Faced paced medical thriller, a rather interesting read during the middle of a pandemic, when the book takes place post pandemic. Had well thought out plot and characters

I totally understand if you would rather not read about pandemic times so feel free to skip this book. However, if you are curious and interested to learn about some of the nuances of rolling out mass vaccination programs and the stresses of such huge responsibilities, this is definitely a thoughtful read to keep you engaged till the very end. Read full discussion with Erynn on Armed with A Book.

I enjoyed the fast-paced storyline and the different perspectives. Lisa as the Chief Public Health Official was a strong protagonist. Through her, it was clear how stressful pandemic situations are, especially when the mortality rate is high and young kids are the ones at risk. I felt like the choices in front of her were quite tough and though I did not think she knew enough about the vaccine to want to adopt it, you made a great point in our text conversation that a choice had to be made.

I think one of my main lessons from Lost Immunity was that the ones who one perceives will do the most harm (people who strongly disagree with our view, for example), are not always the culprit. When things started to go wrong with the vaccine, Lisa and the FBI desperately wanted to believe it was the anti-vaxxers. There are so many intricacies to why people believe what they do and not everyone shows up with a picket sign.

The pandemic and its dramatic pace was written really well in the book. The one chapter perspectives about the infected people helped me stay engaged with the story and cast a wider net over the experiences of the general population. Visiting the ER with Lisa was terrifying and nerve wrecking, especially when side effects started showing up.

Critiques of the book (with spoilers) can be read at Armed with A Book. Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a complimentary copy of the book for an honest review.

oh to read this book and be in the midst of a pandemic - can you handle it?
Such a great read that had me turning pages with speed and ease.... We had a great time zooming with Daniel as well to chat about this story and if you ever have the opportunity to catch Daniel live on any feeds, I would highly recommend making the time. He is charismatic, so kind, calls people by name and has such a great bedside manner that you only wish for in a doctor through any circumstance you may face when it comes to your health. Now imagine as an author! Stellar is my review and I highly recommend reading his work.

Thank you Daniel Kalla, Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for my complimentary eArc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I can't wait to read more of your work Daniel.

Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and Daniel Kalla for a free digital ARC for my honest review.

I found it a very intense, medical thriller. He presents the different consequences of and viewpoints on vaccinations, especially during outbreaks. This story takes place years after our current Covid pandemic is over. I found it very fast-paced and informative. I thought the characters and the plot were well-developed. I couldn't put it down.

#NetGalley #LostImmunity

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla for review.

Lost Immunity just made me tired. I’m tired of people not having faith in a vaccine. I’m tired of hearing the anti-vaxx nonsense. I’m tired of people not trusting public health. I’m mad at people calling autism a “vaccine injury”. I also don’t love that this book also had an anti fat comment about a bigger woman though again, that could be removed in the final copy. This one also had a romance side plot with no connection to the main plot.

This could be a tough read for some people given the pandemic ongoing right now but it’s timely and definitely relevant.

I haven’t read many medical thrillers but I have really enjoyed the ones I have. The author is an ER physician and therefore the medical parts are accurate and not Grey’s Anatomy-ish.

Things I loved:
-having views of vaccines from all sorts of people - public health, vaccine company and the anti-vaxxers. All three accounts were fascinating - although the anti-vax view made me infuriated.
-takes place in a post covid world, loved how the characters reflected back on their fight with the covid pandemic
-gripping and well paced

Things that weren’t my favourite:
-I figured it out before it was revealed, but I blame my medical background on that

A unique and unforgettable thriller.

Lisa has not long taken over as Seattle’s new Public Health Officer when a deadly strain of meningitis is found in the city. She does everything she can to secure a new vaccine to save the city’s children but are the side effects worth the risk?

When I realised this book was about a pandemic I had a moment of thinking it might be too much right now but in actual fact this book is nothing to do with our current situation. It’s set in the future, 4 years on from the end of the current pandemic (that day is coming, right??) and although it is mentioned briefly, it’s only a couple of passing comments in order to set a timeline.

This seemed a very timely book to read given the current vaccine discussions. I thought the author, who is also an ER doctor in Vancouver, handled the subject matter well and that he dealt with the “vaccine hesitant” in a respectful manner.

