The Deep Zone

Hallie Leland #1

by James M. Tabor, Paul Michael (Translation)

In this gripping debut thriller from James M. Tabor, a brilliant and beautiful scientist and a mysterious special ops soldier must lead a team deep into the Earth on a desperate hunt for the cure to a deadly epidemic. When she was unjustly fired from a clandestine government laboratory, microbiologist Hallie Leland swore she would never look back. But she cant ignore an urgent summons from the White House to reenter the realm of cutting-edge science and dangerous secrets. Potentially the worst threat since Pearl Harbor is how the president describes a mysterious epidemic killing American soldiers in Afghanistanand now poised for outbreak in the States and beyond. Millions will die unless Hallie and a hastily mobilized team can recover the ultrarare organism needed to create a new antibiotic. The good news is that Hallie knows more about the organism than anyone else on the planet. The bad news is that it can be found only at the bottom of Earths deepest cave. Hallies team is capableespecially the mysterious Wil Bowman, who knows as much about high-tech weaponry as he does about microbiologybut the challenge appears insurmountable. Before even reaching the supercave, they must traverse a forbidding Mexican jungle populated by warring cartels, Federales, and murderous locals. Only then can they confront the caves flooded tunnels, lakes of acid, bottomless chasms, and mind-warping blackness. But the deadliest enemies are hiding in plain sight: a powerful traitor high in the Washington ranks and a cunning assassin deep underground, determined to turn Hallies mission into a journey of no return. The award-winning and bestselling author of two nonfiction books about adventure and exploration, James M. Tabor now plunges readers into the harrowing subterranean world of supercavesand even deeper, into a

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, Suspense, Science Fiction, Action

Audiobook

First published April 3, 2012

About the author

http://www.jamesmtabor.com/bio.htm

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this one more than a few days ago and decided to DNF it. It was slow going and I just wasn't feeling it. Even though it is the first book in the Hallie Leland series, I read the second one first and really enjoyed it. So I looked forward to reading this one.

After rereading my review of the first book I read, I decided to finish this one up. I'm so glad I did. The last half was so much better. I loved the way this author writes the action scenes. They felt intense and suspenseful. The last half was definitely worth finishing this one. So 3 stars.

[Casey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll write the kind of review I wished I had seen before I grabbed this out of the library.

This is an awful book full of mediocre writing and cardboard characters.
Don't waste your time.
If you're jonesing for suspense in this style of story, just go reread some old Tom Clancy.
Trust me on this. The Deep Zone? Nope, just the Crap Zone.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing science based thriller with a storyline that moves along nicely with a few twists and surprises. Think of a typical Michael Crichton novel except without going overboard on the scientific facts. A fun read!

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book although it was somewhat predictable. Maybe it's from Reading lots of books in the genre, but I would still recommend it.

[Cyndi Beane-Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

It all begins with the war in Afghanistan and a young soldier is shot. Medic care is provided immediately. Everything looked good.

But something went horribly, horribly wrong, and a strain of bacteria that would make Eboli look weak threatens to take out the US military forces.

If you like a good book, take a deep breath, you're about to go on a wild ride that won't let you put this book down until you've consumed it. And I seldom say that about any book these days.

Tabor tells a story of espionage at a level that's gonna make you shiver with fear, and become so angry you'll want to spit in someone's eye! Then take you to plummeted levels of despair and dying. Only to raise you up to newfound love. And through it all, courage is born. Over and over.

Fraught with suspense [don't try to read a bit and then attempt to go to sleep.... you'll be too wound up!] you'll find yourself tensing at every turn. And quaking in fear at the possibilities of what you might find around every corner, or stalagmite [or is that stalactite?]

I give this book Five Stars and my Thumbs Up!

I highly recommend this read for anyone over the age of 15. Younger teens might be okay with it if they can handle some violence. Parents should make that decision before allowing them to read this.

