Lockdown

By: Peter May

Narrated by: Peter Forbes

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

They said that twenty-five percent of the population would catch the flu. Between seventy and eighty percent of them would die. He had been directly exposed to it, and the odds weren't good.

A city in quarantine.

London, the epicenter of a global pandemic, is a city in lockdown. Violence and civil disorder simmer. Martial law has been imposed. No-one is safe from the deadly virus that has already claimed thousands of victims. Health and emergency services are overwhelmed.

A murdered child.

At a building site for a temporary hospital, construction workers find a bag containing the rendered bones of a murdered child. A remorseless killer has been unleashed on the city; his mission is to take all measures necessary to prevent the bones from being identified.

A powerful conspiracy.

DI Jack MacNeil, counting down the hours on his final day with the Met, is sent to investigate. His career is in ruins, his marriage over and his own family touched by the virus. Sinister forces are tracking his every move, prepared to kill again to conceal the truth. Which will stop him first - the virus or the killers?

Written over 15 years ago, this prescient, suspenseful thriller is set against a backdrop of a capital city in quarantine and explores human experience in the grip of a killer virus.

©2020 Peter May (P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited

Incredibly timely ...

Incredibly timely story for these COVID-19 and CRISPR times. The events are dire and plausible. So glad that Peter May dusted off this unpublished manuscript from 2005 and released it to readers. Thoroughly engrossing. Full of twists and turns. A good read and listen.

suspenful

Peter knows how to write a great story even if very eerie but I did not like the ending.

Timely and frightening

A tense, fast paced story of deceit, murder and, mostly greed. A new variant of bird flu is introduced into London by an innocent little Chinese girl. It's a bit contrived that the girl used is Chinese, especially considering the time we're living in. An enjoyable fast read.

Vivid

A vivid portrayal of where we could easily have ended up this year. Even though it was written quite some time ago the situation is chillingly similar to covid! Complete with conspiracy theories, drug companies and military reactions to population control.

Murder case not a “pandemic” story

This is not a pandemic novel, it is more of a murder mystery that takes place during a pandemic. In my opinion, the title is off and very misleading. I applied Peter May for envisioning the lockdown world we currently are living in back in 2005.

I bought this book to support his work after hearing his how this book was first rejected for being “unbelievable”.

As for the story itself, it’s barely 3 stars.

SUMMARY: London is on a lockdown because of the “flu” During “essential construction” workers find a bag of bones that belong to a child.

A police officer is called you investigate the crime. The bulk of the story is this guy figuring out who the child is and how the child died. It’s basically an episode of the old TV show “Bones”

No big surprise, the child’s death is related to the pandemic. The last 25% of the book *does* dig into the origins of the pandemic, but it’s the same, tired story that has been overdone in countless many movies. I found the wrap up rather boring and dull despite loads of contrived action.

The writing is also poor; many long winded confessional scenes 🙄🙄 there’s also a Jason Bourne type character that seems a bit beyond human realism.

Bottom line: I’m not necessarily glad I read it (I admit I probably only bought and read it because of the hype) and I’m not likely to recommend it to anyone. If I hadn’t been on a car ride with no other options or signal, I probably would have returned it

Peter May’s writing style and research into every subject

A little slow at the start, but stick with it. In the end, some very current issues we have.

Cannot believe this is a Peter May story

Only got published because of our current pandemic.
Completely unbelievable plot. Went off the rails,
Well narrated though.