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Biohazard
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW:
Nuclear fallout. Mutations. Deadly pandemics. Corpse wagons. Body pits. Empty cities.
The human race trembling on the edge of extinction.
ONLY THE DESPERATE SURVIVE
One of them is Rick Nash. But there is a price for survival: communion with a ravenous evil born from the furnace of radioactive waste.
IT DEMANDS SACRIFICE
Only it can keep Nash one step ahead of the nightmare that stalks him - a sentient, seething plague-entity that stalks its chosen prey: the last of the human race.
To accept it is a living death.
TO DEFY IT, A HELL BEYOND IMAGINING.
(Description from back cover of trade paperback)
Nuclear fallout. Mutations. Deadly pandemics. Corpse wagons. Body pits. Empty cities.
The human race trembling on the edge of extinction.
ONLY THE DESPERATE SURVIVE
One of them is Rick Nash. But there is a price for survival: communion with a ravenous evil born from the furnace of radioactive waste.
IT DEMANDS SACRIFICE
Only it can keep Nash one step ahead of the nightmare that stalks him - a sentient, seething plague-entity that stalks its chosen prey: the last of the human race.
To accept it is a living death.
TO DEFY IT, A HELL BEYOND IMAGINING.
(Description from back cover of trade paperback)
314 pages, Paperback
First published March 31, 2010
22 people are currently reading
528 people want to read
About the author
Tim Curran
149 books596 followersTim Curran lives in Michigan and is the author of the novels Skin Medicine, Hive, Dead Sea, Resurrection, The Devil Next Door, and Biohazard, as well as the novella The Corpse King. His short stories have appeared in such magazines as City Slab, Flesh&Blood, Book of Dark Wisdom, and Inhuman, and anthologies such as Shivers IV, High Seas Cthulhu, and Vile Things.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 19, 2016
I've read quite a few Post-Apocalyptic novels that portray a bleak future - when some idiot gets an itchy trigger finger and pushes the self destruct button (or some biological weapon is unleashed....etc). Not sure if I've read anything quite as messed up as this though. This was totally fucking insane.
It had everything you could imagine (except little green men running around shooting lasers), from mutated Giant Rats, White Worms, Trogs, Scabs, Hatchet Clans, Militia and Insects etc....the list goes on. There's a threat around every corner, in every street, in every building and every city. The radiation from the fallout has altered the DNA of just about every species on the planet.
The story is told from a first person perspective by Rick Nash - the protagonist of the book (yeah, right). After the death of his wife (Shelley), he's captured by a Militia group - and is forced to clear the streets of the rotting corpses that are littered around the city. It's not long before he and another guy (Specs) seize an opportunity to escape their captors. As they transverse the landscape (what's left of it), they meet up with other survivors of the nuclear fallout - and before you know it, Nash has got himself a nice little posse.
I won't go into too much detail, but there's this thing (The Shape) telling him to head West. At first he doesn't know what this voice is: but he soon reaches the point where he sells his soul to the devil to please this entity (I think that's the right word to describe it). Anyway, to do this - he has to make a human sacrifice once a month; when it's a full moon - and in doing so (The Shape) will keep him and the rest of the group safe (unless Nash decides one of them has outstayed their welcome); for there is a much greater threat that is heading from East to West - which is destroying everything in its path: something known as Medusa - and it's just a matter of time before it catches up to them.
Anyway, it was one hell of a gruesome ride - with some interesting characters: Carl and Texas Slim being my favourite. I liked their constant banter and some of it was funny. Nash? I don't know what to make of him. Okay, he had some hard decisions to make, to keep his group safe - but some of the human sacrifices he made pissed me off; especially when he gave Marilyn to 'The Shape'. Janie? hmmm. I liked her - until she got a bit too feisty - though we find out why at the end. Still not happy with what happened to Monica though.
This book may be more disturbing than Graveworm, possibly - not sure. I bet Henry Borden would have fun in this Post Apocalyptic hell.
It had everything you could imagine (except little green men running around shooting lasers), from mutated Giant Rats, White Worms, Trogs, Scabs, Hatchet Clans, Militia and Insects etc....the list goes on. There's a threat around every corner, in every street, in every building and every city. The radiation from the fallout has altered the DNA of just about every species on the planet.
The story is told from a first person perspective by Rick Nash - the protagonist of the book (yeah, right). After the death of his wife (Shelley), he's captured by a Militia group - and is forced to clear the streets of the rotting corpses that are littered around the city. It's not long before he and another guy (Specs) seize an opportunity to escape their captors. As they transverse the landscape (what's left of it), they meet up with other survivors of the nuclear fallout - and before you know it, Nash has got himself a nice little posse.
I won't go into too much detail, but there's this thing (The Shape) telling him to head West. At first he doesn't know what this voice is: but he soon reaches the point where he sells his soul to the devil to please this entity (I think that's the right word to describe it). Anyway, to do this - he has to make a human sacrifice once a month; when it's a full moon - and in doing so (The Shape) will keep him and the rest of the group safe (unless Nash decides one of them has outstayed their welcome); for there is a much greater threat that is heading from East to West - which is destroying everything in its path: something known as Medusa - and it's just a matter of time before it catches up to them.
Anyway, it was one hell of a gruesome ride - with some interesting characters: Carl and Texas Slim being my favourite. I liked their constant banter and some of it was funny. Nash? I don't know what to make of him. Okay, he had some hard decisions to make, to keep his group safe - but some of the human sacrifices he made pissed me off; especially when he gave Marilyn to 'The Shape'. Janie? hmmm. I liked her - until she got a bit too feisty - though we find out why at the end. Still not happy with what happened to Monica though.
This book may be more disturbing than Graveworm, possibly - not sure. I bet Henry Borden would have fun in this Post Apocalyptic hell.
August 29, 2014
and a post-apocalyptic, biohazardous America will be filled with EXTREME GORE and a man will travel across the land,
guided by a voice in his head that he will inexplicably name
"The Shape" and he will be pursued by a rapacious squirming telepathic living virus known as "Medusa" and he will encounter a lot of EXTREME GORE and he will make friends of psychopaths and other annoying people
as well as two women who are of course totally hot and he will fuck both of them even though I would think they would be turned off by all of the EXTREME GORE
and so this merry band will meet all sorts of horrible things like the savage marauders The Hatchet Clan
and insane mutated crazies called Scabs and giant flesh worms
and giant mutated insects and mutated birds and mutated rats
and things that live in sewers called Trogs
and other assorted monsters and of course the radioactive tykes known as The Children, all of which dole out oodles of EXTREME GORE
and the descriptions are really vivid and full of
words like "xanthic" and "scabrid" because Curran is surely a very descriptive writer
and he particularly enjoys writing about all the horrific things a virus can do to the body, on and on with those descriptions,
Curran certainly has his schtick down, he just loves to describe his EXTREME GORE
and of course you gotta wonder why I even read these sorts of
novels filled with EXTREME GORE and well I do love horror and I love reading about post-apocalyptic horrorlands
where you have to fight to survive,
so I suppose that's the reason why, I'm not ashamed of my tastes, not at all, and so I read page after page after page of
EXTREME GORE and after a while I do have to admit...
it can all grow a bit tiring.
