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    Infected: Director's Cut
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    Infected: Director's Cut
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    Infected: Director's Cut
    Audiobook11 hours

    Infected: Director's Cut

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Across America a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.

    Working under the government's shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips crisscrosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind this deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common - they've been contaminated by a bioengineered parasite, shaped by a complexity far beyond the limits of known science.

    Meanwhile Perry Dawsey - a hulking former football star now resigned to life as a cubicle-bound desk jockey - awakens one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices . . . he is infected.

    The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war Perry must wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 1, 2008
    ISBN9780739328866
    Unavailable
    Infected: Director's Cut

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    Reviews for Infected

    3.5/5

    596 ratings64 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This book jumps right into the action. No slow buildup, we are just there. I loved it. A tale of ordinary people infected by a strange parasite. As the infection progresses, they are prone to increasingly paranoid and violent behavior. The chapters alternate between Perry, an ex football player who is infected, and Margaret Montoya, a CDC researcher who begins to find a connection between the cases.

      As Perry fights against his violent thoughts, Montoya hurries to find what is behind the infections. There is quite a bit of gore in this book but it didn't bother me. I liked the excitement of the book, and the discovery of what is behind the strange triangles appearing on Perry's skin. I am disappointed that this is the first book in a trilogy. I wish this was a standalone book, because I am getting tired of having to read sequels. Oh well. I can't say I am going to seek out the other two books.
    • 4/5
      I admit that this book was like reading a romance novel for horror fans. The plot was thin in a few places but the pace was great. I ripped through it in a day and sometimes it's just great to have a book that is all about fun and oh that's really gross. No thinking required, just get on the ride.

      This book is for horror fans but I think it has some science fiction and thriller appeal.
    • 3/5
      Throughout this book (I had the recorded version), I kept thinking.. 'This is NOT well written'. BUT the storyline was intriguing enough that I kept going (even though I had another recorded book sitting on the back seat, waiting its turn!).
      AND... I'm going to add #2 to my to-read list.
      In the afterword, the author/reader apologizes for his voices -- that wasn't the problem. I would have liked an opportunity to edit this book.
      But.. still.. not only did I finish the book, but I'm putting the next in the series on my list.

      So, make of that what you will.
    • 3/5
      CHICKEN SCISSORS!!!!
    • 4/5
      Extremely graphic.Discriptive,violent and highy suspenseful.
    • 5/5
      Oh my this was good. Real good.A unique thriller involving a mysterious infection that is turning people violent... and more.Well written, good pace, plenty of atmosphere, a real pleasure to read. It's the sort of book that you'll stay awake to finish rather than taking care of those pesky needs like sleep.I am looking forward to digging into the latter 2 parts of the trilogy to see where this heads!
    • 3/5
      Es passiert zwar nicht viel in dem Buch, aber die Schreibweise und die interessante Thematik holen einiges raus.
    • 4/5
      Infected is a Science Fiction thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. A bio-engineered infection is threatening humanity. But who is or what is causing the infection? I Loved it and I hope you do too.
    • 3/5
      I didn't finish this, but I got pretty far for what it is.I don't read many Horror novels, and when I found this as a free podcast I started listening. I made it probably 80% of the way through, but it just got too gross. Like, completely and totally gross.It's really good, but it's just way more violent and way more gross and terrifying than I want to read. I didn't finish this book and I still feel that it's worth AT LEAST 3 stars. This is a very good book, even if it's way too gross for me.
    • 4/5
      This book is a thriller. It has plot, lots of plot. Blood and gore. Decent prose. One-dimensional but likeable characters. AND it takes place in Ann Arbor. So who cares if it missed some opportunities to explore what it means to be human and whether we are more than just the sum of our biochemical parts? It was a fun read.
    • 4/5
      pretty good...a slow starter but I liked the concept of the triangles. It got a little slow towards the end when all the military stuff came in. After reading the excerpt of "Contagious" I may skip it. Looks to be more of the same, but with more military, since the triangles are now, well, infecting others.
    • 5/5
      First heard this in serialized form via Podiobooks (I think) - masterfully read by the author, with occasional shocking sound effects! A great read.
    • 3/5
      Holy hell. So, to start, this book isn't without a few problems. Like sub-storylines that start and mysteriously fade away. And I'm unclear on who the main characters are. There's a few obvious ones, but there are a couple who assert themselves at certain times and then are nowhere to be seen later.

