The Digital Plague

The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers (Who is hilarious, by the way..check out his blog) follows our hero, Avery Cates (from the Electric Church) as he races to find the creator of a plague that is killing everyone around him. Apparently Avery is the originator, and the kill rate depends on proximity. The book follows his race to figure out who is so hell bent on revenge that they would take out the entire world in the process.

Like the Electric Church, The Digital Plague is set in the indeterminable future-post “Unification”. There are huge class differences and poverty is commonplace. Avery is an assassin with a reputation to get the job done. He is also well known from his deeds in the Electric Church, where he destroyed evil genius Dennis Squalor’s system of creating members for his church–”flipping” people (taking their brain) and inserting into a cyborg who knows only one master. (I know, it sounds odd, doesn’t it? But it’s a great read, I promise!)
This time, someone has injected Avery with killer nanobots that replicate…and then begin consuming from the inside out.  Avery realizes that he is not falling victim to the sickness, as someone has put a “stop” on his infection-it infects others but allows him to stay alive so he can see the destruction his presence causes.

The book follows Cates as he attempts to find out the mastermind behind the plague. As per Somers’ usual, it is smattered with violence, swearing, and knock ‘em dead gunfights.

It was an entertaining read but the premise of “killer nanobots” just didn’t do it for me.

Regardless, Avery Cates is an amazing character. Follow him from the beginning in the Electric Church.