guided by a voice in his head that he will inexplicably name
"The Shape" and he will be pursued by a rapacious squirming telepathic living virus known as "Medusa" and he will encounter a lot of EXTREME GORE and he will make friends of psychopaths and other annoying people
as well as two women who are of course totally hot and he will fuck both of them even though I would think they would be turned off by all of the EXTREME GORE
and so this merry band will meet all sorts of horrible things like the savage marauders The Hatchet Clan
and insane mutated crazies called Scabs and giant flesh worms
and giant mutated insects and mutated birds and mutated rats
and things that live in sewers called Trogs
and other assorted monsters and of course the radioactive tykes known as The Children, all of which dole out oodles of EXTREME GORE
and the descriptions are really vivid and full of
words like "xanthic" and "scabrid" because Curran is surely a very descriptive writer
and he particularly enjoys writing about all the horrific things a virus can do to the body, on and on with those descriptions,
Curran certainly has his schtick down, he just loves to describe his EXTREME GORE
and of course you gotta wonder why I even read these sorts of
novels filled with EXTREME GORE and well I do love horror and I love reading about post-apocalyptic horrorlands
where you have to fight to survive,
so I suppose that's the reason why, I'm not ashamed of my tastes, not at all, and so I read page after page after page of
EXTREME GORE and after a while I do have to admit...
it can all grow a bit tiring.
April 19, 2020
Interesting take on another post-apocalyptic future with a virus on a loose, kind of like an Ebola, but more twisted and infectious, that creates a lot of mutations and unexpected things.
I like the way this one goes, in some ways it reminded me of some of the ordeals that the characters were pu through, in the previous novel that I`ve read by him, Dead Sea, but, to be honest, despite this, I like every minute of this one, too.
The story is the main thing that drives this book forward, and in some key moments the decisions of the characters are the ones that could cost them their lives. So don`t expect a lot in the character building chapter.
The survival it`s the main ingredient and also there are a lot of surprises that we`ll keep you guessing all over the way. Very good ending. I didn`t saw that coming.
Overall, I liked the whole post nuclear war atmosphere, the little interaction between characters and the frenetic action.
Keeping in mind that this it`s not like some of the King work, The stand, for example, with a lot of character building and description, but still better than others works that I`ve read, I`ll say that it really deserves a try.
I like the way this one goes, in some ways it reminded me of some of the ordeals that the characters were pu through, in the previous novel that I`ve read by him, Dead Sea, but, to be honest, despite this, I like every minute of this one, too.
The story is the main thing that drives this book forward, and in some key moments the decisions of the characters are the ones that could cost them their lives. So don`t expect a lot in the character building chapter.
The survival it`s the main ingredient and also there are a lot of surprises that we`ll keep you guessing all over the way. Very good ending. I didn`t saw that coming.
Overall, I liked the whole post nuclear war atmosphere, the little interaction between characters and the frenetic action.
Keeping in mind that this it`s not like some of the King work, The stand, for example, with a lot of character building and description, but still better than others works that I`ve read, I`ll say that it really deserves a try.
December 24, 2010
Disturbing and insanely gory apocalyptic horror.
Nuclear power has wiped away civilization and what's left of the survivors die because of extremely nasty diseases ( Ebola X - holy crap ! ), are mistreated by the army or are attacked by extremely nasty clans of mutants straight out of Fallout or are eaten/burned/torn to shreds by creations that resemble the BOW's of Resident Evil.
Tim Curran takes all of these elements and blends together a dark tale about humanity literally getting splattered across the ravaged and ruined city wastes and burned out landscapes ( which is the only minor point in this book : the tale could use some more descriptions of the landscape).
The author has a sick imagination and succeeds in creating viscerally disturbing sequences in a tale that may not come off as believable, but still finds a way to punch you in the gut.
Tim Curran, to me, is one of the finest writers of hardcore horror along with names like Lee, White, Jacob and others.
Nuclear power has wiped away civilization and what's left of the survivors die because of extremely nasty diseases ( Ebola X - holy crap ! ), are mistreated by the army or are attacked by extremely nasty clans of mutants straight out of Fallout or are eaten/burned/torn to shreds by creations that resemble the BOW's of Resident Evil.
Tim Curran takes all of these elements and blends together a dark tale about humanity literally getting splattered across the ravaged and ruined city wastes and burned out landscapes ( which is the only minor point in this book : the tale could use some more descriptions of the landscape).
The author has a sick imagination and succeeds in creating viscerally disturbing sequences in a tale that may not come off as believable, but still finds a way to punch you in the gut.
Tim Curran, to me, is one of the finest writers of hardcore horror along with names like Lee, White, Jacob and others.
October 30, 2010
This was the first book I have read by Tim Curran, and I was very impressed. His take on a post-nuclear apocalyptic America is basically like a snowballing nightmare. Its starts horrifically then continues to get worse. This is really nightmarish, disgusting and disturbing stuff, and I would only recommend it to readers of iron will and iron stomach. This is dark, nihilistic horror, but I feel like Curran's heart is in the right place. This scenario makes me wish for world-wide nuclear arms deactivation. Lets all hope and pray that world never becomes the hellish nuclear wasteland Curran describes in this novel. This is one great and scary book, I look forward to reading more of Curran's work.
August 18, 2022
A fast paced apocalpytic novel about a world were a nuclear war devastated the world. I really am enjoying the scenary that Curran describes. The first couple dozen pages are easily one of the best introductions I read in apocalpytic novel. It gives a magnitude that all is death or dying and the gore just fill the pages.
There are also amazing new beings fruit of nuclear fallout or even the description of the plagues. Tim Curran had a great imagination and gives us a bleak scenario. From page one he gets us into the turmoil that it's the life of our main character.
There are also some interesting beasts called the Children or Corpse worm (giant maggots) or even the Scabs (mutants).
The Red Rain is also a side effect of all nuclear fallout and the thing that it's calling Rick (our main character) called The Shape. As they travel west the book gets quick and quicker. The Shape is really a sick.. thingy that desires a human sacrifice.
Along came Janie (the new love of our "Hero") and two guys called Carl and Texas Clim who are always messing with one another. The images and beings that populated this radiated planet are very interesting and... vivid.
"Will you scream whhen I take Janie, your sweet little cherry away from you? Or will you barter for your own miserable life as her flesh blackens with the pox, as she drowns in a yellow sea of her own infected waste and diseased blood bursts from her pores and she vomits out the black slime of her own liquified intestines?" -- Hmm.. it reminds me of Nurgle of the Warhammer World:)"
Some imaginery. This writer really can write good (in a sort of twisted way) about death, virus, pestilance and such other niceties... Unfortunally the story is falling in a repetition phase. Kill, move city, new monsters, kill them and them move city."
As the journey ends what did we learn? Life is fvcked up there. We are the lions or we are dead (or worse). So the question remains... What is The Shape? Maybe as Price said is the ultimate cosmic chaos born of nuclear fision. And what is the thing that follows them? Are they team up for a reason? Maybe SOMEONE or SOMETHING got a plan? Or are they marching to death?
The ending is quite good.
There are also amazing new beings fruit of nuclear fallout or even the description of the plagues. Tim Curran had a great imagination and gives us a bleak scenario. From page one he gets us into the turmoil that it's the life of our main character.
There are also some interesting beasts called the Children or Corpse worm (giant maggots) or even the Scabs (mutants).
