she was pregnant. I could not even begin to catalog all of the government employees that were pretty major players in some parts. It was just too much.
Additionally there were many characters with similar sounding names. In one scene we have a Maria, a Martha, and a Martin having a conversation. Later we have a Rucker and a Rider. In a story with so many characters, they should all have distinctly sounding names for the readers ease of reading. It was entirely too confusing.
Also, while I understand that the author wanted to keep the details of Amanda's hybrid state a secret in the beginning, it was never really explained all that well. The dream-state attack was never explained, nor the injuries that Reisch sustained from it. And it wasn't clear how Elmer died or that Oliver was dead until Greg called Lisa to tell her. ((Noticing a lot of names here?))

And finally, what the hell was up with Mittens?

[Marjolein · Rating 1 out of 5]

At 79% in, I found myself not caring a fig how this was going to end. It's not that it's badly written, the story and characters just didn't grip me. At all.

And this edition could really do with a thorough, professional editing round: 16 mistakes marked so far... And not just a misplaced comma here and there, but instances where a character would miraculously change from a Lisa into a Linda over the course of the dialogue. I should have put it down at that point.

Sorry, Mr O'Grady, there are far better books out there waiting to be read.

[Paul]

Did not finish.

Started out well, despite some irritating editing mistakes, but quickly turned to bullshit. Any time some plot element needed to be resolved, Mr. O'Grady would just give a character previously-undisclosed superpowers. The instances that irritated me the most were the villain's (surprise!) ability to deflect bullets with his mind, followed by the coroner's mousy nurse suddenly turning into a KGB colonel with Spetznaz skills. At that point I just gave up. Hybrid might as well be a superhero comic book. And I don't do comic books.

[Deborah Sloan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot seemed rushed at the end. There were pieces of the plot that jumped around and just didn't make much sense. The author took great care in the beginning to develop the characters and story line and then hurried through the end. I read this as an e-book and the typos, grammatical errors, and punctuation errors were distracting. Edits need to be made.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good potential, but he stumbled around in idealism and limited character development with high school vocabulary lists at hand. Very two dimensional, low budget action movie feel to the characters. Felt like he got tired of writing at the end...detail was lost and climactic battle royale fizzled.

[Sara Sawtelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable

Good read. Climax was not as intense as I was expecting from scenes early in the book. Greatly enjoyed. End was not entirely predictable. Good summer read for those that would rather read a thriller than a Romance. Good character development. I would read more from this author

[PapaTrain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The will of God

Very interesting well told story of a near miss apocalypse. While the people populating this story are not really well fleshed out, they are more than finished enough to be liked, hated or pitied. Throughout the book I wondered, " would the USA end? Would civilization end, would humanity end? Pretty sure that's what the author was after, so Great job Brian.

[Jenniffer Cullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many twists and surprises.

Had the pleasure of meeting this author and working with him for a few days. He's a genius. He has a wonderful family. His daughter recommended I read all his books, in a particular order. It's the first book I've actually read cover to cover because I WANTED to. Because I couldn't put it down.

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this ebook in 2014 to my Nook library when Barnes and Nobles offered it for free. I did not read it until 2023, three years after all of us lived through the Pandemic and Lockdown for real. It makes me wonder what the author thought about the similarities and differences between the two.

[Stephanie Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just complete chaos. There were too many characters, many of them underdeveloped, and the plot got lost along the way. I think the author bit off more than he could chew, and the premise of the novel would have benefited from a more nuanced hand at the helm.

[Brian Dunston]

Better than expected

Well-paced, minimal intrusive editorial issues. A few slight continuity bumps ( at transitions in perspective) but a smartly built story. The more writing he does, the better he'll get. Really enjoyed this one.

[D. Meador · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not too bad, interesting thriller.

[Krista Dunkin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not finish this book. It was not my style of book because it switches character views every chapter.

[Mike Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly fast-paced and intelligently written, this book was a bit of a surprise to me. Having gotten this as a free book back when I started using Amazon Kindle, I didn't expect much from it, but was pleased with how much I enjoyed reading it. I enjoy a good mixture of science fiction, horror and mystery and this book delivers a satisfying serving of all of them. O'Grady is not quite on par with the top names in the field (think Michael Crichton or Douglas Preston), but he is a decent runner-up in that category. Recommended for an enjoyable weekend read.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting start...did not necessarily keep my attention.

[Rhiannon Boyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

At 32% in and its pretty repetitive and dull and I don't care at all what happens to any of these characters. Did not finish.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hybrid has a good, fast-moving, suspense-filled plot. I really enjoyed reading it, and found it to hold my attention well. The beginning was a little slow, but nothing to deter me from reading. And the pace picked up quickly. Once the action gets going, the reading flies by.