      However, the story is fast-paced, and if you enjoy gory horror, then this will definitely work for you. The "monster" is certainly chilling in the way that it incubated, emerges, and takes control of its victims. I'm intrigued enough to want to keep reading the series. And I'm not sure I'll ever find a creepier phrase than, "wake up we hungry."
    • 5/5
      Never has a book made me squeamish before reading Infected. Thank you Scott Sigler for one of the best books I've read in a long time.
    • 3/5
      An interesting beginning that doesn't quite hold up through the whole book. Some of the book seems just devoted to being as gross as possible--which isn't in and of itself terrible but doesn't really seem to do much more than fill pages. Ultimately it is not as scary as it should be and the science doesn't feel that real.
    • 5/5
      Scott Sigler’s Infected surprised me by being one of the best books I’ve read this year.The initial chapters describe a strange, alien virus that forms bizarre, triangular growths under the skin and causes its victims to break out in a paranoid, homicidal rage. We learn that the CIA has been charged with investigating this disease and keeping it quiet, by any means necessary.From there, we follow three different characters through interwoven stories: agent Dew Phillips, tasked with keeping the lid on the mystery plague; Margaret Montoya, a CDC examiner in charge figuring out what the disease is; and 'Scary' Perry Dawsey, former college football star/current office drone who hasn't been feeling too well lately...Infected is an incredible read. A masterpiece of ooey, gooey body horror (think of Eli Roth's Cabin Fever or David Cronenberg's The Fly if you aren't sure what body horror is). A fast paced, splattery and fun book that is very well written.Sigler's characters have enough depth to make you care about them. When I read the synopsis I worried that having the main character be an ex-football player was going to make him a Mary Sue, but Scott is a better writer than that. 'Scary' Perry's background is essential in making the events of the book believable.The author's sense of pacing is right on the money. I was constantly interested in what was going to happen next. The book has enough mysterious twists and turns that I was never able to outguess the characters or the plot.I also appreciate the detail and research that the author did. I have no idea how plausible or accurate his details of how the disease functions are, but they rang true as I read them anyway. Occasionally I would catch him making a mistake (the CIA operating inside the U.S. for example), only to have him address this point later.The only real problem I have with the book is that near the end it felt a little too obvious that he was setting the book up for a sequel. It didn't kill the book for me, but I think the hints should have been more subtle.This was a book I had sitting on my shelf for over a year. I should have gotten to it sooner. Then again, I'm kind of glad I waited this long to read it as I see that the sequel, Contagious is due out in paperback in a few days and I would have been impatient to get my hands on it if I'd read Infected sooner.
    • 2/5
      This review can also be found at: Written Permission

      Oh boy, where do I start. We will start with the good, because unfortunately there isn't much good to cover.

      I loved the premise of Infected. This fusion of science and horror was thrilling. As I read, I immediately thought of the movie "The Crazies", though aside from the apparent unprovoked homicidal tendencies, there really is no connection.

      I was impressed with the level of science in Infected. I am not an authority, and I don't know if any of it was actually accurate, but it made me feel like the author really cared about his book. He did the research. He put in the fancy words. They read a little dry at times, and there was at least one point where they used CDC as an abbreviation, assuming people know the organization (which most people do). And then they backtrack and explain it. In grisly detail.

      Because Infected was released first via podcast, it has a very conversational narrative which read really easily. Hence the fact it only took me two days to read it, despite the fact that I wasn't the biggest fan of it.

      And finally, the gore. Some of the gore was kind of "meh", but for the most part it was grisly and horrific... exactly what you want from a horror story. Fair warning... there is a lot of it.

      With the good covered, we move on to the bad. And the bad was very bad.

      There were far too many viewpoints, and I hated them all. I didn't like the racist 'Nam survivor CIA agent, and I didn't like the rage-aholic almost-football-star who at 26, still refers to his abusive father as "daddy". There were more minor viewpoints, that of the epidemiologist from the CDC, various other infecteds, etc. I can see this being effective in a podcast, but in print, it was just too scattered. I didn't feel connected at all.

      While we are on the subject of characters, let us stop at Perry for a moment. He is our main character in all this, and I just didn't like him or believe what he was going through for five seconds. Over the course of the book he lost so much blood, and yet aside from a few blackouts, he doesn't bat an eye. He should have been weak as a kitten by the end, if not dead. But no... he just got up and kept on going.

      Perry also has an issue with female characters. I was really disgusted with the way he treats the woman he meets near the end of the book. I actually took it really personally, because the author describes this woman almost exactly to my proportions (height and weight) and then proceeds to comment on how fat she is. I know I am not the skinniest person around, but I am far from "fat". Furthermore, women don't have to conform to some set of measurements to be beautiful. This attitude that women are fat after a certain point is so harmful. I am so thankful that this isn't a young adult novel.

      Infected suffered from repeat-shit-itis, especially where Perry was concerned. And it was very tell-don't-show, which is somewhat understandable considering the book's original medium. But I would have liked to have read less about what a monster Perry was when he played football, and how immortal College students thought they were, and more about the parasites.

      The ending of Infected wasn't particularly effective. In my humble opinion, they could have cut a few chapters and it would have done much more to draw me in to the rest of the series.