This is the first medical thriller I’ve read and also my first book by this author but I will definitely read more from him in the future as I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

My book club were lucky enough to get to chat with Daniel over zoom last week and we had such a great conversation with him and so appreciated him taking the time to meet with us!

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book by Canadian ER doctor Daniel Kalla was hard to put down! I was a bit worried about reading it in the midst of our current pandemic, but it was actually fine and quite timely (and different, obviously). My book club had the privilege of speaking to the author on Zoom after reading this, and it was incredible to hear that he obviously wrote the book prior to Covid-19 and had to make some minor changes to set it in a post-covid-19 world! Fascinating!

I enjoyed the characters and the plot and was quite intrigued to find out how it all ended up - this book did not disappoint!! Highly recommend as a medical thriller. I know I'll be picking up his backlist now!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you haven't had enough of our current pandemic and the controversy over the vaccine produced to fight against it, then you might be interested in picking up Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla.
Daniel Kalla seems to have a knack for writing terrifying scenarios that could be the screaming headline of tomorrow's paper.
In this case we are introduced to an uncontrolled spread of meningitis and the race to develop a vaccine to save the lives of children. A hurried release of the vaccine brings on a new set of problems. Is the vaccine safe and effective, is it to blame for a new set of symptoms and deaths or is someone sabotaging the vaccine before it is administered. There are a number of people who would like to see this vaccine fail for reasons of their own but who would benefit the most if the vaccine is deemed unsafe.
Thrilling ride that encompasses the ideals of anti-vaccers and that of big Pharma.

I received an ARC of this book. I have always enjoyed Daniel Kalla's books though it's been a little while since I read one. This was a fun, fast paced thriller with timely themes of a pandemic, vaccine hesitancy, and public health. It takes place in Seattle after COVID when there is an outbreak of a deadly meningitis that is killing teens and children quickly. It was an interesting read with part of it from the chief public health officer's perspective. It does touch on the good and bad of vaccines or any new medication but definitely from a medical, pro-vaccine viewpoint (Daniel Kalla is an emergency room physician) and does include the perspective of a father who blames vaccines for his son's health condition. Overall, an interesting, enjoyable, quick read.

Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla

A fast-paced medical thriller about an outbreak of a deadly disease targeting children in Seattle (in a post-Covid world!), a possible new vaccine offering hope in a desperate situation. Vaccine hesitancy, possible sabotage and misinformation abounds, creating more chaos in the midst of the public health disaster.

This is a well written tale, plot constantly moving forward, pages turning. It might be hard for some to read given the somewhat graphic and at times upsetting medical situations that arise. There is balanced debate about vaccines; as I’m firmly pro-vaccination, I understood the frustration held by the characters who are part of the public health team trying to save lives by getting those at-risk vaccinated; it was palpable. Both sides were well-written and I think the author did a great job of showcasing the present day issues within a fictional setting. There was also a very suspenseful sabotage/corporate espionage situation that was gripping!

I quite liked it overall; I don’t know that I’ve ever read a medical thriller before. I do work in health care but I don’t think the book has too much jargon. The big pharma people were a bit stock character-like but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. I will definitely read more from this author - I’ve already got my eye on his previous release.

I’d recommend to anyone who is intrigued by this timely plot! I think this one would appeal to many who aren’t frequent thriller loyalists too.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and to Netgalley for an e-copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and Daniel Kalla.
This is the second novel I had the pleasure of reading from Daniel Kalla and he does not disappoint.
Unfortunately, this book hit too close to home, we are in 2021 and we are in a worldwide pandemic.
This novel is also about a pandemic but this one is hitting children only.
Daniel Kalla is a physician and we can see it through his writing.
Very well written and researched medical thriller.
Could not put it down, fast paced.
Highly recommend.
5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and the author as well as Simon & Schuster Canada for this read. IF the Covid-19 virus is becoming too much for you, this is not your book. This book was a good read though, fast paced and just showed where life can bring you at times. Decisions, decisions decisions!! Things went wrong in this book for a few recipients of the vaccination and boy...is all I can say.

Have a read! thank you.

