Contagion by Erin Bowman

Who is going to be the first to die?

Althea Sadik... a teenage lab intern to Lisbeth Tarlow
Doctor Lisbeth Tarlow, Hevertz Industries' microbiologist whose wisdom and experience kept her in a job in spite of a benign tumour which gave her hand the shakes
Dylan Lowe - 23 year old forewoman for the Northwood Point crew  
Nova Singh, wanna be military pilot hired temporarily by Hevertz Industries to pilot the Odyssey
Toby - tech administrator
Cleaver - security
Sullivan Hooper, Hevertz mechanic and Nova's cousin

When the story begins, a severe storm is approaching Soter's ice caps, where a team of Hevertz, (a multi-million dollar drilling company) employees are conducting an environmental assessment of Northwood Point. All of the workers get evacuated onto the Muriela, except the seven mentioned above who are given company orders to fly to Achlys, a planet located in the Fringe, where a crew known as Black Quarry have lost contact with Hevertz. In spite of many misgivings by the crew, they set out for Achlys knowing nothing except that there is no known reason for the lost contact. 
When they arrive, it is soon evident that there are problems - they find a few dead bodies with their throats cut but no evidence of the majority of the crew. The most disturbing discovery is a note, written in blood on the floor, near one of the dead bodies which reads:
<i>It got in us and most are dead. 
Decklan flew for help. 
Don't trust the kid. </i>
The captain, determined to make a name for herself, insists that they investigate the drilling site, arguing that the remainder of the crew might have sought refuge there. As if Contagion were a movie, I immediately started thinking, "No, don't go! Get back on your ship and fly away while you still can!" But of course, they don't. 

As I was reading, there were always enough unanswered questions to make me want to keep reading. I quite enjoyed Contagion but I can't tell you all the things I liked without spoiling it for you so I won't. What I didn't like, and will warn you about now is that it is NOT a stand alone and you are left with an extreme cliff hanger so if you're not up for that... don't read Contagion. At least book two, Immunity, is out already.

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