The Red Rain is also a side effect of all nuclear fallout and the thing that it's calling Rick (our main character) called The Shape. As they travel west the book gets quick and quicker. The Shape is really a sick.. thingy that desires a human sacrifice.
Along came Janie (the new love of our "Hero") and two guys called Carl and Texas Clim who are always messing with one another. The images and beings that populated this radiated planet are very interesting and... vivid.
"Will you scream whhen I take Janie, your sweet little cherry away from you? Or will you barter for your own miserable life as her flesh blackens with the pox, as she drowns in a yellow sea of her own infected waste and diseased blood bursts from her pores and she vomits out the black slime of her own liquified intestines?" -- Hmm.. it reminds me of Nurgle of the Warhammer World:)"
Some imaginery. This writer really can write good (in a sort of twisted way) about death, virus, pestilance and such other niceties... Unfortunally the story is falling in a repetition phase. Kill, move city, new monsters, kill them and them move city."
As the journey ends what did we learn? Life is fvcked up there. We are the lions or we are dead (or worse). So the question remains... What is The Shape? Maybe as Price said is the ultimate cosmic chaos born of nuclear fision. And what is the thing that follows them? Are they team up for a reason? Maybe SOMEONE or SOMETHING got a plan? Or are they marching to death?
The ending is quite good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2013
I'm sort of a sucker for post-apocalyptic tales and this clearly hits my wheelhouse with a Mack truck. The story is narrated in the first person by protagonist Rick Nash who loses his wife to a sickness following the nuclear war. Nash gets drafted to clear out dead bodies and I thought this would be a fun and creative direction for the story, but that path is quickly discarded in favor of following the voice of something mysterious and supernatural called The Shape. The Shape guides Nash and his small band of followers on a path west for a hideous price: Nash must offer The Shape human sacrifices.
If I say much more, the story will be spoiled, but suffice to say, it is a city by city survival and slaughterfest.
Not a ton of character development or depth, although Rick Nash does face a few interesting interpersonal relationship conflicts.
I wish the author had provided better landmarks for each post-apocalyptic city to differentiate them. Something like, say, the Space Needle in Seattle. Without these descriptions or significant plot twists at each location, some of the city battle scenes started feeling a bit repetitive. The mutant monsters and radiation effects descriptions were good and very Curranesq (after two books, I've learned Curran is a skilled description writer). Every major city has landmarks and even though the characters intentionally avoid major cities (too hot from the radiation fallout), perhaps there could have been descriptions of landmarks to help me visualize the difference between the cities as the group of survivors makes their way west toward a shocking ending?
And yes, I loved the ending! No worries, no spoilers here, except to say it was totally Twilight Zone. I didn't enjoy the overall story as much as Dead Sea (that is setting the bar pretty high though) and was thinking 3.75 stars until the ending, which elevates it to a strong 4+-star.
You bet I'll recommend this one to horror fans. Curran is two for two with this reader. Shoot, score!
If I say much more, the story will be spoiled, but suffice to say, it is a city by city survival and slaughterfest.
Not a ton of character development or depth, although Rick Nash does face a few interesting interpersonal relationship conflicts.
I wish the author had provided better landmarks for each post-apocalyptic city to differentiate them. Something like, say, the Space Needle in Seattle. Without these descriptions or significant plot twists at each location, some of the city battle scenes started feeling a bit repetitive. The mutant monsters and radiation effects descriptions were good and very Curranesq (after two books, I've learned Curran is a skilled description writer). Every major city has landmarks and even though the characters intentionally avoid major cities (too hot from the radiation fallout), perhaps there could have been descriptions of landmarks to help me visualize the difference between the cities as the group of survivors makes their way west toward a shocking ending?
And yes, I loved the ending! No worries, no spoilers here, except to say it was totally Twilight Zone. I didn't enjoy the overall story as much as Dead Sea (that is setting the bar pretty high though) and was thinking 3.75 stars until the ending, which elevates it to a strong 4+-star.
You bet I'll recommend this one to horror fans. Curran is two for two with this reader. Shoot, score!
January 17, 2011
4 1/2 Stars - A great horror read!
August 27, 2025
Postapocalyptia is a putrid, delsote nightmare.
After a nuclear annihilation reduces the world to diseased rubble, and his beloved wife dies of cholera, the main protagonist Nash needs to find a way and reason to survive. Driven by unidentified voice in his head he calls The Shape, he traverses the ruins of continental USA with a few other hapless victims of this new world.
An interesting take on nuclear wasteland, with a good dose of mysticism, that doesn't feel overly magical.
It's gory, disgusting, isolating and filps all morals upside-down.
Tim Curran creates a great atmosphere of isolation, of barren, bleak and miserable future.
4 stars because the pacing at the beginning is way too slow.
After a nuclear annihilation reduces the world to diseased rubble, and his beloved wife dies of cholera, the main protagonist Nash needs to find a way and reason to survive. Driven by unidentified voice in his head he calls The Shape, he traverses the ruins of continental USA with a few other hapless victims of this new world.
An interesting take on nuclear wasteland, with a good dose of mysticism, that doesn't feel overly magical.
It's gory, disgusting, isolating and filps all morals upside-down.
Tim Curran creates a great atmosphere of isolation, of barren, bleak and miserable future.
4 stars because the pacing at the beginning is way too slow.
November 3, 2015
This is my third book in a row by Tim Curran and I have to admit that this one surprised me. No I wasn't shocked by the blood and the gore and the horrible mutations caused by nuclear war, as I have a pretty high shock threshold. Okay there was one giant, mutated beastie in the sewer that did kinda gross even me out. I was kinda shocked by the notion that some sentient ball of nefarious evoyl (something that makes that little green ball in Heavy Metal look like a soap bubble) known as The Shape, demands that the protagonist make full moon sacrifices of friend and foe. But as Mr. Curran certainly painted the portrait of a dangerous, unforgiving state of the world, I got the message that the main character, Nash had to do what he had to in order to survive. Charged with a calling and under danger from mutated, diseased freaks and monsters all the way, his is not an easy task, despite his band of supportive followers. The Shape is a cruel and vicious god of cosmic nuclear devastation, but chasing Nash and his band of survivors across a nuclear-devastated land is something just as nasty, a living mutation of disease on a titanic scale, annihilating everything in its path...as it, the Medusa comes. Honestly, the amount of gore and death in this book is not for the light-hearted but the ending is absolutely brilliant in its final pages. The only thing I can even liken it to is sitting in the dark while watching the flame on a candle die out. Brilliantly terrifying!
October 10, 2013
Biohazard es una obra que se debe leer de manera obligada si uno es fan del terror cósmico.
Tim Curran nos regala un brillante relato con impactantes descripciones sobre el apocalipsis nuclear y sus secuelas.
Enfermedad, locura y muerte azotan al mundo donde el protagonista Rick Nash ha perdido a su esposa y por ende busca la muerte, sin embargo, en el momento final una fuerza cósmica e indescriptible se apodera de él y le encarga una misión, la cual le obliga a ir hacia el oeste, siempre hacia el oeste.
En su travesía se topa con varios sobrevivientes para algunos de ellos Nash es un salvador pero para otros...
