Reviews

David Koepps’s Cold Storage begins in the 80’s as a serious sci fi story about a mutated virus discovered in the Australian outback and contained for over 30’s years in an underground bunker.
Introducing two security guards, a gang of crooks and bikers to the present day, the book takes a small left turn and reads like a fun sci-fi film from the 1980’s and it could not be better for it.
With a morbid sense of humour and with Koepp’s career as a screenwriter you can expect enough film references to keep any movie buff happy. Highly recommended.
This book was provided by Netgalley for an honest review

jenlengland's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

itendswithe's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

A warning: Every male character in this book is terrible.

As other reviews have said, the attempts to explain the science here is very bad in a way that wasn't necessary. When you're working with something from space, "alien" is a good enough explanation! The "mutualistic relationship" as described in the book does more to show the author's lack of understanding of biology than helpfully explain the fungal evolution seen.

Content Warnings

thatsme's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

Not as good as his other. Way too many f bombs! I finished because I wanted to know if the world would end, but ultimately felt like a waste of time

vineela0705's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

David Koepp's Cold Storage is a fast-paced thriller with a septuagenarian, an ex-convict and a single-mother engaged in a race against time, to fight against an alien fungus. The premise was exciting, but the actual story was nowhere as gripping and interesting as it could have been.

The narrative reminded me of [b:The Andromeda Strain|7670|The Andromeda Strain (Andromeda, #1)|Michael Crichton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388889327l/7670._SY75_.jpg|997271], my all time favorite. In both the novels, there's a break to the narration, as the author chillingly explains how shit was about to hit the fan. Of course, [a:Michael Crichton|5194|Michael Crichton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1359042651p2/5194.jpg] does it better.

The author tries to give the characters some depth, by giving them back stories and motivations. But they don't develop over the course of the story. There was no chemistry between the lead pair, Teacake and Naomi.

Maybe the author has no intentions of writing a sequel. The crisis has been averted and things have wrapped up nicely in just the last 10 pages. The ending was unimpressive.

Spoiler

It was never mentioned if the 2-minute delay in nuclear explosion had any repercussions. I would have loved it if the fungus went dormant, but still creating chemicals to break out of dormancy.

allysaudiobooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

viegreifen's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

3.5 stars.

You can really see David Koepp's style with this novel if you've watched the Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible series. It would have played out better on the big screen rather than in a book however. I didn't find it too funny but it was entertaining for a read.

More...