• Pandemic

  • The Extinction Files, Book 1
  • By: A. G. Riddle
  • Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
  • Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (8,192 ratings)

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Pandemic  By  cover art

Pandemic

By: A. G. Riddle
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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Publisher's summary

A deadly outbreak in Kenya. A conspiracy beyond imagination. And a race to save humanity in its darkest hour.

From A. G. Riddle, the worldwide best-selling author of The Atlantis Gene and Departure, comes a novel that will change everything you think you know about pandemics.

A hundred miles north of Alaska, an American Coast Guard vessel discovers a sunken submarine at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. It has no national identification and doesn't match the records of any known vessel. Deep within, researchers find evidence of a scientific experiment that will alter our very understanding of the human race.

In Atlanta, Dr. Peyton Shaw is awakened by the phone call she has dreaded for years. As the CDC's leading epidemiologist, she's among the first responders to outbreaks around the world. It's a lonely and dangerous job, but it's her life - and she's good at it. This time she may have met her match. In Kenya, an Ebola-like pathogen has infected two Americans. One lies at death's door. With the clock ticking, Peyton assembles her team and joins personnel from the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the WHO. What they find in the remote village is beyond their worst fears. As she traces the origin of the pathogen, Peyton begins to believe that there is more to this outbreak - that it may be merely the opening act in a conspiracy with far-reaching consequences.

In Berlin, Desmond Hughes awakens in a hotel room with no memory of how he got there or who he is. On the floor he finds a dead security guard from an international pharmaceutical company. His only clue leads him to Peyton Shaw - a woman who seems to know him but refuses to tell him how. With the police searching the city for him, Desmond desperately tries to piece together what happened to him. To his shock and horror, he learns that he may be involved in causing the outbreak - and could hold the only key to stopping it.

As the pathogen spreads around the world, Peyton and Desmond race to unravel the conspiracy behind the pandemic - and uncover secrets some want to keep buried.

©2017 A. G. Riddle (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Pandemic

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4,383
  • 4 Stars
    2,378
  • 3 Stars
    1,012
  • 2 Stars
    290
  • 1 Stars
    129
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4,982
  • 4 Stars
    1,743
  • 3 Stars
    521
  • 2 Stars
    109
  • 1 Stars
    54
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,807
  • 4 Stars
    2,073
  • 3 Stars
    1,008
  • 2 Stars
    336
  • 1 Stars
    168

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Read this before buying, too much hype

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The narrator was great. I have no complaints about him at all. The problem with this book is that there is literally an hour of plot and 17 hours of "character development". The premise is extremely interesting, but this isn't a case of bad execution, its a case of NO execution. This is a book where millions of people die of a virus, the world is attempted to be taken over by a secret organization, but the ONLY mention of the public and how they react is the hospital being messy. Seriously? I get that you need to leave some things for the next two books, but that doesn't mean you ONLY do character development in book one.

What was most disappointing about A. G. Riddle’s story?

That its missing a story, I get that its the first book in a trilogy, but we don't need to be beaten over the head with why the characters are the way they are. Character development is great, but in this case its taken way too far. For example one character had a troubled youth, and it effected his relationships etc... Well that is explained to us about 20 times and takes up probably 6-7 hours of the book. Its interesting the first time, but to make the same point over and over just distracts from the plot, we get hes messed up we get why, now PLEASE get back to the plot. On top of that there are important characters who are messed up primarily the main bad guy! (granted we are introduced to them towards the end of the book, but whose fault is that?)

All of the people raving about this book either haven't read it or are just fanboys because of his previous series, which I enjoyed but did suffer from some of the same issues. No where near as bad though.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Extremely disappointed, although I do believe this series will get better.

