The Deep Zone by James M. Tabor

   


The Deep Zone

I just finished this wonderful first thriller by the non fiction author of Blind Descent, James Tabor. This guy is the real deal. I really liked his characters and pacing. I don't know why but I am very partial to thrillers and fiction that take place deep underground. The standard for this type of book is The Descent by Jeff Long. Extremely scary and interesting to boot.
But, The Deep Zone is a very worthy read. In a nutshell:

 Unjustly fired from a clandestine government laboratory, microbiologist Hallie Leland swore she would never look back. But she can’t 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 Afghanistan—and 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 Earth’s deepest cave.

Hallie’s team is capable—especially the mysterious Wil Bowman, who knows as much about high-tech weaponry as he does about microbiology—but 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 cave’s 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 Hallie’s mission into a journey of no return. 

The idea of being miles undergound is just plain spooky and the landscape that Hallie and her team have to travel is brutal. When reading this it is easy to start feeling claustrophobic. Traversing one of the largest and deepest caves in the world is no picnic especially when you consider it is all done by headlamps. Just the thought of running out of batteries makes you squirm.

This is a very quick read and if I remember correctly there are no "F" bombs at all in the book. Just serious suspense and some really bad guys that you want to see come to justice. Overall, a very fun book.