Vector Zero

by Bryan McBee

Overview

Under quarantine, the people living in the rural community of Harper's Glen are isolated and terrified while a horrible disease ravages their home and armed soldiers roam their streets.

Shelly Christianson's life is turned upside down when Martin Fallon is brought into the hospital out of a terrible winter storm near the end of her fourteen-hour shift. Pursued by the relentless Colonel Aldridge, Fallon-along with the mysterious and deadly disease following him-has been cornered. As more troops arrive and the town is quarantined from the outside world, Fallon enlists Shelly's help to escape. Meanwhile, her friends and neighbors are falling ill and dying around her, and tensions between the soldiers and imprisoned populous sparks violence. As Shelly and Fallon attempt to escape the net surrounding them, the military resorts to drastic measures to capture them and contain the deadly outbreak.

In Vector Zero by Bryan McBee, conflicting political agendas, military action, and duplicity, set against the backdrop of a deadly epidemic, are brought to life in chilling detail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637528822
Publisher:	Atmosphere Press
Publication date:	05/25/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,072,864
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.68(d)

Editorial Reviews

2021-07-12
Chaos reigns when the Army seizes a rustic little town to stop a virus from spreading in this debut thriller.

Martin Fallon has eluded the Army soldiers hounding him for an entire month. He’d been part of a top-secret project, and now he’s infected with a virus. At least, that’s what Col. Preston Aldridge tells townsfolk in Harper’s Glen, close to where a blizzard spins Fallon’s car off the road. The desperate Fallon, after recovering at the local hospital, seeks refuge at nurse Shelly Christianson’s home. Though he initially takes Shelly hostage, Fallon may not be as crazy as he seems. He claims the Army is after him because he knows about the biological agent it’s been inhumanely testing—and all he wants to do is flee. Meanwhile, Aldridge sets up his command post at the hospital as he attempts to quarantine Harper’s Glen’s citizens. Soldiers also scour the area for Fallon, but residents object to their presence, convinced the Army has “kidnapped” the medical staff of the entire town. When the townsfolk’s resistance turns aggressive, the armed soldiers use deadly force. This only further enrages the civilians, who retaliate with guns and much worse. McBee’s novel generates intensity through a bevy of dubious characters. For example, readers don’t know who’s lying—Aldridge or Fallon—and each convincingly explains how the other is more dangerous. The cast comprises numerous players often reacting to someone’s hostility, including in action-laden scenes of the Army versus the residents. As such, the characters are generally underdeveloped, though Shelly is unquestionably sympathetic. She escaped from an abusive husband, and she won’t let Fallon make her a victim again. Despite several explosively violent turns in the story, the author’s grandest descriptions portray the cold, snowy surroundings: “Away from the plowed roads, the top-heavy military trucks slipped and fishtailed, fighting for traction on the slick muddy surface. Slowly, they plodded along.”

Distrust and deceit throw soldiers and civilians into a tailspin in this gripping tale.

Kirkus Reviews