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292 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Too hard to swallow

This is not the first A G Riddle book I have read - that was The Atlantis Gene - but it is likely to be the last. While I found The Atlantis Gene long, tedious and a bit boring, Pandemic is a mixture of interesting character development and an incredibly complicated plot. We are asked to believe that one of the characters set up such a complex set of hoops for himself to jump through that it was hard for me as a reader to follow them, but that the character was then able to get through those hoops successfully. I am willing to suspend belief up to a point, but this book passed that point as soon as the entire plot came into clarity as one of the main characters began to remember what was going on. I am sorry, but it would be just too much for me to swallow even if I believed that science could identify individual memories in a person’s brain and sequester them without doing the same to the neighboring memory. I would be more specific but I try to never include spoilers in my reviews.

Some of the book is quite interesting as we find out about the history of the individuals involved, but that takes up a small part of an incredibly long story which I would have found far more interesting if it had been subject to some decent editing. This might well have been a good 11 or 12 hour book, but 19 hours is just too long for this story and I lost interest about half way through. I almost gave up on it and moved to the next book in my wish list, but thought that if I waited long enough perhaps something worthwhile might show up. I was wrong and, as an added bonus, this is the first book in a series.

On the positive side, the narration was quite good with distinct voices, regional accents and an involved narrator. A pity the book was not up to the quality of the narrator.

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78 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring and not plausible.

struggled to finish. it was just kinda boring. Too much back - from- the - dead silly coincidences.

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61 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Please End. I ended it with 15 mins left!

80% of book excellent. Last 20% was impossible made possible way to much coincidental events. Ending so unbearable and unreachable i pulled the plug with 15 mins left.

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49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

This book is an infomercial for Audible

What disappointed you about Pandemic?

The multiple references to Audible (and the Audible app) were just repulsive to me. I did not pay for an advertisement for Audible. This is just repulsive.

What was most disappointing about A. G. Riddle’s story?

The idea that an author would feel compelled to include multiple product placements in an audiobook is just deeply saddening.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The characters are great.... when they aren't talking about Audible.

Any additional comments?

It is obscene that Audbile is charging credits/money for this book. As a free book for potential subscribers, sure, why not, but I felt dirty and cheated listening to this corporate product. Shame.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Creighton it is NOT

Someone said in a review "equal to Creighton" NOT EVEN CLOSE. The mistakes regarding routine medical treatment, science/biology in general are so annoying as to disrupt thee story entirely. For example the incorrect sequence using an AED, lack of understanding of consequences of smoke inhalation the list is endless. The action scenes were ok but really the whole storyline was poorly executed.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I hit chapter 74 and could not take it anymore...

Would you try another book from A. G. Riddle and/or Edoardo Ballerini?

Probably not based on this massive waste of time.

What was most disappointing about A. G. Riddle’s story?

Has anybody seen the missing plot? Anybody? At Chapter 74 and still no plot. But my head hurts from the excessively repeated character "development". Enough already! This is the problem with books that are planned as a series. Way too much time is spent stretching things out.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

He could have read twice as fast. It's my own fault for not doubling the speed. That might have helped the reader sound better doing female voices. He was horrible at that. It was very distracting.

Could you see Pandemic being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Definitely a TV series. In fact, I think it was written with that in mind so that episodes could stretch through 5 seasons...

Any additional comments?

I am going to start giving more weight to negative Amazon reviews and less to 5 star reviews. Obviously, there is a taste issue going on here.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Boring and dragged out

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A story

Would you ever listen to anything by A. G. Riddle again?

Nope

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Narrator was the only redeeming part

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment - there was so much hype about the book

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35 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Extremely silly-as if written as a parody

No character development, incoherent plot, ridiculous coincidences--like a chain novel in which the authors of each successive chapter try to outdo the others in terms of trite dialogue and meaningless action ( "We had guns and missiles in the last chapter--now let's have guns, missiles, bombs, and a plane running out of gas!")

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Jason Bourne/Contagion Hybrid

Any additional comments?

This was a well written novel. Combined elements from the Bourne series and Contagion. The performance was good with very distinct voices. The only jarring note was the audible commercials written in to the story. There are several instances of: "the (insert character) opened her audible app." I would have loved to be in the marketing meeting that lead to that. Other than this it is a book that I would emphatically recommend to a friend.

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20 people found this helpful