H10N1 by M.R. Cornelius

Title/Author: H10N1 by M.R. Cornelius
Publisher/Date published: self-published, April 12th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the author for review

Goodreads summary: "A deadly influenza virus rages out of control. There is no easy-fix vaccine. No eleventh-hour containment. Only death.
With no workforce, power plants are unmanned so there’s no means of communication; police and fire departments have collapsed so no one is safe; looters are scavenging everything from big-screen TVs to canned peas.
When Dr. Taeya Sanchez finds herself unceremoniously dismissed from an emergency medical facility in New York, she decides to steal the hospital’s armored van for a midnight escape.
Unfortunately, Rick DeAngelo, a driver for the hospital, has already stocked the van for his own getaway.
Thrown into an unfriendly alliance, these two must pick their way across the dangerous wasteland of America in search of a safe haven. And as the miles roll by, they discover that the living should be feared much more than the festering corpses out there."

I LOVED the first chapter. It was shocking, in your face and I thought wow, I'm gonna love this book. And then I read the rest of it.

And I am sad to say I was disappointed. As a med student I'm fascinated by things dealing with virus outbreaks or super bacteria and all that stuff wiping out the human race. Because seriously, that is what scares me. That is exactly what I'm scared of happening in the future and it isn't an unrealistic fear unfortunately. But enough of that.

I wasn't really sure what the point of the plot was. I felt like there was stuff happening, but I didn't really know why. I also thought it would have been about the virus spreading and all that, but it was actually after the initial wave and about the survivors of that. I also didn't really feel the romance, I didn't get it and I didn't think it was realistic.

Another thing I had a problem with: the main character is an epidemiologist, which is basically someone who studies things like patterns and risk factors and such. There are those who work 'in the field' so to speak, but it's usually only about infection control then, not so much the other areas of medicine. And I believed an epidemiologist knows how to stitch someone up, I do, because it's basic medical training. But you CANNOT tell me they also know how to perform complicated surgeries after someone is shot and there was also an inconsistency where for her to be able to do something she did, she'd have to have opened the patient up in two places and there was only one operating wound.

Yes I am ranting, but this really bothers me because this is what I know. Because I see this kind of stuff every day and I don't get how people think that being a doctor means you can do ALL THE THINGS. You can't. That's why we have all those different kinds of doctors.

Ok, stopping the rant.

I did like the whole idea behind the book with the virus outbreak and everything and seriously you guys, I loved the first chapter. If the book had continued in that way, it would have been amazing. But after that things went downhill for me.

My rating: 1,5 stars