When reviewers indicate a book is “timely”, I’m not sure they anticipate a novel that is literally reflecting questions and concerns that are relevant on the publication day. Lost Immunity, a medical thriller written by Canadian ER physician Daniel Kalla, dives deep into the questions and concerns that have simmered for decades surrounding vaccines.

In a post-COVID Seattle, an outbreak of deadly meningitis is infecting children and young adults, leading to hospitalizations and death. The Public Health Officer, Lisa Dyer, learns of a new vaccine that could change the path of this epidemic, but it hasn’t finished the full trial process. When she pushes through a vaccination plan, she bumps up against government officials and anti-vaxxers, but celebrates the early success… until there are serious side effects. Who is to blame? And is the cure worse than the disease?

Kalla has done a stellar job of balancing the pros and cons of vaccination, and has blended the scientific with the emotional and psychological impacts felt when vaccine decisions need to be made, both on a government and personal level. To be reading this novel, as politicians and health officials are trying to overcome vaccination hesitancy, and as side effects from COVID vaccines are making the news, was an exercise in separating fact from fiction. I felt compelled to keep reading, to find out who has undermined the process, and more importantly, why. This book will not be for everyone, especially considering world events currently, but I appreciated the perspective and research that Kalla brought to the story.

BOOK REVIEW
Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla

Thank you to @netgalley and @simonandschusterca for my copy in return for an honest review

This is my first book from Kalla, and it did not disappoint. Reading about a pandemic while the world is in the midst of one may not be for everyone but I was all for it.

Synopsis
A strain of meningitis is sweeping across Seattle. Newly appointed Chief Public Health officer Lisa and her team are racing against the clock. Nathan - a Pharma VP- has a possible solution… a vaccine… not yet through final testing that may be the solution to their problem… as body counts rise they decide to roll out the vaccine…… will it be enough?

A reminder that this is fiction. There is a lot of content about immunization hesitancy, the connection between autism and immunizations, the theory of corporate Pharma companies creating diseases as a financial scheme costing the economy and healthcare systems billions of dollars…. It is fiction BUT…… these are real concerns. Kalla puts it all out there. The doubt, the science, the data, all of it. You don’t have to agree with it all to appreciate the perspectives and controversy Kalla embeds throughout the dialogue. The reader will feel the tension building as Lisa and Nathan fight to contain the disease. You will empathize with the families of the children who fall ill and succumb. You will be reminded of Covid 19…. Kalla mentions it in passing as yet another pandemic the world overcame.

I would describe this book as a medical thriller with a bit of corporate espionage. Its full of trigger warnings and uncomfortable moments that you cant look away from. The reader is compelled to finish… hoping and praying the vaccine works. Highly recommend.

Yet another scary medical thriller from Daniel Kalla. This one hits a bit too close to home with the story though, with an out of control virus, a new vaccine, big pharma and anti-vaxxers. There are many storylines going on here; juggling high profile careers with marriage and kids, terminal and mental illness all provide the backdrop for a deadly meningitis outbreak and how the Public Health Dept. tries to deal with it.
While I did enjoy the rush of the story, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. I only wanted to finish the book to see what was really going on because Dr. Kalla's books are never straightforward. (It is a thriller after all).
This is probably not the best book to read right now in light of Covid-19 and the controversary over vaccines and the anti-vaxxer movement, but if you read it with an open mind you'll learn some interesting facts from an actual ER doctor.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

3.5 stars

Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla is a medical thriller.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Simon & Schuster Canada, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Lisa Dyer, Seattle's Chief Public Health Officer, is in the middle of Public Health Forum discussing the State's view on immunizing young boys and girls with an HPV Vaccine, when her pager goes off.  Four teenagers have died from Meningitis, and they had all attended the same Bible Camp.  Lisa leaves both the podium and the anti-vaxxers behind.

They quickly find that the strain of meningitis  is identical to the one that devastated Iceland last year.  After discovering that Iceland is in the middle of a final-stage trial of a vaccine that shows promise, Lisa contacts the American manufacturer and asks him to release it early, and to release it to Seattle instead of Iceland.  Not everyone on her team is on board with the decision, not even the manufacturer.  It takes some convincing, as the vaccine has not had a true test yet, but eventually the manufacturer agrees to supply the vaccines.

Initially, everything works well, but then people start dying from horrific causes, and the vaccine is blamed and the anti-vaxxers are declaring a victory.