Nash es un gran personaje ya que, a diferencia de la mayoría de los héroes de las obras post apocalípticas, no deja de ser una persona, con fallas y deseos, lo cual lo hace más cercano al lector común.
Un tratamiento novedoso que sitúa a criaturas regentes del caos (similares a las introducidas por Lovecraft) en un mundo moribundo, que ha recibido el tiro de gracia de manos de sus habitantes... la humanidad.
Tim Curran nos regala un brillante relato con impactantes descripciones sobre el apocalipsis nuclear y sus secuelas.
Enfermedad, locura y muerte azotan al mundo donde el protagonista Rick Nash ha perdido a su esposa y por ende busca la muerte, sin embargo, en el momento final una fuerza cósmica e indescriptible se apodera de él y le encarga una misión, la cual le obliga a ir hacia el oeste, siempre hacia el oeste.
En su travesía se topa con varios sobrevivientes para algunos de ellos Nash es un salvador pero para otros...
Nash es un gran personaje ya que, a diferencia de la mayoría de los héroes de las obras post apocalípticas, no deja de ser una persona, con fallas y deseos, lo cual lo hace más cercano al lector común.
Un tratamiento novedoso que sitúa a criaturas regentes del caos (similares a las introducidas por Lovecraft) en un mundo moribundo, que ha recibido el tiro de gracia de manos de sus habitantes... la humanidad.
March 18, 2017
Well, I quit reading this after about the first quarter … because I was bored to death. I bought “Biohazard” as it was rated as one of the best books of Tim Curran – this was my first Curran read -, but if that’s one of the best, I’ve had it with Curran.
The story is written in first-person perspective, which is generally challenging for any author, because of the limited point of view. Just one strain of action, no multiple/different lines of the story, no look into other persons mind etc..
Hence, an author really needs to be at his best to keep the reader interested. This story is written in a most boring way, like “this happened … then this happened … and then this happened …” … yada yada yada …
Obviously Curran thinks that just describing some gross happenings is enough to present a “post-apocalyptical horror story”, but he’s totally incapable to build up any tension, suspense, horror, thrill or to describe real action.
Just dull and boring.
The story is written in first-person perspective, which is generally challenging for any author, because of the limited point of view. Just one strain of action, no multiple/different lines of the story, no look into other persons mind etc..
Hence, an author really needs to be at his best to keep the reader interested. This story is written in a most boring way, like “this happened … then this happened … and then this happened …” … yada yada yada …
Obviously Curran thinks that just describing some gross happenings is enough to present a “post-apocalyptical horror story”, but he’s totally incapable to build up any tension, suspense, horror, thrill or to describe real action.
Just dull and boring.
January 17, 2021
The bombs went off. Nuclear disaster engaged. Fallout ensued. Then we learn to survive. What a thrill ride through the radioactive wasteland where fallout has achieved mutated abominations and those left alive are either for the dead or trying to live. The Medusa and the The Shape were fascinating ideas. The characters were rich with humor, emotion, life and not to mention deep undiluted dread. The monsters in this book are disgusting and imaginative. The living whatever-humans are just as disturbing and gross. The world painted in this book is dismal and vivid- I can almost smell Ebola-X.
If you find yourself in the wasteland. Find Rick Nash.
Rick Fucking Nash!
If you find yourself in the wasteland. Find Rick Nash.
Rick Fucking Nash!
November 29, 2024
At one point I did have to put this down when I was trying to read and eat dinner at the same time, due to some of the putrid details of some of the monsters in this book. (It was the mother rat in the sewer for me.) A great read, what you would expect from a nuclear, post-apocalyptic novel. Gorey, gruesome, never slow. Would recommend to anyone who is interested in the genre and doesn't mind some overly described body and monster horror.
January 20, 2023
Wow!
This is probably the best book I have ever read. The author is clear and succinct. He creates clear images in your mind. Characters are not always central to the book, they can be disposed and made to look natural. This is a must read!
This is probably the best book I have ever read. The author is clear and succinct. He creates clear images in your mind. Characters are not always central to the book, they can be disposed and made to look natural. This is a must read!
August 2, 2023
Wack ending and the author used the word "literally" way too much.
December 2, 2010
It is every person’s worst nightmare—nuclear war—and it’s happened. Whole cities have been completely wiped off the map. Those that are left standing are quickly becoming graveyards. What’s left of the government has instituted Martial Law. Corpse wagons make regular pick-ups of the dead. Radiation sickness and diseases like cholera and typhus are running rampant through what’s left of the population. Rick Nash’s wife Shelly has just died of cholera. He wants to bury her properly but that’s illegal. After weeks of eeking out some semblance of survival Nash has reached the depths of his despair and decides to commit suicide. He is stopped by a presence that he refers to as The Shape that he feels needs him in some way.
In his continued quest for survival in a world destroyed by the bombs Nash is unceremoniously drafted by the Army to help in the disposal of diseased bodies. He meets a young man called Specs and after multiple disagreements with the group’s leader they revolt and head to Cleveland. There they meet Sean a former hit man for a bike gang out of New Jersey. Sean has been hunting Trogs, people affected by radiation sickness who live in the bombed out cellars and sewers of the city and have resorted to cannibalism. It is while in Cleveland that Rick and Specs learn about the Hatchet Clans, the Children, and have a harrowing run-in with mutated rats. The three spend weeks together and soon pick up another survivor, a young woman named Janie. She is a beautiful girl who has not lost her moral compass or compassion. Rick tells the group of The Shape and its need for a sacrifice of some kind. After attempting to satisfy it unsuccessfully, Specs gets sick and asks to be given over to The Shape. When it finally makes an appearance they are horrified by what they see. The Shape is a living nuclear reactor that destroys its living sacrifices on a cellular level. Rick maintains his contact with it but doesn’t understand what The Shape wants from them.
The small group of survivors pick up Carl and Texas Slim. Rick realizes The Shape is guiding them and on some level protecting them. The group must make regular sacrifices on the night of the full moon and in some way it’s to keep The Shape from turning on them. While in Indiana they run into mutant mosquitoes that bleed their victims dry, sand storms that pin them down for days, and dust storms that carry enough radioactive material to burn a man to ash in minutes. Along their travels west, for that is where The Shape is guiding them, they are attacked by the Children. The Children were created by the same radiation that killed the adults but somehow it turned children under the age of ten into walking nuclear waste. If they touch you you’re dead. They pick up Gremlin and Mickey who are both told about The Shape and what they know of it so far. They manage to survive two different attacks by the Hatchet Clans large groups of people believed to be infected by a fungus and who kill everything it their path. During these months on the road Rick has begun having nightmares of a Medusa-like creature chasing them and bent on the survivors’ destruction. Rick comes to the realization that all of the places they have been to and the friends they have lost have all served a purpose, although he’s not completely sure what that purpose is…..until they stop in Des Moines and meet Price.
Price is a microbiologist who worked for the U.S. Army in a biological lab with Level 4 microbes—the deadliest on the planet. Price explains that not only have people and animals been mutated in some way by the radiological fallout but so have germs. Price himself witnessed the “birth” of Ebola-X, a deadly super-virus with a 99% infection rate and a 100% mortality rate. It turns its victims into a liquefying mass of toxic waste. This terrifies Rick and he thinks this is the connection with his nightmares and possibly The Shape, especially after Price tells him about the bioweapons lab in Nebraska. Is this what The Shape has been driving them to? And for what purpose?
