Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Virals
    Unavailable
    Virals
    Unavailable
    Virals
    Audiobook9 hours

    Virals

    Written by Kathy Reichs

    Narrated by Cristin Milioti

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Adventure is in Tory Brennan's blood. After all, she's the grandniece of world-famous forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Always up for a challenge, Tory and her science-geek friends spend their time exploring the marshlands of Loggerhead Island, home to the very off-limits Loggerhead Island Research Institute, where something strange is going on. After rescuing a stray wolfdog pup from a top-secret lab, Tory and her friends are exposed to a rare strain of canine parvovirus, changing them—and their DNA—forever. Now they are more than friends. They are a pack. They are Virals. And they're dangerous to the core. But are they unstoppable enough to catch a cold-blooded murderer?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 2, 2010
    ISBN9781101461808
    Unavailable
    Virals
    Author

    Kathy Reichs

    Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on Twitter @KathyReichs, Instagram @KathyReichs, or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks. 

    Related to Virals

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Animals For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Narlugas Are Real

      Jun 20, 2019

      Narlugas Are Real
      4 min read

    • Article

      When Nature Swipes Right

      Jun 1, 2018

      When Nature Swipes Right
      5 min read

    • Article

      Cloning Dinosaurs

      May 13, 2021

      Cloning Dinosaurs
      2 min read

    • Article

      Return To The WILD

      Jul 15, 2022

      Return To The WILD
      3 min read

    • Article

      Young Minds Like Moths To A Flame

      Jun 15, 2022

      Young Minds Like Moths To A Flame
      4 min read

    • Article

      Bird Pirates Strike Again!

      Sep 1, 2022

      PIRACY IS NOT just for hook-handed humans who sail the seas. When one animal steals food from another, biologists call it kleptoparasitism. (The Greek root klepto means “to steal.”) Some spiders, fish, reptiles, and mammals practice piracy, but the m

      2 min read

    • Article

      Read! Read!

      Mar 13, 2022

      A cafeteria, a gymnasium, and possibly a portal to a world where mashed potatoes are plotting against the (possibly robotic) lunch staff – it’s the Cafetorium! Join Liz, Declan, Remy and more at Newville Elementary school, with each story focusing on

      1 min read

    • Article

      What's Going On

      Jun 9, 2020

      What's Going On
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Symposium On The Mysterious

      Sep 1, 2023

      A Symposium On The Mysterious
      24 min read

    • Article

      His Family And Other Vaccines

      Mar 10, 2021

      OUR friend, the lovelorn laird of the West, was reluctant to take his mother to have her Covid-19 vaccination. However, he drove her to Dingwall and, to make the most of the trip, he attached the stock trailer to carry a bullock to the slaughterhouse

      2 min read

    • Article

      Country Diary

      Mar 15, 2023

      Country Diary
      2 min read

    • Article

      Serving Up A Smörgåsbord Of Good Reads

      Nov 24, 2023

      Conservation biologists Cliff and Suretha Dorse both moved to the Cape in childhood – he from KwaZulu-Natal, she from the Free State. Now their first book, Field Guide To Fynbos Fauna (Struik Nature, R350), celebrates the Cape's fynbos biome. They li

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book CLUB

      Dec 21, 2021

      Book CLUB
      1 min read

    • Article

      Looking With Your Ears

      Nov 12, 2021

      Looking With Your Ears
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Other Pied, Long-tailed Outsider

      Feb 10, 2021

      Lengthy tail feathers by no means guarantee our good regard. Its tail may account for half its overall length, but, after the pigeon, the magpie (Pica pica) is our most vilified bird, according to the RSPB. Its character is widely reputed to be chall

      1 min read

    • Article

      All The Small Things

      Jun 10, 2021

      All The Small Things
      4 min read

    • Article

      Read! Read!

      Nov 12, 2023

      Prepare for a read packed with stories so good, no human mind could possibly invent them! Told to R.A. Spratt by storytelling pig, Nanny Piggins, you’ll find tales about everything from Medusa and 1001 Arabian Cakes, to the Sword in the Stone and Twe

      1 min read

    • Article

      Animal Magic

      Sep 29, 2022

      Visiting a zoo is perhaps one of the nation’s favourite animal day out! But have you ever imagined what it’s like behind the scenes? Seeing exotic, and even endangered, animals up close and personal is a job that many of us would love to have. Chris

