CONTAGION

An unusual plague sweeps across Scotland in this trilogy opener.

In the opening pages, 12-year-old Callie Tanzer is being experimented on by scientists in biohazard suits in an underground bunker. She dies after being consumed by fire. Now she’s a ghost witnessing the spread of a sickness that is soon let loose into the wider population of Scotland and beyond. Being a ghost is frustrating, but Callie’s determined to find her family, including her half brother, Kai, who has been obsessed with locating her after she disappeared a year ago. Enter Sharona “Shay” McAllister, who contacts Kai with information about Callie’s disappearance (Shay conveniently has a photographic memory—it’s been a year, after all). It’s insta-sparks for Kai and Shay, but there’s no time for character development, because the epidemic, dubbed the Aberdeen flu, starts killing off friends and neighbors. Luckily, Kai and his mother, an epidemiological researcher, are immune. Shay gets sick and survives, but survival comes with creepy abilities. Survivors are now being hunted, and Callie is consumed by the need for revenge. Shay and Kai fall in love laughably quickly, and the plague’s origins take a back seat to navel-gazing and improbable plot twists. All main characters seem to be white. Fans of the genre deserve better than this.

Boilerplate apocalyptic fodder. With kissing.