The Deep Zone by James M. Tabor
After listening to this book I know there is one thing I never want to try. I never want to attempt journeying into a supercave. Or any type of cave that requires me to go underwater for long stretches, cross areas of corrosive acid pools on teeny tiny ledges, or scuttle sideways, barely fitting through small crevasses not knowing if I can get back out. Not my idea of fun. However, perfectly enjoyable to listen to knowing I will NEVER find myself in a situation even slightly similar.
ACE is a highly contagious and absolutely awful infection that makes everything we already know of seem tame. It has popped up in Afghanistan in American military hospitals and it is only a matter of time before it spreads. No known antibiotics have much of an effect. There was a lab that was working on a new strain of antibiotics, but their research was stopped after their lead scientist left in a cloud of impropriety. Now they need her to continue her research and fast. The problem is that the source of all her research, nicknamed moon milk, is depleted, and the only place on earth to find more is miles down into a supercave beneath the Mexican jungle.
The author is a renowned caver who has written non-fiction articles and a book on the subject so he knows of what he speaks. The detail and urgency he creates makes you want to keep reading. I have to admit that about halfway through I knew something “wrong” was going on, and I knew what it was, but there were so many layers of intrigue it was okay that I figured out one plotline before the others came to light.