I do have two issues with the book. The first is that the ending felt rushed. I’m not sure why, though. Yes, resolution is reached. Yes, the ends are (mostly) tied. The question of what becomes of anyone “altered” by the virus isn’t really answered, but then that is beyond the scope of this engaging, fast-paced tale.

The other issue I have is with the copy editing. While this isn’t the worst book I have read over the course of reviewing here at Proud Book Nerd, it was bad enough that I found it distracting. It is entirely possible that many readers might not even notice a lot of it, but my experience with copy editing doesn’t allow me to overlook these problems. One, I feel is a big one to miss. Amanda’s mother-in-law is Lisa, but in a couple of spots (most, if not all, of page 153 and again on page 274) she is called “Linda.” Then we have some spots where the wrong words are used: “to” when “too” should be used; “passed” instead of “past”; “insure” when it should be “ensure”; and more.

Add to these issues were problems with punctuation. There were spots where quote marks were missing or seemed to be randomly in a spot where no one was speaking. There were some other errant punctuation marks, too. Slogging through that and the spelling/grammar/usage errors was a bit frustrating.

Still, the plot and characters were interesting enough to keep me reading. And to keep me from docking my rating too much.

[Brian H. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first book I have ever stopped reading less than halfway through...I really wanted to give it a chance and make my way through it but it was just awful and I thought to myself "there are too many great books I haven't read yet, why waste my time trying to make it through a bad one?"

There are so many bad things to say about this book. For starters, the author introduces about 3X as many characters as he knows what to do with. I had the toughest time trying to keep them straight and figure out what they were supposed to be doing and why. Some of the characters are involved one chapter, then they dont show up again for 5-6 chapters down the line and I had already forgotten what the heck they were doing previously! Next, I know the story is a work of fiction, but it was not even the tiniest bit believable. A virus is released to wreak havoc on the U.S....but it is released in COLORADO SPRINGS IN THE DEAD OF WINTER!!! Anyone with a basic science background knows that a deadly virus would be released in a densely populated area and definitely not during the winter. And on top of that, this virus allows its hosts to gain telepathic and psychokinetic skills? Nope. Didn't do it for me.

I was extremely annoyed by the author's use of fiction writing cliches. For example, every main character had some tragedy shadowing their life (dead husband, dead wife, dead sister, abusive parents, dead parents, on and on and on). It was almost comical but I realized the author was trying to be serious and make it all work. It just didn't.

I am not ashamed to say I only got 25 percent through the book. I stopped reading in mid-chapter and I am glad I did it. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING:4.5)HYBRID by Brian O'Grady is an interesting compelling debut medical suspense/thriller set in Hondurans and Colorado. What an intense,compelling thriller of suspense,evil,drama, a virus that is not only lethal but evil also and what ifs.... The list of characters include..Dr.Phil-the coroner with Asperger's syndrome,Father John- whose will,and faith will be tested,Rodney-a homicide detective who sees things others can not,Greg-Amanda's father-in-law,whose morals will guide other in the storm and of course there is Amanda,the Red Cross worker whose whole life changes in an instant.She now can sense things,use her mind to do things,including dark and sinister things,all while trying to resist the pull of violence. But someone has entered her mind who is out to destroy humanity.Whose bloodlust and evil impulses is after Amanda,who virologists suspect her immunity may be their only way to defeat this virus that is worst than lethal it is pure evil. "Hybrid" is an high octane,action packed,heart pounding,intense story that will keep you turning pages and a thriller that will be hard to put down. This book will appeal to any suspense,thriller and medical thriller readers.This is an author to watch out for in the future.What an engaging debut medical thriller.This book was received for the purpose of review from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. and the publisher and details can be found at Fiction Studio and My Book Addiction and More.

[Shawn Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mysterious disease is striking cities in the United States. The mortality rate is astronomical, the infected turn to extreme and unprovoked violence, and no one knows where it came from... except a very few who have seen this disease before and know the changes it brings to those who survive its clutches.

Amanda Flynn survived the same infection in the Honduran jungles seven years before. More than surviving, she changed. The disease developed mental powers in her that no one foresaw.

When the disease shows up stateside, no one will listen to her warnings - until it may be too late.

The concept for this book is really good. And the writing itself is excellent - for a draft. With extra editing (in one place the name of a character keeps switching, there is some dialog that should be edited for cheese-factor, and there area few typos), it would be an easy and gripping read.

O'Grady's medical scenes are superb. He seamlessly blends realism and story in a way that draws you in. The military scenes... not so much. They read more like a caricature than a portrayal that could be real. There is too much reliance on stock military characters with no depth. I found myself wanting to skim these scenes.

All in all, though, the book shows a lot of promise and the storyline is sound and interesting.

