I picked up a copy of The Hot Zone today at Title Wave Books, one of my favorite Albuquerque bookstores. I was first introduced to the book nearly ten years ago. My freshman biology teacher had brought it to class and read us the first chapter. I remember sitting in class, riveted, listening to her read about the guy who picked up a tropical virus and went from health to doom in a matter of weeks.

I found a copy of it at the bookstore and pulled it off the shelves and started reading. Ever since, I've been hard-pressed to put the thing down. It doesn't matter that the explicit detail with which the author describes the affect of the viruses is terrifying. And even though the events covered thus far (I'm about 70 pages in already) all happened over twenty years ago, I'm still sitting on the edge of my seat, hating that no matter how fast I read, it's never fast enough to settle that burning desire to learn what happens next. Hello, Ring of Mordor. I never imagined I could be so morbidly fascinated. Holy shit.