****DISCLOSURE: The copy that I read was an "Advanced Reader's Edition" and as such may vary from the actual finished edition. The cover above is on the Advanced Reader's Edition, the actual sale copy may differ. The book will debut and begin selling on April 3rd. This copy was provided by Amazon Vine, in exchange for an independent and non-biased review.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is rather exhausting whirlwind thriller that doesn't relax you for a minute. I'm slighly out of breath just from reading. One of the conspiracies in this book is that someone has delibarately infected tampons with bacteria. Said sanitary equipment is also used by soldiers, and voilà, there is an epidemic of antibiotic multiresistant bacteria (ACE). Problem is that it has mutated and nothing works. There is an organization, BARDA, working on finding a new type of antibiotics, however, they have lost all the biomatter ("moonmilk") required to progress in the research aimed at synthezising a new type of antibiotic. So a team is set up to retrieve some more from the depths of deep cave in Mexico.

However, there are moles in BARDA, employed by some fishy multi-national twilight organization who are deadset on getting their hands on the "moonmilk". So the team sent to the came have a traitor whose aim is to take them all out, one by one. As if the cave wasn't deadly enough on its own.

The story also follows a brave medical doctor, Leonara Stilwell, in Afghanistan who contracts ACE after having bravely treated many soldiers with the nasty bacterial infection. There are many minor characters and co-conspirators.

Between the different threads of the plot, there isn't much breathing space. Some of the story is a bit contrived, but I liked the essence of it very much. Besides, multiresistant infections are very real and relevant problem today, along with the massive overuse of antibiotics that causes them.

[Darren Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good-not great, fun-but not quite exciting read. I am giving it three stars and that is a pretty fair call. It might could have been four, but the book falls victim to the praises on its cover. Brad Thor called it 'The Andromeda Strain for the twenty-first century', and it was not even in the same ballpark as that book. Thor also says '...meet the new Michael Crichton', and I mean no disrespect to James M. Tabor, but this couldn't be further from the truth and it does a disservice to the book by raising the expectations higher than this book can ever hope to read. And that doesn't mean it is a bad book, it just isn't up to par with Crichton.

There were some good characters, some predictable romance and some interesting science. There is nothing that would make me really want to recommend this book to someone else, but if I caught you reading it in a library or coffee shop, I wouldn't warn you away from it. It did for me what a book like this should do, which is take my mind off everyday life and on an adventure.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This debut thriller by Tabor centers around Hallie Leland, a government research scientist and her race against the clock to find a cure for a deadly flesh eating bacterium before it causes a pandemic. Hallie is a strong protagonist assisted by a mysterious special ops guy who accompanies her to a super cave in Mexico to retrieve a possible antidote to the bacterium. Of course they are being pursued by agents of a shadowy group out to make millions on the cure as well as bad guys from within the government. The story is very fast-paced and action packed and I felt claustrophobic while listening to the scenes that take place in the cave. I listened to the audio version of this book which was well narrated by Paul Michael. I would recommend this book to fans of Clive Cussler, Stephen Coonts and Michael Crichton.

[Ned · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thriller and a very good one. The best I have read in over a year. I read this 400 page book in 2 days. I read myself to sleep almost every night. That didn't work here. I struggled to stay AWAKE so I could keep up with the story.

A novel, but based on good science. In this case microbiology. Millions of people will die unless a microorganism is retrieved. And, of course the microorganism only lives in the deepest part of the worlds deepest cave. It could have been at the bottom of the dairy case at Safeway, but that would not have been quite as thrilling to get to. With the science, this reads a lot like Michael Chricton. And to that, you need to add three tablespoons of Jules Verne.

I recommend this book. Very impressed with the writer. He has two other novels and also a couple of nonfiction books on caving and mountain climbing. I intend to read them all.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

could not finish it, did not enjoy this book at all

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very exciting and thriller ride of a book. This book keep you guessing until the end.

[KC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the worst bit of writing but just had a lot of trouble getting into the story. Was hoping for more.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. I did not quite know what to expect when I first started reading it [the cover did get me, though - I thought it was a beautiful cover, with the emphasis on the red and black], but it did remind me of some of the "science thrillers" I had read back in the early nineties. It is kind of "funny" how even twenty years ago people were worried about different types of "superbugs" that would defy antibiotics and have the potential to annihilate humanity. The plot did move along nicely; I was wondering how it was going to be resolved. The underground cave system described in the book was crazy-cool; it was completely nuts, reading about it! The character development was decent; I liked that I was kinda surprised at how it ended [not quite what or how I anticipated, which is good].

