Virals

Virals, by Kathy Reichs, follows Tory Brennan—niece to Temperance Brennan from the Bones television and book series. Similar to her aunt, Tory loves all things science and adventure. However, her current adventure involves moving to South Carolina after her mother’s death to live with a father who doesn’t even know he has a teenager daughter. Tory makes the best of it by finding three friends—Ben, Hi, and Shelton—just as into technology as she is.

Things in South Carolina seem boring until Tory and her friends stumble upon a mystery surrounding dog tags from a Vietnam vet. Clues lead to a secure research lab located on an island off the coast of Charleston. While there, the foursome is exposed to an experimental virus. At first, nothing seems to out of the ordinary. Who doesn’t get sick every once in a while? But then Tory and her friends start having flares and suddenly they can do things normal humans can’t—like see in the dark and out run men chasing them with guns.

Now the four friends have two mysteries to solve, and as it turns out, both have high stakes and, possibly, lethal consequences.

Virals is fast-paced thriller and a fresh take on paranormal abilities. Reichs keeps the plot moving well and makes the book difficult to put down. The first in a new series, the second book Seizure comes out October 17.