Quarantined

By: Joe McKinney

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

The citizens of San Antonio, Texas, are threatened with extermination by a terrifying outbreak of the flu. Quarantined by the military to contain the virus, the city is in a desperate struggle to survive.

Inside the quarantine walls, Detective Lily Harris is working burial statistics duty at the Scar, San Antonio's mass graveyard, when she finds a murder victim hidden amongst the plague dead.

But Lily's investigation into the young woman's death soon takes a frightening turn as yet another strain of the deadly flu virus surfaces, and now Lily finds herself caught up in a conspiracy orchestrated by a corrupt local government intent on hiding the news from the world and fighting a population threatening to boil over into revolt.

As the city erupts in violence, Lily is forced to do the unthinkable. With the clock ticking toward annihilation, Lily must lead her family through the quarantine walls and escape with news that just might save us all.

©2009 Joe McKinney (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

No spoilers

Therese Plummer is excellent as always. Mispronunced Bexar county—it is pronounced “Bear” not Bex-ar…..but—that is something you wouldn’t know unless you live here (I’ve heard residents mispronounce it too). Story was engaging—fast paced & ironically described many of the circumstances we saw with the Covid-19 pandemic even though it was published in 2011. It’s worth the read.

It could happen, and the frightens me

Quarantined has been in my wish list for some time, there was always something else that seemed more appealing, until finally I took the plunge and picked this up. I know of Joe McKinney from the Dead World series, have yet to listen to it, therefore I am hopeful that zombies will have a roll with the plague that has ravaged the world. But judging from the reviews I have read having no mention of the undead I am doubtful.

I was right being doubtful of there being zombies, oh well, this was still an intriguing and thought provoking. Quarantined is a psychological exploration of what could happen to a community if and when a fatal virus breaks out and the government tries to contain the situation. Starts out a police drama looking for who dunnit, even though this would be the last thing on my mind if I was condemned to die behind a huge wall. McKinney’s real life experience as a homicide detective gives Quarantined real bite as he guided me through departmental politics and bureaucratic red tape. The during investigation the true situation, the anarchy and social unrest, becomes apparent. Most of what I enjoyed about Quarantined was just how real it all seemed, a totally plausible plague, reaction to the plague, the social breakdown into spurts of anarchy that is created by the plague, this all made me wonder what would really happen. I really had only one thought after finishing Quarantined, it could happen, and the frightens me.

It took me almost half of the audiobook to get in to the narration by Therese Plummer. To me she sound like a very unenthusiastic reader who didn’t really believe or enjoy the story to start with. As the story progressed so did her narration, the more she got invested in the story the better her performance.

with a touch of suspence

the story line was a classic who done it mystery. It had me guess the whole way through.

Remember the H2N2 flu virus (shades of the Alamo!)

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I'm not sure yet. Only in Chapter 2. But narrator dropped the ball, big-time - and it is affecting my overall listening experience. (See question #3)

If you’ve listened to books by Joe McKinney before, how does this one compare?

So far, the book story itself is interesting. The narrator's performance is pretty much "unprepared". (See next question.)

How did the narrator detract from the book?

San Antonio, the location of this tale, is located in BEXAR County, Texas. It is NOT pronounced "Becks-are" County, it is correctly pronounced "Bear" County. Which anyone who had looked it up prior to recording this book SHOULD have known. Poor prep by Therese Plummer. It's like fingernails on the blackboard. Makes me mad everytime she does it. (Of course, non-Texan listeners probably won't know the difference.)

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Maybe. If they can pronounce "Bexar County" correctly.

Any additional comments?

Narrators should CHECK OUT pronounciations for proper noun place names before recording the book!

Interesting but...

Would you try another book from Joe McKinney and/or Therese Plummer?

I have all of Joe McKinney's other books and like them.

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

No, story is not that good.

Any additional comments?

FYI this is NOT a zombie novel. I was expecting something different but it is a OK murder/mystery. There are several parts that leave you saying