Contagion: Book 1 (Dark Matter)

by Teri Terry

Don't miss this startling first book in a breathtaking new trilogy from Teri Terry, queen of the teen psychological thriller and author of the bestselling Slated trilogy!

URGENT!
An epidemic is sweeping the country.
You are among the infected. There is no cure, and you cannot be permitted to infect others. You are now under quarantine.
The very few of the infected who survive are dangerous and will be taken into the custody of the army.

Young runaway Callie survived the disease, but not the so-called treatment. Her brother Kai is still looking for her. And his new friend Shay may hold the key to uncovering what truly happened.

From the author of the international sensation Slated comes the first book in a powerful new story of survival and transformation; love and power.

• ISBN10: 1408341727
• ISBN13: 9781408341728
• Publish Date: 18 May 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Orchard Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight .

Contagion started off a bit confusing for me. To be fair, the formatting of the eARC didn't help, but I also can't help that I was a bit lost. But as the story picked up, I became more invested. Shay was a decent MC, though not particularly memorable. Callie was certainly more sympathetic, but also a bit less likable- not that I faulted her for it necessarily (talk about being dealt a crappy hand!) but alas. Basically, the gist of the story is that our characters are travelling around their Scotland hometowns to (at first) try to find Callie, and then to try to figure out what exactly the deal is with the plague. 

I love plagues, and by "love" I don't mean I wish to obtain one. I love reading about them, because of the lengths characters will go to during them. True colors always come out when the stakes are highest, and that is no exception here. There's a lot of action, and I was never bored. 

I was a little underwhelmed with a few of the twists, however. I found them to be a bit (okay fine, maybe more than a bit) predictable. And because of that, some of the time our characters took to reach said twists was a little too much, since the reader can generally parse what will happen. And yes, I'd have also liked to have more connection with the main characters. That said, I was invested enough to want to read the second book, because there are a lot of unanswered questions that I really need answers to! 

Bottom Line: Pretty typical plague fare, but entertaining enough to keep me interested in continuing the series!