Tim Curran has managed to scare the hell out of me with Biohazard and there isn’t a zombie in sight. When I was fourteen years old I watched the TV movie The Day After and that scarred me for life. I feared nuclear war because it was a real possibility. Tim Curran has brought all of those fears right back and punched me in the gut with them. The words he uses to describe all that the survivors encounter along their drive west paint an extremely frightening picture from the collapse of civilization as we know it to its final destruction at the hands of a superbug. The end is terrifying and explosive and left me reeling. Biohazard is a very dark look at the aftermath of nuclear war and there is no silver lining. It’s raw and visceral and not for the faint of heart. It will reach into your gut and squeeze as hard as it can, and even when it’s over you will be left feeling queasy.
In his continued quest for survival in a world destroyed by the bombs Nash is unceremoniously drafted by the Army to help in the disposal of diseased bodies. He meets a young man called Specs and after multiple disagreements with the group’s leader they revolt and head to Cleveland. There they meet Sean a former hit man for a bike gang out of New Jersey. Sean has been hunting Trogs, people affected by radiation sickness who live in the bombed out cellars and sewers of the city and have resorted to cannibalism. It is while in Cleveland that Rick and Specs learn about the Hatchet Clans, the Children, and have a harrowing run-in with mutated rats. The three spend weeks together and soon pick up another survivor, a young woman named Janie. She is a beautiful girl who has not lost her moral compass or compassion. Rick tells the group of The Shape and its need for a sacrifice of some kind. After attempting to satisfy it unsuccessfully, Specs gets sick and asks to be given over to The Shape. When it finally makes an appearance they are horrified by what they see. The Shape is a living nuclear reactor that destroys its living sacrifices on a cellular level. Rick maintains his contact with it but doesn’t understand what The Shape wants from them.
The small group of survivors pick up Carl and Texas Slim. Rick realizes The Shape is guiding them and on some level protecting them. The group must make regular sacrifices on the night of the full moon and in some way it’s to keep The Shape from turning on them. While in Indiana they run into mutant mosquitoes that bleed their victims dry, sand storms that pin them down for days, and dust storms that carry enough radioactive material to burn a man to ash in minutes. Along their travels west, for that is where The Shape is guiding them, they are attacked by the Children. The Children were created by the same radiation that killed the adults but somehow it turned children under the age of ten into walking nuclear waste. If they touch you you’re dead. They pick up Gremlin and Mickey who are both told about The Shape and what they know of it so far. They manage to survive two different attacks by the Hatchet Clans large groups of people believed to be infected by a fungus and who kill everything it their path. During these months on the road Rick has begun having nightmares of a Medusa-like creature chasing them and bent on the survivors’ destruction. Rick comes to the realization that all of the places they have been to and the friends they have lost have all served a purpose, although he’s not completely sure what that purpose is…..until they stop in Des Moines and meet Price.
Price is a microbiologist who worked for the U.S. Army in a biological lab with Level 4 microbes—the deadliest on the planet. Price explains that not only have people and animals been mutated in some way by the radiological fallout but so have germs. Price himself witnessed the “birth” of Ebola-X, a deadly super-virus with a 99% infection rate and a 100% mortality rate. It turns its victims into a liquefying mass of toxic waste. This terrifies Rick and he thinks this is the connection with his nightmares and possibly The Shape, especially after Price tells him about the bioweapons lab in Nebraska. Is this what The Shape has been driving them to? And for what purpose?
Tim Curran has managed to scare the hell out of me with Biohazard and there isn’t a zombie in sight. When I was fourteen years old I watched the TV movie The Day After and that scarred me for life. I feared nuclear war because it was a real possibility. Tim Curran has brought all of those fears right back and punched me in the gut with them. The words he uses to describe all that the survivors encounter along their drive west paint an extremely frightening picture from the collapse of civilization as we know it to its final destruction at the hands of a superbug. The end is terrifying and explosive and left me reeling. Biohazard is a very dark look at the aftermath of nuclear war and there is no silver lining. It’s raw and visceral and not for the faint of heart. It will reach into your gut and squeeze as hard as it can, and even when it’s over you will be left feeling queasy.
Read
December 10, 2010 It is every person’s worst nightmare—nuclear war—and it’s happened. Whole cities have been completely wiped off the map. Those that are left standing are quickly becoming graveyards. What’s left of the government has instituted martial law. Corpse wagons make regular pick-ups of the dead. Radiation sickness and diseases like cholera and typhus are running rampant through what’s left of the population. Rick Nash’s wife Shelly has just died of cholera. He wants to bury her properly but that’s illegal. After weeks of barely surviving, Nash is in despair and decides to commit suicide. He is stopped by a presence that he refers to as The Shape.
Nash is unceremoniously drafted by the Army to help in the disposal of diseased bodies. He meets a young man called Specs, and after multiple disagreements with the group’s leader, they revolt and head to Cleveland. There they meet Sean, a former hit man for a biker gang out of New Jersey. Sean has been hunting Trogs, people affected by radiation sickness who live in the bombed out cellars and sewers of the city and have resorted to cannibalism. In Cleveland Rick and Specs also learn about the Hatchet Clans and the Children, and have a harrowing run-in with mutated rats. They soon meet another survivor, a young woman named Janie. Rick tells Specs, Sean, and Janie about The Shape and its need for a sacrifice. After attempting to satisfy it unsuccessfully, Specs gets sick and asks to be given over to The Shape. When it finally makes an appearance they are horrified by what they see. The Shape is a living nuclear reactor that destroys its living sacrifices on a cellular level.
Rick realizes The Shape is guiding them and on some level protecting them. The group must make regular sacrifices on the night of the full moon to keep The Shape from turning on them. Along their travels west, for that is where The Shape is guiding them, they are attacked by the Children. The same radiation that killed the adults somehow turned children under the age of ten into walking nuclear waste- if they touch you, you’re dead. The group survives two different attacks by the Hatchet Clans, large groups of people believed to be infected by a fungus who kill everything in their path. During these months on the road Rick has begun having nightmares of a Medusa-like creature bent on the survivors’ destruction. He comes to the realization that all of the places they have been to and the friends they have lost have served a purpose, although he’s not completely sure what that purpose is…..until they stop in Des Moines and meet Price.
Price is a microbiologist who worked for the U.S. Army in a biological lab with Level 4 microbes—the deadliest on the planet. Price explains that not only have people and animals been mutated in some way by the radiological fallout, but germs have too. Price himself witnessed the “birth” of Ebola-X, a deadly super-virus with a 99% infection rate and a 100% mortality rate, which turns its victims into a liquefying mass of toxic waste. This terrifies Rick, and he thinks this is the connection with his nightmares and possibly The Shape, especially after Price tells him about a bioweapons lab in Nebraska. Is this what The Shape has been driving him to? And for what purpose? Tim Curran has managed to scare the hell out of me with Biohazard and there isn’t a zombie in sight. When I was fourteen years old I watched the TV movie The Day After and that scarred me for life. I feared nuclear war because it was a real possibility. Tim Curran has brought all of those fears right back and punched me in the gut with them. The words he uses to describe all that the survivors encounter along their drive west paint an extremely frightening picture from the collapse of civilization as we know it to its final destruction at the hands of a superbug. The end is terrifying and explosive and left me reeling. Biohazard is a very dark look at the aftermath of nuclear war and there is no silver lining. It’s raw and visceral and not for the faint of heart. It will reach into your gut and squeeze as hard as it can, and even when it’s over you will be left feeling queasy. Highly recommended.