      2 min read

    • Article

      1993

      Sep 1, 2019

      SO ASTONISHING ARE the film’s effects, it’s still hard not to believe that Spielberg and co rocked up to an actual secret tropical island and just filmed the creatures they found there. Five Empire writers select the dinosaur closest to their heart.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Tipping the SCALES

      Feb 11, 2021

      Tipping the SCALES
      8 min read

    • Article

      Aesthetics And Well-being

      Jun 2, 2021

      I THOUGHT your editorial letter of April 7 addressed the central issue of the recent discussion of mutations in bird varieties. Likewise, Roger Everard’s letter in the May 12 issue addressed what his experience has been of some of the mutation psitta

      3 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Oct 3, 2023

      Book Club
      3 min read

    Reviews for Virals

    3.5/5

    452 ratings65 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The Little BookwormTory Brennan (grand-niece of Temperance Brennan) lives on a secluded island where her father works for a university research center. She is friends with four boys her age who also live on the island. After finding some mysterious dog tags on the research island, Tory and her friends get caught in the mystery of a girl's mysterious disappearance 40 years ago and also discover an illegal experiment that transforms Tory and her friends into something more than human.Having never read anything by Kathy Riechs I wasn't sure how Virals was going to read. I think that it is fairly evident that an adult writer is trying for a young adult audience. However, I can't find any fault with that. A few reviews I read complained that it felt dumbed down, but it didn't to me. There was a lot of science involved and it was written for someone who doesn't understand science (like me). I appreciated that.I really enjoyed the mystery part of the book. That was my favorite since I am a big mystery fan. It was a little Nancy Drew mixed with Bones (of course). Tory is such an awesome, smart character that I loved her. I liked how all the kids are thrown together by little more than proximity and they become friends even with their distinct personalities and backgrounds. Each of the "Virals" is well characterized and thought out.The paranormal aspect is fun, very sciency though it wasn't my favorite part of the book. But it is cool to have an almost reasonable explanation for the thing that happens to Tory and her friends. And the abilities they gain come in handy. I'm curious to see where this series is going to lead. Hopefully to a lot more mysteries.Review based on ARC
    • 4/5
      This book was ok. I would give it a 3.5, I found it hard to read in the beginning and once I got a fourth a way through I ended up liking it. The mystery and adventure reminded me of the TV series BONES. It had plenty of twists and turns that somehow ended up forming connections in the end.
    • 4/5
      Cavalcade of Authors 2019 author - Tory Brennan, our protagonist has recently re-located to live with a dad she didn't know she had with the death of her mom. Smart, but isolated by her dad's remote island home, she becomes friends with three science-geek friends who also are out of step at their ultra-prep private high school. Fast-paced, suspenseful & although a bit unrealistic (breaking into dad's research facility & discovering an ultra-secret lab, finding the burial site of murder victim, getting shot at, suspecting that she & friends are infected with a potentially deadly virus, dad's co-worker shot & killed - but no adult is told?? ) still a fun read, interspersed with Charleston, SC coastline history, geography and ecology. Of course, the hybrid canine parvovirus infects Tory & her friends who take on some qualities of wolves (gold eyes, hyper-senses) when their stress level/anger level rises.. and they have to discover who is trying to kill them as they solve the long ago murder, & why they also killed Dr. Karsten, who operated the lab, creating the secret parvovirus.
    • 4/5
      This book was really good!
      I enjoyed the strong female lead and the off shoot of the Temperance Brennan books.
    • 5/5
      Let me first say that I've yet to watch an episode of Bones, and haven't yet had the opportunity to read the Temperance Brennan series either! So when I found out that this book was based on that series I was a little worried. Would I be lost? Would there be allusions to things that I wouldn't understand? From the moment I opened the book these thoughts plagued me. I'm happy to announce that I shouldn't have worried one bit. Virals only pulls in a very small reference to Kathy Reich's other work, and is its own amazing story. It has an edgy science fiction feel to it, and I'll be honest when I say that it drew me in right away.

      We meet Tory Brennan, Temperance's niece. Right away I fell in love with her personality. She's one of the boys! Not that living on an island gives her much of a choice, but Tory doesn't seem to mind one bit. It was refreshing to see a girl who could hold her own in a group of guys. The wit and sarcasm that effortlessly flew out of her mouth had me giggling, and I was intrigued by her love of science. Truthfully, I see a lot to love in Tory and I'm sure other readers will as well.

      What I loved most about this story was the focus on the science fiction aspect versus the paranormal aspect. The story revolves around what the kids feel as they gain their abilities and how they learn to use them. At no point is there a reference to what they've become, in terms of supernatural beings. Again, I use the word refreshing. It was nice to read a book that references what the kids could actually do rather than heavily focusing on what they had become.

