Finished (E-Reader) - "Zoo" - James Patterson

"Zoo" was a very quick read, a page turner.

Unfortunately, the resolution of the story probably needed a little more thought.
------Spoilers--------

The basic plot is that animals are suddenly and uncharacteristically attacking humans, pretty much across the globe, eventually with packs of housepets, rats etc. behaving as if they are hive creatures such as bees or ants, moving in packs and killing everyone (and with remarkable foresight and planning).

The explanation comes from the typical outcast, blogger, drop-out PhD student who's been tracking animal-human conflict (HAC - Human-Animal Conflict) before it became a front-line story.

It appears that our reliance on petrochemicals have had the environment permeated with unique compounds, and when we added wide-spread cellphone signals, the additional radiation "cooks" the floating petrochemical stew into artificial pheromones, which induce the male mammals into stress-and-attack mode.  In addition, we humans, through long-term exposure, are leaking fake pheromones as well, making us the irritant that the animals need to eradicate.

Believe it or not, I'm OK with the story up to this time.  It would have been nice if Patterson didn't try to think from the animal perspective, as the "scent" clues given early on in the story kind of give the story away to a degree.  It might have been nice to have some unexplained areas of the earth that aren't suffering from the situation which would provide the clues to the causes (e.g. some poorer nations with fewer cellphone towers having fewer effects, countries like India which kind of skipped the landlines and became cellphone users almost overnight showing dramatic, immediate changes...).

The solution
When the radical figures out the connection between petrochemical pollution and the cellphone radiation, he doesn't bother to do some small scale experiments (e.g. isolate a mammal or two from cellphone radiation and petrochemical pollution and see the effect; or even separately isolate each and see if only ceasing one of the two was sufficient; or even better, maybe perfume to mask the pheromones as at least an emergency or temporary solution).

I'm amazed, that without any experimental evidence, they "blackout" the world; and am even more amazed that widespread environmental damage clears up in a matter of hours.  In fact, this might have been a better outcome - the explanation is correct, but the "world" can't keep the power off long enough to recognize the effect - maybe show smaller countries who successfully eliminate the problems, and the larger ones, too tied to electronics, who self-destruct.

All in all, the book seemed to take a turn to the "Washington types are spoiled and can't take any penalty for their lifestyle" instead of a broader "1st world nations are too reliant on technology to their own detriment" moral.  It certainly could have been illustrated as the rich and powerful being first to flaunt the tech bans, but the take home would have been more complete.  Maybe a country in South America or Africa could rise to world-power status, their pervious lack of money and technology suddenly becoming a huge advantage....

The book ends on a sour note - the "heroes" are trapped in Greenland, away from most mammals, but the U.S. is increasingly going to Hell.

Add in a few nations which learn from the cause-effect hypothesis and survive, and you have the start of the sequel novel.