      Bottom Line: A science-horror crossover that delivers on both fronts. But watch out for the rapidly shifting viewpoints and the characters that you just can't like. I will very likely not be continuing with this series.
    • 5/5
      Never thought any author will be such a versatile voice actor...
    • 5/5
      Wow!! What a fun read!
    • 5/5
      You will love love love Scott Sigler.
    • 4/5
      Completely gruesome, creative & yet mixed w hilarity if u like infestation stories, this is totally worth a read.
    • 4/5
      This was one of the grossest books I have ever read. It was also one of the best novels about infection ever.

      Sigler's voice is HILARIOUS, and he manages to capture the terror and pain of having an infection inside of you without losing that humor.
      Loved the two viewpoints.
      Loved everything about this book.
      I don't necessarily recommend reading it while eating though.
    • 5/5
      Having just put down INFECTED, a horror story by Scott Sigler, I must say that Mr. Sigler is a sick, sick man. In a good way. If you like horror stories. The first book in a trilogy, it was published in print by Crown Publishing in 2008 (before that it was a serialized podcast). I’ve had this book on my shelf since 2008 (no comments from the peanut gallery!). I saw that Mr. Sigler was appearing at a local bookstore next month, so I thought it was indeed high time I got around to reading this.
      This book is for hard-core horror fans. If you are very squeamish, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It is jaw-dropping horror.
      The story starts out in Michigan, with people getting sores, then scabs, then bluish triangles under the skin, then voices in people’s heads, then abnormal behaviors, then I can’t even go any further. It gets much, much worse until it’s practically Armageddon in a forest.
      Although there are several people who are infected, we mostly follow the story of Perry Dawsey, a former football player, from his point of view. That lets us get into all of the mind and body changes that the infected people incur.
      Sigler’s descriptions are so gruesome, so detailed in all of its horrific display, and the buildup is so great, that to my mind its almost a perfect example of horror writing. I won’t soon forget Perry Dawsey! Or look at chicken scissors without wincing!
      INFECTED is so good in fact, I seriously don’t know if my nerves can take another book by Sigler!

      RECOMMENDED
    • 4/5
      Wow.. this book is something. Its a reallygreat book also. Scott, what gave this idea??
    • 3/5
      I was torn on whether I really liked this or not. I deffinately was entertained to the point where I kept wanting to continue to see what was happening next. Up until near the final act. Looking back at it though the storyline isnt original, and the characters are not too interesting except for maybe Perry Dawsey. The open ending paves the way for a sequel that Ill read based on the fact that this book did entertain me. There are plenty of parts where you end up thinking, WTH?! Whats going to happen next?, but in the end Im left with a bittertaste feeling. I felt that there could have been a little bit something else added to it, but the focus steered more towards the violence and gore. Just dont sacrifice the storyline and character development for it.
    • 5/5
      What a great story! The intensity that drives this story never lets up. From Perry's first arrival to the bitter end, I was always waiting for what came next. Its a book I read in a single sitting and then read again a week later just to get that feeling of dread and expectation back. So worth the read.
    • 2/5
      I really wanted to like this. In fact, I tried to get through this several times. Not sure if I just wasn't in the right mood or what, but it didn't grab me the way I expected. I'd be willing to try again though.
    • 4/5
      Book 1 of a veeerrryyy tense and gripping read.
    • 3/5
      "Infected" had a lot of potential, but it drug on just a bit too long. It tells the story of a strange virus/parasite/infestation that begins to take hold of a handful of people. They go from being perfectly normal folks to extremely violent psychos who most often take themselves out along with others. Once of those infected is Perry Dawsey, a former all-everything college football player. Perry suffered a career-ending knee injury and struggles with temper control. As the story progresses we see why--his father was a violent alcoholic. We also follow Perry as these...things...continue to grow inside of him. But being the tough football player he is, he decides to take these things on himself and begins mutilating his body to rid himself of the infection.Meanwhile we follow some CDC geeks and a few military folks who are on the case, trying to capture a live victim so they can investigate the pathogens.The book is full of extremely violent, bloody, and gore-filled scenes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I do think it got a little over-the-top after a while.As I neared the end, I realized the story wouldn't end--that there had to be more. I was somewhat disappointed in this because I wanted an ending and wasn't sold enough on the book to encourage me to read the sequel. To author Scott Sigler's credit, I found his style to be somewhat similar to Stephen King. He has a good voice and is quite descriptive. I think the character development was good, but as mentioned, the scenes with Perry could have been shortened significantly. I think this would have given the book more punch.If you like horror and science fiction, "Infected" isn't a bad book. It's just not as tight of a thriller as I would have liked.
    • 3/5
      I love these science-driven, epidemic, mass-extinction type books, and this one started out just like that and then veered wildly off in another direction. This book had some wonderful "oh holy shit" moments and graphic descriptions, but the ending was a little disappointing. Maybe this was just more of a science fiction thriller than I was expecting, but I probably will not be picking up the sequel.