      The mystery deepens as the story progresses, and I was impressed with the layers of intrigue that this book puts forward. It might seem odd to say so, but to me this is what I like to call a "smart" book. It's a story that doesn't assume that young people don't have prior knowledge. This is a book for all those nerdy girls/women out there (like me) who love to feel like a book is challenging us instead of talking down to us.

      Virals is definitely the start of something great! I cannot wait to see what happens next, and this book has prompted me to find more of Kathy Reich's work to read. Amazing. Plain and simple.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable read. Cross between a thriller, young adult and fantasy/Science-Fiction.
    • 3/5
      Not too bad. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and I don't know if that's good or bad.

      I like the voice of the main character, you really got a sense of who she is and how she thinks.

      The double story line wasn't a big favourite of mine. Neither of them went as in depth as I would have liked but both of them were very interesting at the same time.
    • 5/5
      This book kept me on the edge of my seat! Loved everything about it! Can't wait to read book 2!
    • 4/5
      I always find Kathy Reichs an enjoyable writer and this book is no exception. I do think however, that it was not needed to link this junior fiction series with her "Bones" series. The main character (Dr Temperance Brennan's Neice)could have easily been a convincing stand alone character. The constant reminders of that relationship get a bit predictable.
      The story itself was good, mostly plausible, and reasonably fast paced, and after a middle section which dragged a bit, finished with a lots of action and the set up for an ongoing series.
    • 5/5
      Tory Brennan is very much like her aunt Temperance Breennan who is a forensic anthropologist and like her aunt she slovng puzzels. Then one day her and her friends Ben, Hi ,Shelton who sciences geeks like her self.
      go to logger head island to find the wolfdogs and what they find will change there lives forever.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. I loved all the action, yet the author kept it educational.
    • 5/5
      This was really exciting! I can highly recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Great YA novel that you'd expect from Kathy Reichs. Tory and her gang are trying to solve a 40 year old mystery and end up as part of an experiment to cure parvo for dogs.
    • 4/5
      An alternative to the current rage on paranormal. My first time with this author.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoy the book. The story was very interesting and I love all the actions. I love the relationship/friendships Tory have with the boys. And Coop is just adorable. I cannot wait to read the rest of the trilogy/books.
    • 4/5
      Quite readable story with a vauge link to her Bones series, our heroine Tory is Tempe's niece.Tory is living on a secluded island of Charleston in South Carolina courtesy of her father who works in a nearby laboratory, her friends are fellow island dwellers and their lives change when they rescue a sick wolf-dog from a secret lab. Getting the wolfdog back to health is their first fight, the second is the murderous intents of someone and thigs get more complicated when they find the bones of a girl who went missing 30 years previously.Light teen adventure, fun but nothing spectacular.
    • 4/5
      Tory and her crew of guys live on a remote island with their university faculty parents who work on a research island. The four of them uncover a mystery after roaming Loggerhead Island. When investigating, they threaten exposing a series of long held secrets and perhaps some secret, illegal doings at the research facility. Action-packed, Tory and her friends are exposed to a disease that seems to alter the very fabric of their DNA.
    • 5/5
      This is Kathy Reichs first book for the young adult audience, and wow what a beginning. As an avid reader of the Bones series I was interested to see where she would go with this book. The links to Bones are there as Tory is the niece of Temperance Brennan. After the death of her mother, she goes to live with her father live on an island reserved for the faculty who work at the remote research facility on a nearby island. Tory doesn't fit in with the kids at her school, but she has made an unlikely group of friends, all boys. She and her friends often explore the research island. Often exploring the Facility on the Island, the group find a puppy locked up and decide to break Coop out and hide him. The dog however, is sick and quickly infects Tory and her friends. They begin having hot flashes, blacking out, and using bursts of adrenaline to execute inhuman feats. These feats occur in times of extreme danger - being followed, chased, shot at, or while breaking into secure buildings. As the group try to understand their new abilities and the virus that has infected them, they uncover a secret about the facility.
    • 4/5
      These days it seems like a whole ton of big time mystery authors want to get into the teen bestselling book author ranks as well. This is Kathy Reich's entry, and one of the better of these entries into the genre.It's the story of Tory Brennan (Temperance Brennan's great niece), and her three friends, Shelton, Hiram and Ben. They get into trouble a lot. All their parents all work on a small island called Loggerhead. It holds lots of secrets and one of them, a dog tag, is revealed to the four kids. From there their adventure begins. One that gets them shot at and has them going through life altering changes.It's definitely not chick lit. Just as the promos material claimed, nearly every chapter was chock full of action. What I didn't love was the overabundance of pop culture allusion and general usage.But, hey, Tory's from Massachusetts, always a good thing, and all the characters are unique and interesting. My favorite though was Cooper the dog. Animals can be the hardest to write I think, and Cooper was written brilliantly.It's a good mix of fantasy, real world and science, though sometimes the scientific explanations got a little long winded. But, on the whole, definitely a four star novel.
    • 4/5
      YA. Strong, good characters, nice lead in to the series.
    • 3/5
      This book was interesting and fast paced.
    • 3/5
      When I found out that Kathy Reichs was writing a teen novel I got super excited. I love the television show Bones like you wouldn't believe. (It's one of the few shows that I own on dvd and buy pretty much within weeks of it coming out.) I've never read any of her adult novels (well I listened to one on audio book but it was abridged which I wasn't expecting and not knowing where they make the cuts I'm not sure how I should feel about the book. I mostly liked it but what if I missed something.)