Contains: violence and gore, adult language, and disturbing sexual images
Reviewed by: Colleen Wanglund
Nash is unceremoniously drafted by the Army to help in the disposal of diseased bodies. He meets a young man called Specs, and after multiple disagreements with the group’s leader, they revolt and head to Cleveland. There they meet Sean, a former hit man for a biker gang out of New Jersey. Sean has been hunting Trogs, people affected by radiation sickness who live in the bombed out cellars and sewers of the city and have resorted to cannibalism. In Cleveland Rick and Specs also learn about the Hatchet Clans and the Children, and have a harrowing run-in with mutated rats. They soon meet another survivor, a young woman named Janie. Rick tells Specs, Sean, and Janie about The Shape and its need for a sacrifice. After attempting to satisfy it unsuccessfully, Specs gets sick and asks to be given over to The Shape. When it finally makes an appearance they are horrified by what they see. The Shape is a living nuclear reactor that destroys its living sacrifices on a cellular level.
Rick realizes The Shape is guiding them and on some level protecting them. The group must make regular sacrifices on the night of the full moon to keep The Shape from turning on them. Along their travels west, for that is where The Shape is guiding them, they are attacked by the Children. The same radiation that killed the adults somehow turned children under the age of ten into walking nuclear waste- if they touch you, you’re dead. The group survives two different attacks by the Hatchet Clans, large groups of people believed to be infected by a fungus who kill everything in their path. During these months on the road Rick has begun having nightmares of a Medusa-like creature bent on the survivors’ destruction. He comes to the realization that all of the places they have been to and the friends they have lost have served a purpose, although he’s not completely sure what that purpose is…..until they stop in Des Moines and meet Price.
Price is a microbiologist who worked for the U.S. Army in a biological lab with Level 4 microbes—the deadliest on the planet. Price explains that not only have people and animals been mutated in some way by the radiological fallout, but germs have too. Price himself witnessed the “birth” of Ebola-X, a deadly super-virus with a 99% infection rate and a 100% mortality rate, which turns its victims into a liquefying mass of toxic waste. This terrifies Rick, and he thinks this is the connection with his nightmares and possibly The Shape, especially after Price tells him about a bioweapons lab in Nebraska. Is this what The Shape has been driving him to? And for what purpose? Tim Curran has managed to scare the hell out of me with Biohazard and there isn’t a zombie in sight. When I was fourteen years old I watched the TV movie The Day After and that scarred me for life. I feared nuclear war because it was a real possibility. Tim Curran has brought all of those fears right back and punched me in the gut with them. The words he uses to describe all that the survivors encounter along their drive west paint an extremely frightening picture from the collapse of civilization as we know it to its final destruction at the hands of a superbug. The end is terrifying and explosive and left me reeling. Biohazard is a very dark look at the aftermath of nuclear war and there is no silver lining. It’s raw and visceral and not for the faint of heart. It will reach into your gut and squeeze as hard as it can, and even when it’s over you will be left feeling queasy. Highly recommended.
Contains: violence and gore, adult language, and disturbing sexual images
Reviewed by: Colleen Wanglund
November 2, 2012
Tim Curran hatte mich schon mit seinem ersten in Deutschland veröffentlichten Thriller ZERFLEISCHT begeistern können, sodass ich auf VERSEUCHT sehr gespannt war. Endzeit und Co. gehören zu meinen Lieblingsgenre im Thrillerbereich und in seinem ersten Werk bewies er mir schon, dass er ein Kenner dessen ist. Kühl, brutal und direkt, so empfand ich seine grausige Welt damals und freute mich demnach sehr auf neues Lesewerk von ihm.
Auch VERSEUCHT steht dem in fast nichts nach. Die Story ist klar, einsam und erschreckend. Currans Vorstellungen einer untergehenden Welt sind realistisch und berauschend, sie saugen den Leser in eine vollkommen andere Welt und machen vor Brutalität und Schrecken keinen Halt. Ich was direkt gefesselt und in der Story drin, lebte und erlebte alles hautnah, denn Currans Stil ist sehr bildlich und nachvollziehbar. Ein Actionfilm, der einen beim Lesen vor dem inneren Auge abgespielt wird, so würde ich es am besten beschreiben.
So ist Rick, unser Protagonist in dieser Story, mit all dem Horror um sich herum live konfrontiert. Menschen, die infiziert, ja wahrhaftig verseucht werden, qualvoll sterben, verrecken und wie Vieh auf Wägen eingesammelt und davon transportiert werden – der Autor macht dem Leser hier das Übel sehr deutlich. Man muss stark sein und dies abkönnen. Menschenwürde ist hier Fehlanzeige. Das verkraftet sicherlich nicht jeder. Aber wer auf Horror und Thriller steht, muss sich darauf gefasst machen und wird daran seinen Lesespaß haben.
Die Charaktere sind liebenswert und handeln absolut nachvollziehbar. Natürlich ist niemand gerne mit dem Thema Tod beschäftigt, aber der Autor schafft es hier, dem Leser die Augen offen zu halten, denn man muss da einfach durch, ob man will oder nicht. Keine Chance zum Wegschauen und so erlebt man wahrlich mit, wie die Menschen leiden, entweder, weil sie selbst verseucht sind und tatsächlich verrecken im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes, oder aber, weil sie mit ansehen müssen, wie Freunde und Familie dahinvegetiert oder gar getötet werden. Das war ziemlich erschreckend für mich zu lesen, aber genau so habe ich mir seinen 2. Thriller vorgestellt.
Einziger Kritikpunkt den ich im Gegensatz zu ZERFLEISCHT habe ist der, dass sich die Story ziemlich hingezogen hat. Es passiert einiges auf den 450 Seiten, allerdings wiederholt sich etwas auch mehrmals und dadurch wirkte die Geschichte etwas eintönig. Mir war zwar bewusst, dass in einer sterbenden Welt die Einöde herrscht, allerdings hätte Curran die Story dann vielleicht etwas kürzen können oder aber sich noch etwas mehr ausdenken können. Zum Beispiel bleibt die Frage, was genau da die Menschheit zerstört, relativ unbeantwortet. Was auch den Vorteil hat, dass jeder Leser selbst nachdenken kann und muss.
Das Ende ist grandios, besser als in ZERFLEISCHT. Damit hat Curran es wirklich auf den Punkt gebracht.
Für mich ne klare Empfehlung an Hardcore- und Endzeitleser.
Auch VERSEUCHT steht dem in fast nichts nach. Die Story ist klar, einsam und erschreckend. Currans Vorstellungen einer untergehenden Welt sind realistisch und berauschend, sie saugen den Leser in eine vollkommen andere Welt und machen vor Brutalität und Schrecken keinen Halt. Ich was direkt gefesselt und in der Story drin, lebte und erlebte alles hautnah, denn Currans Stil ist sehr bildlich und nachvollziehbar. Ein Actionfilm, der einen beim Lesen vor dem inneren Auge abgespielt wird, so würde ich es am besten beschreiben.