I have to admit, the author got me interested in some aspects of the book like the moonmilk, so I went and looked some of it up online. It was pretty cool reading further about what the author talked about in the book! Obviously, there was quite a bit of artistic license in the telling, but that is okay. I felt that that author did a nice job creating a plausible scenario that would require a team of specialists to travel underground like they did in order to complete a mission to save the world from a global catastrophe.

I thought it was pretty crazy that the disease was spread by contaminated tampons used on the battlefield to staunch blood flow. It really reminded me of Ian Slater's World War III series from the mid-90s, where the "main American" villain was a wealthy corporate shark who was into pharmaceuticals and sold contaminated/bad medicine to the NATO forces [primarily American]. It was a pretty ingenious plan, contaminating tampons like the "villains" did. The expectation was that the tampons would be sold and used in Third-World countries [like China] and not on the battlefield; it created a scenario that the villainous corporation(s) were not anticipating and allowed an alternative "antidote" / vaccine to be created.

I thought the author did a nice job alternating between the BARDA facility, a medical hospital in Afghanistan, and the cave in Mexico. He was able to keep his characters different and believable, which can be a difficult thing to do.

It was kinda funny, reading how Hallie and Bowman were "thankful" that the "spirits" of the cave saved their lives by giving them a mental map on how to escape the cave system. You could change a few words and they'd be thanking God or Jesus or Jehovah or Allah, depending on the author. A couple of Christians are mentioned in the beginning of the book; both of them are soldiers and die because of the rabid bacterial infection.

Hallie turns out to be a savior, of sorts. It is her blood that becomes the antidote to save those infected with this bacterial disease/plague. While in the cave system, trying to retrieve samples of the moonmilk, she slipped and cut her hand open with a scalpel. She lost her balance and crushed a batch of the moonmilk with her injured hand, forcing some of the moonmilk into her bloodstream and her body. As a result, it adapted inside of her and provided a cure for the bacterial plague. A doctor in Afghanistan had become infected by the plague while caring for the dying soldiers. She was the older sister of Hallie's best friend, and Hallie had gone to see her. Lenora died while Hallie was there, and Hallie performed CPR to save the life of her friend's older sister. As a result, some of Hallie's body fluids [blood and saliva] was swallowed/absorbed by Lenora, and she recovered from the illness. Hallie then became a "universal donor" of sorts, donating a pint of blood per day for four days before resting and starting over. It was pretty crazy to read about how Hallie's blood had changed due to the absorption of the moonmilk. According to the online sources I read, while moonmilk used to be used to try and heal those who were sick in ages past, it does not have the same healing characteristics described in the book. Pretty cool stuff!

It was pretty brutal how some of the "primary villain's" cohorts and accomplices were assassinated after they first killed their "commander's" targets. While I was hoping the killers would get what was coming to them, I did not anticipate or expect it to happen like it did. Crazy stuff!

I enjoyed reading the book and am glad I took a chance on it.

[Kevin Kazokas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Deep Zone" takes readers through a tapestry of adventure, with settings ranging from a covert biological research facility to a dangerous and unpredictable Mexican jungle to the unforgiving depths of a deadly and haunting remote cave.

All the while, the story's co-protagonists, microbiologist Hallie Leland and covert operative Wil Bowman, determinedly push to recover a hidden antidote from the depths of the cave before a deadly epidemic ravages the nation's military ranks and breaks out among ordinary citizens.

This book features high-tension twists that scale up to the highest levels of U.S. government and military. The author does a good job of constructing a compelling thriller around strong characters of both genders, including the courageous military doctor Lenora Stilwell.

Some moments drone along, including dialogue interplay among the characters within the cave. Nevertheless, the climactic moments feature both action and urgency as the characters race to complete the overarching mission ahead of a cleverly conceived conspiracy.

