I Prefer My Art With Colored Pencils, Not Blood

There's a used bookstore here in town. Limited hours of operation (3-6 in the afternoon during the week), but it reminds me of my dad's house, with the books stacked up everywhere. No dogs underfoot, though. It's a little more orderly than my dad's, since the books are grouped by type, but they aren't set up on the shelves as neatly. It's kind of hard to check out the books stacked behind other piles of books. On the positive side, the owner let me browse in peace after I told him I wasn't looking for anything in particular.

The point of all this (as you've no doubt guessed) is there will be book reviews in the future. And the present, since I'm doing one today.

First thing I notice about Chuck Hogan's Blood Artists (I keep wanting to call it Blood Addicts), the title is on the spine of the book and the inside cover, but not the front cover. The front cover has the quote 'Everything that begins, begins with blood.' Cheerful.

It starts with two scientists, Peter Maryk and Stephen Pearse. Maryk possesses a remarkable immune system which destroys diseases as soon as they enter his body, before he even develops symptoms. The only downside is his body has to rest afterward, so he usually falls into a deep sleep for awhile (which he terms a "cascade"). Their hope is to make Maryk's genetic advantage into something they can provide to the rest of the world, as diseases have started to overwhelm the tools man has developed to fight them. They're called away to what appears to be an outbreak of smallpox in central Africa, but turns out to be some radically mutating virus unwittingly unleashed by haphazard uranium mining (that explains the radically mutating aspect). All the infected die, and the military firebombs the place to seal the cave and destroy the virus (which can infect anything, including plants, and kill them. Except birds. They just carry it.)

Of course it doesn't end there, and the virus starts popping up in the U.S. Small incidents the Bureau of Disease Control can handle, but can't explain. Things progress from there, as Maryk tries to figure out how it's happening while protecting the last person who has any immunity whatsoever (besides himself), as her blood is potentially life-saving. His attempts to get her on board with this are stymied somewhat by survivor's guilt and the fact she now knows he's been trying to direct her life since her brush with the disease. To protect her. Because she's important.

It's almost a horror story, with the virus that will kill everyone, and there are scenes (usually involving Melanie, who finds herself in peril periodically) that play that way. It's also a chase story, people trying to track down a dangerous person or item before time runs out. Hogan opts for third-person when focusing on Maryk or Melanie's chapters, but switches to first for Pearse's, which is a little strange. Pearse isn't really telling the story, just his parts, since he's frequently not around either of the other two during their chapters.

I find the distinctions between the two doctors interesting. Pearse is the one who more obviously cares about the pain and suffering of patients, but this a) nearly destroys the world, and b) seems to lead him away from active work in the field, as he becomes head of the BDC, believing he can do more as some inspirational figure. Maryk is closer to Dr. House. There are times he put me in mind of the people from Umbrella Corp in the Resident Evil games, because I thought he might care more about unlocking the secrets of the virus than saving people. The sick almost seem like convenient incubators for something he wishes to study than beings looking for help. It didn't result in me not liking Maryk's character so much as not trusting him. Eeven when Hogan lets us inside Maryk's head, he doesn't spend much time examining Maryk's motivations. Maryk knows why he's doing most of what he does, and doesn't need to rehash it for himself, so we aren't privy to it. Nice touch.

I wonder if the end is supposed to be foreboding, as it seems Maryk might be making the same mistake Pearse did. It seems strange to call it a mistake, since Pearse only wanted to save a life, but it did nearly doom humanity. Maryk is being more careful, but there's still a chance something could happen. Never rule out improbable random events or general human stupidity. Reading the book, I had this sense it was saying doctors caring about their patients is all well and good, but saving lives is more important than holding hands, and that requires knowing when to let someone die (or help them along in dying). That's where professional detachment is key. But caring about someone or something can drive a person beyond their limits to help, so maybe it's all about moderation.