So ist Rick, unser Protagonist in dieser Story, mit all dem Horror um sich herum live konfrontiert. Menschen, die infiziert, ja wahrhaftig verseucht werden, qualvoll sterben, verrecken und wie Vieh auf Wägen eingesammelt und davon transportiert werden – der Autor macht dem Leser hier das Übel sehr deutlich. Man muss stark sein und dies abkönnen. Menschenwürde ist hier Fehlanzeige. Das verkraftet sicherlich nicht jeder. Aber wer auf Horror und Thriller steht, muss sich darauf gefasst machen und wird daran seinen Lesespaß haben.
Die Charaktere sind liebenswert und handeln absolut nachvollziehbar. Natürlich ist niemand gerne mit dem Thema Tod beschäftigt, aber der Autor schafft es hier, dem Leser die Augen offen zu halten, denn man muss da einfach durch, ob man will oder nicht. Keine Chance zum Wegschauen und so erlebt man wahrlich mit, wie die Menschen leiden, entweder, weil sie selbst verseucht sind und tatsächlich verrecken im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes, oder aber, weil sie mit ansehen müssen, wie Freunde und Familie dahinvegetiert oder gar getötet werden. Das war ziemlich erschreckend für mich zu lesen, aber genau so habe ich mir seinen 2. Thriller vorgestellt.
Einziger Kritikpunkt den ich im Gegensatz zu ZERFLEISCHT habe ist der, dass sich die Story ziemlich hingezogen hat. Es passiert einiges auf den 450 Seiten, allerdings wiederholt sich etwas auch mehrmals und dadurch wirkte die Geschichte etwas eintönig. Mir war zwar bewusst, dass in einer sterbenden Welt die Einöde herrscht, allerdings hätte Curran die Story dann vielleicht etwas kürzen können oder aber sich noch etwas mehr ausdenken können. Zum Beispiel bleibt die Frage, was genau da die Menschheit zerstört, relativ unbeantwortet. Was auch den Vorteil hat, dass jeder Leser selbst nachdenken kann und muss.
Das Ende ist grandios, besser als in ZERFLEISCHT. Damit hat Curran es wirklich auf den Punkt gebracht.
Für mich ne klare Empfehlung an Hardcore- und Endzeitleser.
June 29, 2016
Second rate stand
The author seems to have wanted to do his version of S.K's The Stand. He probably shouldn't have bothered.
He creates a post-apocalyptic world where nothing survives unchanged but our intrepid little band and the food and water they fortuitously manage to keep finding.
My main problems with this story are as follows.
1. Radiation exposure doesn't do what he describes in his story, not even close. It destroys DNA it does not rewrite it nor is it selective in who or what it affects said affects being cumulative.
2. The character's are at best one dimensional. The lead, Nash, is already to die to be with his dead wife when he hears a voice in his head telling him to go west. (Not that annoying song) There's no promise of salvation or absolution no real reason to do so but off he pops anyway (sort of like the stand without the reason) And this is where it all starts to fall down. Nash and his crew aren't affected by the rampant radiation, toxins, diseases etc that affect everything else apart from bottled water, trees and plant life at obligatory campsites... strangely as well tyres are looted for fuel but not the fuel itself which seems to be sitting in abundance waiting for our heroes to come siphon. We won't go into the fact that fuel, left standing for anytime tends to break down and become useless even under the best of conditions.
And herein lies one of the main problems. The author creates the world sets the rules then promptly ignores them when they get in the way of the story. Lazy story telling. You create the parameters, stay in them!
All of this could be forgiven had the story been exciting enough to hold attention sadly not the case. The plot is weaker than cheap tea, makes no real sense and the creations seem to be more for gross out than anything. Mutation is by its nature random and not uniform. The sort of armies of all the same is evolutionary and requires the order of hundreds of thousands of years not a couple of years. Sorry dude, utter fail with this one.
The author seems to have wanted to do his version of S.K's The Stand. He probably shouldn't have bothered.
He creates a post-apocalyptic world where nothing survives unchanged but our intrepid little band and the food and water they fortuitously manage to keep finding.
My main problems with this story are as follows.
1. Radiation exposure doesn't do what he describes in his story, not even close. It destroys DNA it does not rewrite it nor is it selective in who or what it affects said affects being cumulative.
2. The character's are at best one dimensional. The lead, Nash, is already to die to be with his dead wife when he hears a voice in his head telling him to go west. (Not that annoying song) There's no promise of salvation or absolution no real reason to do so but off he pops anyway (sort of like the stand without the reason) And this is where it all starts to fall down. Nash and his crew aren't affected by the rampant radiation, toxins, diseases etc that affect everything else apart from bottled water, trees and plant life at obligatory campsites... strangely as well tyres are looted for fuel but not the fuel itself which seems to be sitting in abundance waiting for our heroes to come siphon. We won't go into the fact that fuel, left standing for anytime tends to break down and become useless even under the best of conditions.
And herein lies one of the main problems. The author creates the world sets the rules then promptly ignores them when they get in the way of the story. Lazy story telling. You create the parameters, stay in them!
All of this could be forgiven had the story been exciting enough to hold attention sadly not the case. The plot is weaker than cheap tea, makes no real sense and the creations seem to be more for gross out than anything. Mutation is by its nature random and not uniform. The sort of armies of all the same is evolutionary and requires the order of hundreds of thousands of years not a couple of years. Sorry dude, utter fail with this one.
September 5, 2011
Biohazard by Tim Curran is a nice post nuclear war novel. I will say first off that it doesn't match the standards of Tim Curran's dead Sea (doesn't even come close) but it is still a very fun read that tries and succedes at dripping some originality into the very bland and unoriginal stew of apocalyptic horror. It is a strange read and has more depth than most novels like it. I found it to be very emotional through the entire book with difficult choices having to be made by Nash, our protagonist, to stay alive. Day after day Nash and his companions must defend themselves against Scabs, Hatchet Clans, giant radiated rats and insects and so on. Like Dead Sea, Tim Curran's imagination gives this book some hellish monsters that should stick with the reader long after the last line "it was death" is read. It also contains some of the most disgusting scenes I've ever read concerning dead and rotting corpses, a lot of them. Also, as most readers of apocalyptic fiction should guess, this novel involves encounters with diseases that kill swiftly and brutally and this danger mixed with all the others is only kept from prematurely ending the main character's life (and the novel's) by a god-like being known only as The Shape. Two characters, Texas and Carl, are a bit annoying at times and seem to be recycled slightly from Dead Sea, but I like characters that annoy the reader, to a certain point. Brian Keene is an author who surpasses that point a lot more these days and tends to overdo it, but Curran toes the line of agrivation without actually crossing it.
All in all, Biohazard is another great effort from Tim Curran and most fans of horror should love it, if the odd ending doesn't agrivate them. Again, I am most impressed at Curran's ability to take this unoriginal plot and add some new things to it and that is why I think people should check it out.
All in all, Biohazard is another great effort from Tim Curran and most fans of horror should love it, if the odd ending doesn't agrivate them. Again, I am most impressed at Curran's ability to take this unoriginal plot and add some new things to it and that is why I think people should check it out.
