The Hot Zone

A Terrifying True Story

by Preston, Richard, Richard Preston · 1994

When a lethal Ebola‑like virus slips from the remote rainforests of Central Africa into a U.S. Army research lab near Washington, D.C., a covert team of scientists and soldiers is thrust into a race against time. In the winter of 1989, they don bio‑hazard suits and battle an airborne pathogen that kills nine out of ten victims within days, threatening to turn the suburbs into a death zone. Richard Preston weaves a gripping, nonfiction thriller that follows the secret, 18‑day containment effort, the terrifying reality of “hot” viruses, and the thin line between containment and catastrophe. The Hot Zone delivers a pulse‑pounding, eye‑opening account of how nature’s deadliest microbes can erupt onto the human stage, proving that truth can be far scarier than any fiction.