Tabor is careful to incorporate texture into the profile of his villains as opposed to relying on cookie-cutting tropes. His narrative flows well, except for some slow, over-detailed aspects and his uneven and awkward paragraph construction around some dialogue. For example, this passage: "'It is here, Dr. Leland." Lathrop, sitting forward. "Some of them arrived two days ago."' The abrupt stage cues are a recurring out-of-place tendency weaved throughout.

"The Deep Zone" certainly will not constitute the most edge-of-your-seat thriller you dive into. At points, it may become challenging to propel through as the momentum builds slowly. Nevertheless, the characters demonstrate more of a combination of action and moral heroics, texture and fallibilities than typically encountered in genre fiction.

Tabor brings enough to the table in this initial fictional foray to stand among the ranks of today's noted thriller writers. Readers may classify this effort at a strong 3 stars, perhaps 3.5.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on a playaway.

Hallie is a brilliant scientist who is working at a diving shop because she resigned (fired) from her position (having been framed which we find out later). Her former boss gets her back to work with a team to go into the deepest cave to get "moon milk" which could be used to work on a cure for ACE which is an infection which is super contagious and has no cure. (She had been in the cave before) There is lots of description of the cave and going through it. One of the other cavers is Wil Bowman who she comes to like--really like. But one of the guys is killing off the other members of the team until just Hallie is left. (It turns out Bowman wasn't killed--I kept waiting for him to appear and low and behold he did!) We think Hallie has been killed, but she rallies and ends up killing the traitor in a very satisfying fight. In between are chapters about the evil genius who rigged this whole infection so that his company's antidote would be in demand. Another side story is a doctor who risked infection (and then was infected)--she turned out to be the sister of the woman from Hallie's dive store and she figured in the ultimate discovery of the antidote. When Hallie finally came out of the cave there were groups of bad guys waiting for her and we had to get through her (and later Bowman) fighting them until they are rescued. Then we had to wait for the cure to be made with the "moon milk" brought back by Hallie. I'm looking forward to the next Hallie book.

[C. Scott Kippen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book appealed to me because it had to do with caving. A subject/hobby that has always fascinated me. I have also read part of his non-fiction book Blind Descent (still working on it). I enjoyed this book, but it has flaws. Lots of flaws. James Tabor has a long ways to go to become a good writer.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed this book, and read it quite quickly, but it is not “good” in the sense of good. You will not marvel at the writing in this book, the plotting, or the characterization. In fact, the first two chapters o this book have some of the worst, most-cliched writing I have seen in a long while. If I were the editor of this book, I would have made those first 2 chapters re-written. They are beyond terrible, and if I had not paid for this book, they may have stopped me.

Aside from the writing, the basic plot of the novel (go into a supercave and retrieve an extremeohpile is what drew me in. The caving and basic plot works. There were no surprises in this book for me. I was never in any real doubt of what was happening and what was going to happen. It is a typical suspense novel, in the vein of James Rollins, but not nearly as well plotted or written. James Tabor will get there, and I hope there is a sequel in the works that inovlves a cave yet again. If it does not involve a cave, I don’t know if I will be able to wring myself to read it.

[Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il mio voto è di 3 1/2 stelline.
Un libro d'avventure accattivante che ha come tema centrale il diffondersi tra le truppe americane di un morbo altamente infettivo e ad altissima percentuale di morti per l'assenza di una cura: le autorità sanitarie americane potrebbero avvalersi di una sostanza batterica " il latte di luna" scoperta nelle profondità di una grotta carsica del Messico per combattere il "male" e allestiscono prontamente una squadra di scienziati speleologi per andare a recuperarla. Ma dietro le quinte una multinazionale del farmaco agisce per impedire con mezzi leciti e non il successo della spedizione...
Nel complesso il racconto regge bene, la lettura è sciolta e spedita, i personaggi risultano veri e credibili sia tra le fila dei buoni che tra quelle dei cattivi ma forse c'è troppa "carne a cuocere" come si usa dire e il voto non può essere eccezionale.