      Virals is about Temperance's niece Tory who has recently started living with a father she didn't (he didn't know she existed either) after her mother's death. They live on an island in South Carolina where her father has housing as part of his job doing research. Tory hangs out with the other three boys her age that live on the island, Hi, Shelton and Ben. They find two distinct mysteries a set of dog tags related to a murder committed forty years ago and a wolf dog that Karsten (her father's boss) has been experimenting on. They rescue the dog and catch a strain of canine Parvo that imbues them with some wolf dna giving them stellar hearing, site and speed. These skills help them survive the people trying to kill them and get away with some crazy stunts in their efforts to find out what is going on.

      I was very surprised by how things turned out. I thought for sure that Karsten would be the major villain with maybe only one evil corporation behind him. I wasn't expecting other students from the high school to be involved (even though one of the students was the son of the owner of the evil corporation). I thought the stuff going on at the school was more to maintain the fact that this is a teen novel and remind the reader that in addition to all the crazy things going on she had to deal with snotty girls, boys she wasn't interested in liking her and debutant balls (gotta love the south). I really wasn't expecting Hannah to be involved, and I wonder now if there were hints throughout the book that she wasn't all that she seemed and I just missed it. That was a very shocking twist. Also Karsten wasn't really as evil as I thought.

      One teeny, tiny gripe, they started calling each other Virals before they really understood what had happened to them and for some reason it really really irked me.

      I liked the Virals, although I do feel like we didn't get to know Shelton as well as the others. I just feel like I don't know much about him. I liked Ben and Hi and Tory was definitely interesting. There was a scene or two where Tory just felt a little bit too adult, but mostly I enjoyed watching everything from her point of view. Over all I really enjoyed the book and I hope another one comes out soon.
    • 4/5
      good book to share with Abby
    • 5/5
      this book is more suited to young adults. i would compare to James Patterson's 'Max' series about avian kids. this book is a great departure of Kathy Reichs' bone series. (which i prefer to this story line)
    • 3/5
      This was an okay book. Much of it kept me interested but other parts were just kinda dorky the whole...wonder twins activate thing. I just don't think this series is for me.
    • 1/5
      I want to give KR the benefit of the doubt here, and assume she was pressured into writing this book. Something along the lines of . . .

      PUBLISHER: Kathy we just love your books! The refreshing way you intersperse real-life issues pertaining to forensic anthropology into compelling stories!

      KR: Thanks, I do my best.

      PUBLISHER: We think it's really important to reach out to younger readers and would really like you to consider writing something for them.

      KR: Such as . . .

      PUBLISHER: Well, the same amazing mysteries you write, but with concepts that teens find compelling. Like vampires. Or werewolves!

      KR: So I should write something that contains both real-life forensic issues and mythological creatures?

      PUBLISHER: Exactly!

      KR: Did Angel fans put you up to this?

      PUBLISHER: Why? Do you think we should be reaching out to them more? Do you think David would pose shirtless for cover photos?

      KR: (sigh)

      Yeah, it was that bad. That bad, plus a debutante function so she could "borrow" concepts from Gossip Girl as well as Twilight. You're better than this, Kathy. I hope.
    • 3/5
      Refreshingly nerdy. This is The Big Bang Theory crossed with Bones (TV series based on Reich’s books). Nerdilicious.

