The Immortality Virus

Decent Read

I hate the cover, but it was suggested by a friend. I found the writer to be talented. The story was well written, and I always enjoy a new indie read. I thought at times the story could have focused on the society around the characters, and was un-interested at times in the main character's story. But still a good read, and for being an indie book, I'd give it five stars except for two things. 1. the cover 2. the price

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Immortality Virus

I received an advance copy from the writer. I had never heard of this author, nor read her work. It's the future, and the world is in chaos. Four hundred years ago, humans stopped aging. Few knew why, and the Change cast the world into despair. Now, the powerful elite, The Establishment, rule the world. And a bleak society it is. Food is limited. Jobs are limited. Homelessness and slavery are the norm as people struggle to get by. I love dystopian novels. The Immortality Virus was a wonderful read. I loved the beginning, where the author set up a bleak world. People fighting over food. Death and mayhem exist everywhere, and people don't seem to care. As is typical in dystopian-and what causes me to love it-is people's acceptance of such a bleak life. A life where collective thought has brought humanity to its end. The author's writing is engaging. Dialogue is solid, and the story moves quickly. I felt there were a few slow moments, but nothing distracting. My only complaint is the book cover. There were times I felt I wanted to know the characters better, but again, nothing distracting. Overall, The Immorality Virus is a wonderful book. The author has talent, and I will read more of her work.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good dystopian novel

Not great, but good. There were times the story drug on. I hoped the society would be explained in more depth, but instead it followed the actions of the main character, which was entertaining. I didn't love the ending, but I'd suggest this. I also felt the book price was a bit high for an unknown author, and probably wouldn't pay that price for a paperback (thank God for my Nook). I'll read more of Christine Amsden's work.

I enjoyed it

I read a good number of indie authors and small press authors. Never heard of the author before, but she did a fine job. Fun story, set in the future where the population is overbearing to society. I would have enjoyed some more detail in the world she created, and could have been more in depth. I thought the beginning of the book was better than the end, but all in all it was a great read and i'd suggest it (and have). I'll read more of the author's work. She needs a new cover designer though.

Amazing sci-fi read!

When I'm picking a book to read, sci-fi is definitely very low on the list of contenders, but sometimes I like to mix it up. So when the opportunity to review The Immortality Virus came, I took it. This being said, I was so surprised that I actually really enjoyed reading this book! The whole idea that it was 400 years into the future and people stopped aging around the age of 25 was put together in an engaging and entertaining book. The storyline reminded me of the movie iRobot or I am Legend (basically any futuristic Will Smith movie...), but instead with a kick-butt female main character. Grace was such a fun character to read about and I loved how she was so strong and fearless yet she still had insecurities when it came to her heart. This book was mainly sci-fi, but I loved the little added romance that didn't take over the main plot of the book. Even with a little romance, there was always something different happening in each chapter and plenty of action to keep the story interesting. The author did an awesome job of creating our world 400 years in the future and the consequences to actions we know people were bound to take. Tons of people think it would be awesome to be able to be able to live forever, but this book shows that everyone living forever is not as ideal as it seems. I loved every second of this futuristic book and it constantly kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. I hope there's a sequel because I know that this is definitely not the last sci-fi book that I'm going to read!

Fantastic dystopian fiction!

The Immortality Virus is set in the mid-21st century, in a a world far different than that which we know today. Centuries ago, a virus was found that stopped the aging process in humans. Life and society has changed drastically since The Change. Life has largely become a "everyone for themselves" fight for survival. Starvation and slavery have become everyday concerns for most of the population because of the ever increasing number of people. Centuries after the change began, blacklisted PI Grace Harper is hired to find the man who is responsible for the virus that created The Change. Within hours, she is also recruited by the police department to investigate the man that had just hired her. Caught between the two opposing parties, Grace has a choice,... between finding a way to fulfill both requests or to die.

Science fiction and dystopian fiction never used to be among my favorite genres, but the more I read of it, the more I enjoy it. This book is a true example of one to enjoy. The plot, while complicated at times, was absolutely engrossing. There were a lot of twists and turns, and far more than two single sides fighting one another. At any given time, Grace had several factions after her. Yes, there were times when that got a bit confusing with so many different "enemies" involved. But I think the confusion for the reader was deliberate as it completely reflected Grace's own confusion. That confusion is also what kept me completely into the story, always wanting to know what was really going on. I just couldn't put it down!

The world the author created, with bits of my own reality mixed in, was an entirely believablepossible future. I like dystopian fiction that makes me question things and this definately made me question a lot of things. Seeing the world and society in this book, would I really want to live forever? The lack of humanity in the dystopian world was horrifying and very sad. It was almost a question of whether there had been too much technology and not enough humanity involved in advances that would drastically change the world as we know it. The scrabbling, fight of survival existence that went on in the book was an exaggeration of some of the outer fringes of our own society today and that made the world of the book that much more believable. All in all, I felt like it was a brilliant book!

AN UNIQUE AND INTERESTING SCI-FI! THE IMMORTALITY VIRUS BY CHRISTINE AMSDEN....

