Title: A Flock of Ill OmensSeries: A Shot in the Light, Part I
Author: Hart Johnson
Published: September 5, 2013
Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller
Format Read: Ebook
Length: Novella
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Deadliest virus in a century, or a social experiment gone awry?
Every year they warned about the flu and more often than not, it amounted to nothing. Sidney Knight, a young freelance reporter had certainly never written on it. But a trip to Lincoln City, Oregon cut short by a beach full of dead seagulls and a panicked warning from her brother the scientist catch her attention. This batch is different. Deadlier. And the vaccine doesn't seem to be helping. It almost looks like it's making it worse...
A Flock of Ill Omens: Part I is the first episode of A Shot in the Light, an Apocalypse Conspiracy Tale about what happens when people play God for fun and profit. There will be approximately ten episodes, each the equivalent of about 100 pages.
Teasers: “Stop! The éclair can’t be beat! I will forever be your cream-filled, flaky goodness ... wait. You did that on purpose.” [17% Kindle. This just had me snickering and craving an éclair.]
“Praying to God is one thing. Spreading him around like butter is using him,” he said. [93% Kindle. So true!]
Review: A prick of a needle may be so much worse than the virus it’s trying to prevent in Hart Johnson’s A Flock of Ill Omens, Part I of A Shot in the Light series.
No one wants the flu, but the cure seems to be killing off more people than it helps. Told from the point of view from several characters, A Flock of Ill Omens examines how each person is touched by the flu or knows someone who has died from it. From a journalist who searches for the truth to a nurse who fears for her job if she doesn’t get the flu shot to a southern bell watching her father’s slow decline to a military man, possibly the last of his company, Johnson brings these characters’ stories to life. I have a feeling their paths will cross as well as the series goes on.
For me, the pace at the beginning felt a little off. I struggled to connect with the characters in that first chapter as they find the dead seagulls on the beach. Maybe I wanted to know more what was going on and wanted a faster jump into the story, I don’t know, but the slow pace didn’t stay that way for long. By chapter two, I was getting into the story and full-speed ahead. Each new development answered a few questions and raised more. I wanted to know what was going on as much as the characters. At the end, I was left craving the next part.
If you haven’t gotten the flu shot yet and plan to, then you might want to hold off on reading this novella until afterwards. Hart Johnson takes governmental conspiracies to the next level in A Flock of Ill Omens. I look forward to reading Part II.
Four Bookworms = I really liked it!