      Reichs does not talk down to her audience. This book is all about science and technology and the era of the digital age. The author is a real-life respected scientist so happily, for once, I can say that the science is real and the leaps made into the unknown/paranormal seem plausible. This is authentic science fiction. Take that, I Am Number Four!

      Although slow to start, 14-year-old Tory’s alpha personality is established straight away. She’s a mature girl who knows what she wants. Reich’s writing style was punchy, concise and intriguing. Yes, the beginning was heavy with description which is par for the course when it comes to world-building but once that was out of the way it was action, action, action.

      Although I predicted small parts of the story, there were still red herrings which diverted me. Often in YA the obvious is the answer and I’m pleased Reich’s didn’t go that route. Not everyone and everything is what they seem. Real mystery.

      The main characters are intelligent sponges, soaking up information wherever they find it. Knowledge is valued and utilised at every opportunity, and I appreciated every bit of it. Tory, into natural and biological science; Shelton, the geeky-looking mechanic and general gadget master; Ben, the athletic strong silent type; and Hiram (or Hi), the overweight guy with a penchant for sarcasm and probably the weakest, physically and mentally – are all valued members of a tight knit team. They are real friends who do not judge each other over every little thing: they listen, contribute and help each other whenever they can. Despite being forged by necessity living on a tiny island together and forced to go to school with rich kids, they have strong and lasting bonds, not superficial alliances in the petty games of teenage wars.

      I enjoyed the contrasting elements of rich vs poor, brains vs popularity, adults vs teens, and the demonstration of those who cling on to their social group at the exclusion and ridicule of others are ignorant and small-minded. And that some things are more important than money and social class, like say, morals and ethics.

      Perhaps I have an exceptionally dirty mind, something I have been accused of once or twice, or maybe the author has a sense of humour but names like Cummings Point and Hyman's Seafood had me in fits of laughter.

      Also, the number of crimes committed in the book is ludicrous. These teens are criminal geniuses when it comes to B&E and theft. Luckily they’re on the side of good. If evil, they’d be unstoppable. At times, I did find their simplicity and ease with which they committed their criminal acts a little unbelievable but I shrugged and moved on.

      I am curious by a few things. What’s behind the animosity between Ben and Jason? Will they become rivals for Tory’s attention/affection? Oh yes, I forgot: there is little romance here, perhaps a crush or two but nothing more. In YA these days, this is rare but very welcome when the plot isn’t contingent upon it.

      There is a self-contained story, no cliffhangers, and a reminder that not all teens are vapid, immature airheads who can’t survive without conforming, not to mention needing an I-can’t-live-without-you romantic love interest hanging in the balance. Some can be witty with talent and a bright future. People I’d like to know.

      This is not perfect. It was slow to start, I’m not strongly attached to the characters and the story does feel a little far-fetched at times but I was entertained and impressed by the science and the forthright nature of Tory and her merry men.

      Virals engages the brain. It is nerd candy. And I need more.
    • 4/5
      Tory is 14-years old and lives with her father on a small island. She and her buddies, who also live on the island, manage to “kidnap” a puppy being used for an experiment. At the same time, they come across a decades-old murder-mystery that was never solved. Tory, being a smart, budding forensic anthropologist, feels she can solve this murder. But, she and her friends are getting weirdly sick, at the same time.This was good. I liked it, and I love that they rescued that puppy! It is YA, so you get some of the adults-being-clueless and the kids-being-able-to-solve-the-crime going on, but it was still entertaining. This is the first book I've read by Reichs, and I am interested enough to read more. Virals is the first in a series (or trilogy, maybe?), and I will continue the series. I would also like to try her adult books, as well.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as I'd hoped, but better than I thought it was going to be at the beginning. It was a little slow until the middle of the book and then things picked up. I had been thinking I'd really like the Temperance Brennan series, but now I'm not actually sure. The writing here was only so-so which doesn't inspire me to move her other stuff to the top of my list.
    • 4/5
      Ummm.....Wow.
      Now I the only reason I liked this book is because I was expecting very little. But still... (yes you grammar junkies I started the sentence with "but") The only thing that bothered me is that at page 401 of 454 pages is when the action really started. Oh and for a book whose jackets swear that the book is about the DNA mutation there was very little of the actual "Viral" (direct quote) behavior. One more thing. To all you authors out there NO you do not need to use a romance to advance the story. Ms. Reichs has failed miserably with the "romantic suspense". It was completely transparent and bland. No comment on the cotillion however.