[Margaret Metz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book hovers between a 3 and a 4 for me. I normally don't find fault with the occasional error in a Kindle book. Almost every book I've read on my Kindle has had small errors of some kind. This book made the same mistakes over and over again though (later was spelled latter and Linda and Lisa were interchanged - even though Linda wasn't introduced as a character until the last quarter of the book).

There was a lot of ... "strange-ness" for lack of a better word. One person with an invisible friends another hears voices all the time ... It was distracting from what was otherwise a compelling plot that seemed plausible on many levels.

I did want to find out what would happen. I liked that the characters had many dimensions to them (as in none were the expected cliche and they had depth and sometimes did unexpected things). Sometimes that went too far. The priest is renouncing his faith at one point and pointing to God soon thereafter - with no obvious transition.

I think this was a very creative book that was obviously well researched on the scientific front. I think it could have been even better than it was and I look forward to any books this author might write in the future.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is quite exciting and full of action. I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen. I liked the whole premise of a virus that could bestow special powers to those who survived it. It was especially interesting that as the survivors develop super-human powers they also lose their humanity and become psychopathic to various extents. The good guys are the ones who manage to retain the most empathy, while the bad guy is the one who lets his selfish needs take over his actions.
The plot becomes convoluted when a terrorist group becomes involved in planned attacks to release the virus in America. It becomes a race to stop the terrorists before they can carry out their plans. There are so many threads to this story and a plethora of characters. Every single character had a back-story, even the ones that only made brief appearances and then were never seen again. This made it difficult to distinguish between the important characters and the expendable ones. I had a hard time keeping everything straight. It was a little more effort than I like to expend on this type of book! Despite this, I did enjoy the story and it kept me up late for several nights!

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hybrid feels like one of those old-style puppet shows, where there's a guy behind a mini-stage working marionettes on strings and speaking in a different voice for each. You can see that there are different characters, but you can hear and see that ultimately they're all being controlled by the same person, who wrote all of their lines. We're told instead of shown what all of the characters feel. I find many of the characters' lines and actions unbelievable. The pacing is way off, robbing the book of tension.

There are some ideas in here worth exploring, some concepts that interested me, and some lines that made me smile. But ultimately I found Hybrid to be an exercise in frustration. I should also note, since this is often a question when dealing with e-books, that the editing is not great.

If you're interested in a much more detailed take on this book, my original, full review is on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/reviews/2...

[Jae Roth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story concept is quite good as is most of the execution. This is very much hard science fiction and there are times when the writer's need to prove he understands the very technical aspects, or to at least get in all the science he's researched is cumbersome and simply bores the reader. You want good science supporting the science fiction, but whole sections are unreadable. Characterization is excellent as is plotting and pacing.

However the editor for this book needs to rethink their career choice. There are grammatical mistakes so jarring they pull the reader out of the story. Wrong word forms are used such as one location where it states "[It will] ultimate lead to our extinction." In other places to is used for too, there for their and other errors you might expect in a middle school essay, but not a published novel. I actually expect a few formatting errors with Kindle, but the punctuation and formatting in this book were horrific.

Overall, story good-book bad.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would not be a book I would normally choose to read. It was a medical thriller, sci-fi, terrorist story all rolled into one.

In the beginning the storyline was a little confusing. So many characters were introduced that it was difficult to keep them straight. As the plot emerged however, the reader was able to become fully immersed in the story. The characters were all complex and well-defined and I liked the diverse range of personalities that O'Grady created for "the good guys". They were definitely a motley crew!

By the end of the book I was rushing through the pages to find out if the virus had been contained in time! This was a very tense and dramatic read. The conclusion was a little open-ended, but it allows the reader to use their own imagination to decide what the future holds for the country.

All in all this was a good, thrilling read....

[Star · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda survived the outbreak of a new and highly virulent virus and became something else, something...more. Along with the heightened senses, strength, and extraordinary psychic talents, comes a rage...a murderous rage. She has kept the rage in check for many years now, but there is someone out there - someone who has no conscience and wants to remake the world in his image - and who has the same powers as Amanda. She must do what it takes to stop him and save the human race.

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, even when there wasn't a lot of action - the science, science 'fiction', and the human element keep you glued to the page. If you like Michael Crichton or Dean Koontz, this is the book for you!

[Jennifer Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a science geek, so O’Grady had me with the cover, which depicts winding DNA strands. But this book is more than just genetics, a killer virus, and a race against time! The human element in this story is strong, with the quirky main characters having well-developed back-stories that blend together into a compelling narrative. There’s plenty of action and suspense here too.

One thing that I particularly appreciated was the scientific discussion of the virus itself. It shouldn’t be surprising that O’Grady is able to give a thorough description of the medicine behind it since he’s a neurosurgeon!

I got lost a couple of times among the plethora of characters and subplots, but overall, this was an entertaining story. I give it between 3.5 and 4 stars.