April 6, 2013
Das Buch ist leicht und schnell zu lesen, Thema klingt interessant.
Der Anfang ist vielversprechend und die ersten Begegnungen mit Mutanten, Kranken und Kämpfe spannend ekelhaft und brutal beschrieben.
Aber ich hatte das Gefühl, es herrsche ein Auf und Ab an der Qualität des Schreibstils und des Plots. Satzteile wiederholen sich phasenweise doch recht auffällig. Nach dem dritten Mal hat dann wirklich jeder kapiert, dass die Taschenlampen selten zu benutzen sind, da an Batterien schwer heran zu kommen ist.
Das Schattengebilde läuft so nebenher, obwohl es doch wichtig ist..!? Das Ende ausgenommen. Habe mehr Details und noch intensivere Behandlung dieses Themas erwartet. Allgemein habe ich das in vielen Bereichen des Buches. Jedoch setzt sich der Autor lieber mit dem Beschreiben grässlicher Kreaturen auseinander. Kein Vorwurf, bloß eine Feststellung.
Der Hauptcharakter (Ich-Erzähler) kommt recht egoistisch und einfältig rüber. Trotzdem schließt man ihn ins Herz. Absicht des Autors oder nicht? Denn zugegeben (****Achtung Spoiler!*****) Rick Nash zeichnet seine eigene Geschichte auf, als der anscheinend letzte Mensch auf Erden und dem Tode nahe.
Sollte das entschuldigen, dass alle Charaktere gleich reden und man anhand von Ausdruckweise, Satzstellung und den Wortvorlieben oft nicht feststellen kann, wer da gerade spricht, wenn es nicht daneben stünde...?
Trotz meiner Kritikpunkte fand ich das Buch ganz gut und spannend. Kann man lesen. Rate nur Leuten mit schwachen Nerven und zu hohen Ansprüchen ab.
Der Anfang ist vielversprechend und die ersten Begegnungen mit Mutanten, Kranken und Kämpfe spannend ekelhaft und brutal beschrieben.
Aber ich hatte das Gefühl, es herrsche ein Auf und Ab an der Qualität des Schreibstils und des Plots. Satzteile wiederholen sich phasenweise doch recht auffällig. Nach dem dritten Mal hat dann wirklich jeder kapiert, dass die Taschenlampen selten zu benutzen sind, da an Batterien schwer heran zu kommen ist.
Das Schattengebilde läuft so nebenher, obwohl es doch wichtig ist..!? Das Ende ausgenommen. Habe mehr Details und noch intensivere Behandlung dieses Themas erwartet. Allgemein habe ich das in vielen Bereichen des Buches. Jedoch setzt sich der Autor lieber mit dem Beschreiben grässlicher Kreaturen auseinander. Kein Vorwurf, bloß eine Feststellung.
Der Hauptcharakter (Ich-Erzähler) kommt recht egoistisch und einfältig rüber. Trotzdem schließt man ihn ins Herz. Absicht des Autors oder nicht? Denn zugegeben (****Achtung Spoiler!*****) Rick Nash zeichnet seine eigene Geschichte auf, als der anscheinend letzte Mensch auf Erden und dem Tode nahe.
Sollte das entschuldigen, dass alle Charaktere gleich reden und man anhand von Ausdruckweise, Satzstellung und den Wortvorlieben oft nicht feststellen kann, wer da gerade spricht, wenn es nicht daneben stünde...?
Trotz meiner Kritikpunkte fand ich das Buch ganz gut und spannend. Kann man lesen. Rate nur Leuten mit schwachen Nerven und zu hohen Ansprüchen ab.
August 31, 2011
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room.
There was a knock on the door...
- from the world's shortest horror story (Frederic Knock)
I'm a fan of TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) stories, and as well suffer a compulsion to read dark stories regarding what I'm doing. So, J.A. Jance stories when I'm flying, The Perfect Storm for boating, avian influenza for hospital visits... You get the picture. With the onset of Hurricane Irene I had to find a good TEOTWAWKI book and found it with BIOHAZARD. It was perfect as we lost power for days and had a glimpse of living without accustomed comforts.
It's a good take on post-nuclear TEOTWAWKI with the accompanying realistic loss of civilized amenities. Tim Curran throws in some great mutated creatures, gore and viruses (Ebola-X WOW!). His band of travelers' characters are well developed and the interactions are compelling. It reminded me a bit of Stephen King's The Stand.
All in all, a great read if you're into apocalyptic tales - highly recommended.
There was a knock on the door...
- from the world's shortest horror story (Frederic Knock)
I'm a fan of TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) stories, and as well suffer a compulsion to read dark stories regarding what I'm doing. So, J.A. Jance stories when I'm flying, The Perfect Storm for boating, avian influenza for hospital visits... You get the picture. With the onset of Hurricane Irene I had to find a good TEOTWAWKI book and found it with BIOHAZARD. It was perfect as we lost power for days and had a glimpse of living without accustomed comforts.
It's a good take on post-nuclear TEOTWAWKI with the accompanying realistic loss of civilized amenities. Tim Curran throws in some great mutated creatures, gore and viruses (Ebola-X WOW!). His band of travelers' characters are well developed and the interactions are compelling. It reminded me a bit of Stephen King's The Stand.
All in all, a great read if you're into apocalyptic tales - highly recommended.
June 2, 2013
I really enjoyed this post-apocalyptic story by Tim Curran. It was also much more horror then Science Fiction, with weapons of mass destruction(nuclear and biological) seemingly represented by Lovecraftian Gods.
It was nice to see the phrase "nuclear chaos" actually correspond to something nuclear.
It was nice to see the phrase "nuclear chaos" actually correspond to something nuclear.
January 20, 2016
The perfect apocalyptic ride and my favorite Tim Curran book so far. Fast paced, unexpected, madness, fright, fun, ect.. it has everything! There are very few books i'm willing to read twice...this one is definitely on the list.
So far on my Tim Curran's Shelf and in preference order:
- Biohazard
- The Devil Next Door
- Dead Sea
- Skin Medecine
So far on my Tim Curran's Shelf and in preference order:
- Biohazard
- The Devil Next Door
- Dead Sea
- Skin Medecine
March 18, 2016
Wow. Tim Curran can really paint a horrifically vivid and gruesome picture with words. Extremely violent, grotesque, and just a tad bit sexy, this book is darkly entertaining and well written from start to finish. However, I found the whole bit about "The Shape", which is a major part of the plot, to be kind of stupid and it didn't really make sense to me in the end. Still a fun read.
April 26, 2012
Quite a whirlwind of a read. I got it on my Kindle Fire and couldn't stop reading it. Descriptions to make your hair stand on end. Scary apocalyptic vision this writer has. One word of caution-the ending does suck. But the ride getting there still made up for it. I hated when it was finally over.
May 16, 2012
Okay---Overuse of verbs, adverbs, & adjectives. It's good to be descriptive but not overly so. Really wanted to give it 4 stars, but I just couldn't. Wanted to quit reading it a few times, but it kept my interest enough to continue on. In a word----AVERAGE!
April 8, 2013
Non-stop post-apocalyptic gross-out. Just when you think the character has reached new depths of inhumanity, the next wave of horror descends. Do not read on a full stomach. That said, it's well done.
Want to read
March 22, 2012Kindle free download 3/22/12.
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