However, it may not be the vaccine at all.


My Opinions:   
Perhaps I was wrong.  Perhaps in this time of COVID,  this was not the time to be reading about vaccines and their side-effects.

I am already not a fan of anti-vaxxers, and this book did not improve my opinions of these people.  It just ended up pissing me off.  I did, however, gain more respect for the people at Public Health and the difficult job they have.

My main problem with the book was that I couldn't relate to the characters.  I liked Nathan, but other than that, I didn't even like Lisa.

Overall, the book was good.  It was well-written, suspenseful and interesting.  It was an easy read.  I'm just not sure the timing was good for this topic.

Kalla is a Vancouver ER doctor and the successful author of many medical thrillers, his last novel being "The Last High" about the opioid epidemic. This new one is also very topical. It is set several years after the Covid 19 epidemic in Seattle. A meningitis B outbreak has been killing young people and the Chief of Public Health has convinced a pharmaceutical company to dispense their new vaccine, originally meant for trials in Iceland , to young people in Seattle instead. She runs into trouble with antivaxxers, and then to her horror the vaccine seems to have deadly side effects in a few recipients. This is a fun, easy to read thriller and is a good recommendations for fans of the genre.

Dr. Daniel Kalla has written an engrossing medical thriller with his newest book Lost Immunity: a Thriller.

Had I read this book 15 months ago I might have been overwhelmed by the medical jargon in this book but now terms like herd immunity have become well known in our Covid-19 age.

Taking place in the near future (hopefully), an outbreak of Meningitis occurs at a bible camp near Seattle, WA. Dr. Lisa Dyer is the Chief Public Health officer for the city and is responsible for informing the public on the outbreak and how public health is handling it. With numbers growing and the death of children, Dr. Dyer learns that this particular strain of meningitis is the same as one that caused an outbreak in Iceland previously. The death rate in that outbreak was 46%. A vaccine for meningitis has just finished its last clinical trial but is not ready for the public. It has been developed to inoculate 50,000 people in Reykjavik, Iceland before a new outbreak occurs. In a desperate move, Dr. Dyer and her former boss, Dr. Angela Chow, convince Delaware Pharmaceuticals to divert the vaccine to Seattle from Iceland. Vaccination clinics are set up to inoculate children and everything seems to be exceeding expectations of the vaccine. That is until a patient develops a horrible rash that is life threatening. The vaccine is implicated and anti-vaxxers celebrate as they feel this justifies their arguments against vaccines. But is the vaccine responsible or could it be something else. Read Lost Immunity to find out!

Coming from a criminal justice background myself, I gravitated more towards the author’s previous book The Last High which I loved. I really enjoyed this one and found it to be very topical to today’s debates about vaccines and feel people in the health care community and those who are on top of the latest Covid numbers will find this story to be very compelling. The character’s in this one fell a bit flat for me and I had trouble connecting with them. The setting was described well and I could picture sitting in an office looking out over the water and towards the mountains or in the buildings downtown. The plot was strong and had me wanting to not put the book down. I stayed up last night as I just had to know how it ended.

I really appreciated the fair and honest viewpoints of both the medical and pharma community and those of the vaccine hesitancy group known commonly as anti-vaxxers. While this book may instill some fear in our current vaccines, Dr. Kalla has put forth a balanced argument for the use of vaccines.

Thank you to @netgalley and @simonschusterca for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Lost Immunity publishes May 4, 2021.

4.5 stars

I really love Daniel Kalla. His stories are so real and so raw.

There’s an infections running wild in Seattle, the exact same strain that just overran Iceland. With a population of much more than Iceland, Seattle is looking to have an overwhelming pandemic on their hands. In order to save their kids, the chief of public health approves a trailed vaccine that hasn’t seen the light of day yet. Will it save their kids, or hurt their kids, and is it more than just the vaccine working against her.

I was afraid to read this, as I just got my COVID vaccine last week, but I would advise anyone to not that that deter you.

His story is so good. It takes you for a ride and makes you question your own thoughts and beliefs.

The only reason it’s not a 5 star is because there are a lot of differing character perspectives, almost too many and I find that hard to keep up with sometimes. Limiting the perspectives would be nicer in my opinion.