[Christine Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book sale product - I won't say purchase, as it is an advance copy of the book and we can't sell those. It sounded interesting though, so I took it home. I'm assuming it came out of his non-fiction work on deep caves. It was a good thriller combining a possible pandemic resulting from a new type of bacteria sweeping through the army. A rare type of extremophile found in the depths of a Mexican cave could be the only cure. The information was good, the characters were fine, if a little shallow, and the pacing was good. Didn't like how any mention of Afghans seemed to equate them to unreasonable beasts, but as there were a lot of American military characters, I suppose it is to be expected.

[Janis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm beginning to think this author might have a grudge against women. A big pharma company decides to create a need for an old anitbiotic by creating a new plague - one that will strike women. They contaminate feminine hygiene products - insidious - unfortunately it mutates and their drug only slows this new disease. The victems are destroyed from the inside out. Its up to a small group of scientists to go deep into an ultra deep cave and bring back more of a potential new drug. Are they sure it will work no but with a new disease spreading faster than smallpox and 100% mortality its their last hope.

[Elyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

An eerily timely premise, with plenty of plot twists and complexities.

Strong characters, including the lead female scientist, Hallie Leland. Even so, it felt a little too structured and predictable. I'm mainly disappointed by the romantic thread. It felt a contrived - at best stereotypical (female scientist falls for silent, deadly military guy - really??).

Enjoyed it enough that I will try other books by this author and hope that Tabor leaves out the romance.

[Curt · Rating 3 out of 5]

So if this were a movie - I would describe it as a good popcorn movie. So I enjoyed the book, but not enough to continue reading the series it started. The situations in which the protagonist finds herself are extreme and her ability to extricate herself are unbelievable. Finally, with a surprise, albeit predictable ending, the book crashes to a sudden stop. A few threads are left loose - nothing major but annoying.

It is a good popcorn book and a quick read.

[Rich Rosell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this one up at a library book sale, as it looked a solid action thriller - which it turns out it is. There's an end of the world threat, an intrepid microbiologist/caver who can set things right, and enough double crosses and underground action to satisfy most hearty genre fans. The ending wraps up a bit quick, but overall the journey was enjoyably fast-paced.

I would read more from Mr. Tabor....

[April K Rohrer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book more than I thought I would. An entertaining, fast paced book about an adventure to stop a new bioweapon before it becomes a world epidemic. Likable characters, some plot twists, interesting to read about the search for a cure in a cave. First in a series and I would pick up another.

[Michaela Gyure · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally honest impression? Trying and only somewhat succeeding to emulate Dan Brown. I think that the characters are a bit two-dimensional, and the plot had many branches, some of which I could’ve done without.

Did I finish it? Yes.
Did I enjoy it? Mostly.
Would I read it again? No. Go read Dan Brown.

[Mark Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was entertaining, but somewhere in the middle, I lost interest and walked away from it for a few weeks. Maybe it was the book, maybe it was me. That said, I'm open to reading more of his books in the future—after I try some other authors first.

[Mario Smet · Rating 4 out of 5]

dit is nu echt wel actueel. daar gaat het over een nog erger virus dan Corona wat we nu meemaken maar in deze tijd van het jaar echt wel een boek om te lezen en wat je dan misschien wel tot nadenken zal geven.

[Tom Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written book that kept my interest all the way through. The only negative is that I thought the ending was rather weak based on all that had gone on in the book. The only explanation for this may be that GoodReads listed it as Book #1 in the series.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

First chapter--- awful. Lots of caving drama with scary travels under the earth after that. A bit unrealistic but once you get into it, not too bad. Hard to read about bioterrorism in the middle of a pandemic though

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The adventure, twists, and turns in this book kept me on my toes and at time caused me to even verbally express my shock to my spouse. The book starts out slowly, building the plot, but it builds into an amazing story. Will continue to read this author for sure.

[Tim Burnham · Rating 4 out of 5]

good plot and characters

Unique plot line not overused like others. Good plot development and character development. Good detail on the science and cave - I appreciated the detail put into the description.