RATING:4.5)THE IMMORTALITY VIRUS by Christine Amsden is an interesting Sci-fi set in the year 2050. The plot is intriguing,fast paced,and action packed. The characters will keep you guessing,engaging,and interesting. This is a story full of science fiction,adventure,action,danger,romance,chaos,violence,and mystery. With "The Change" comes chaos,violence,desperation,starvation,and a shot at immortality. When Grace Harper,who has been blacklisted as a P.I.,she is hired by Matthew Stanton,the CEO of Medicorp, to locate a scientist,Jordan Lacklin,who once worked for Medicorp.They seem to want him to reverse the effects of the "Immortality Virus" or so they say. She agrees.This story is a roller coaster ride with twists and turns that leads to a bone chilling and unexpected conclusion.This story will appear to any and all sci-fi,adventure,and action readers. A very unique and great read. This book was received for the purpose of review from the author and details can be found at Twilight Times Books and My Book Addiction and More.

dark dystopian novel

Don't let the cover of Christine Amsden's new book, The Immortality Virus, scare you off. Inside is a dark dystopian science fiction novel with merit on many levels. The beginning dragged a bit, and while normally I would find the frequent references in that section to specific geographical locations annoying, those familiar with the Kansas City area will chuckle just a bit at references to various neighborhoods.

In a world where people no longer age, money rules everything as the masses starve and many seek voluntary slavery in order to survive. Grace, an idealist ex-cop and blacklisted private detective finds herself at the center of a plot from many angles. If she has the courage to fight, she just might make a difference and help reverse the damage caused by the virus unleashed upon the masses.

Disclaimer: A copy of the book was provided by the author.

Is It Really Worth It to Live Forever?

Christine Amsden's second novel, The Immortality Virus, raises an intriguing question: Is it really all that wonderful to find the secret of immortality and live forever?

It's the 21st century and the world is being ruled by The Establishment, a totalitarian government made of an elite few. People don't age anymore. As a result, overpopulation has created poverty, hunger, violence, and chaos. People don't even have empathy for their fellow human beings anymore and cruelty and murder abound. Only the elite few can afford to eat normal food; the rest feed on suspicious, high-protein nutri-bars believed to be made up of human flesh.

At the beginning of the story, our feisty 130-year old PI protagonist, Grace Harper, is hired to complete a mission: she must discover the whereabouts of Jordan Lacklin, the scientist responsible for the 'virus' that started The Change about 400 years ago while working on the cure for Alzheimer's. The secret mission puts Grace's life in danger. On one side, there are those who want to undo The Change to improve the quality of life and the world; on the other side, there are those who want to keep living forever because they have the means to live in luxury. and they'll go to extremes to make sure Grace doesn't complete her mission.

The Immortality Virus is an entertaining, dystopian/science fiction novel with an interesting premise. Grace Harper is a sympathetic, kick-ass heroine: strong, spirited and opinionated. She also has a kind heart that stands out in the cruel society she inhabits. I personally loved her witty comebacks and quirky sense of humor. Although the story gets a bit slow somewhere around the middle, Amsden offers enough action, twists and turns to keep most readers turning the pages. The dialogue is crisp and natural and helps to keep the pace moving. Amsden uses a lot of dialogue and action scenes, and keeps description and narration at a minimum. She also throws in a bit of romance for good measure. I also enjoyed the way she depicts the future, presenting us with a grim and realistic glimpse of what society could become as a result of greed and medical technology. If you love dystopian novels with strong heroines and you're attracted to the subject of immortality, I recommend you give this one a try.

Immortality comes at a cost...

The Immortality Virus is a science fiction tale set in a totalitarian world.

It's the future and people don't age as they did before, the only things truly that would hinder a person would be murder, suicide or disease. The streets are packed with people who have no jobs, no homes and no future. When the morality rate always increasing, tensions in The Establishment begin to rise and new and drastic measures are enacted to ensure the populace doesn't reach maximum capacity and every day threatens to do just that.

Grace Harper is a 130 year old, pro-death, black-listed Private Investigator hired to find the man who created the immortality virus and she has no clues in which to go on. Her success rate is 50-50 and the only thing she has is a diary written over 400 years ago. Deciding to track down his surviving children and grand-children, Grace begins to unravel the mysteries involved with why people don't age and finds herself one step closer to finding Jordan Lacklin.

Jordan Lacklin is a brilliant scientist who was trying to create a cure for Alzheimers Disease in which his wife of 50 years, Margaret, was suffering from. Trying to race against the clock as his two sons, Ethan and Kevin, want to pull the plug on their mother's life support system with a court injunction, Jordan can feel he hasn't much time, after going on a shooting spree in which he allegedly kills all his fellow co-workers, save one, he is never heard from again. He was 76 at the time of "The Change" and is referred to as an "old-timer"...those who were already old when the virus spread and forever captured them in that state of "decay".

After heading out of town to follow a lead, something Grace has never done, she is kidnapped and placed on a Farm, a place rumored to turn people into nutri-bars, the number one food staple providing all of their vitamins and protein; only the rich and the elite can afford to eat real food. The Farm is run by the Coopers, old Mr. Cooper appears to be a decent sort, and gives his slaves proper treatment, unlike most other Farms were the slaves weren't even considered people any longer. Alexander Lacklin works at the Farm as a scientist and befriends Grace when she arrives. However, before they can learn from each other about Alex's grandfather, lasers fly and Grace is now a prisoner on the Farm. Not knowing who to trust or where to turn, Grace must keep her wits about her if she is going to survive.

I really enjoyed this book and I'm hoping there is a sequel coming because there were many questions not answered in the book and that would be a let down to not have those integral parts of the plot summed up.

I quite enjoyed all the characters in the story, they were believable and did not stray off their original content. Author Christine Amsden really knows how to write to keep her reader interested and interacted with the story. I thought the idea of the immortals to be a novel approach and honestly, my imagination of picturing all those thousands of people standing in the park in the middle of January trying to keep warm while they hope The Establishment drops nutribars on their heads from helicopters was quite vivid. I had never thought of a population explosion in such a way before and it was rather disturbing!

I was disturbed by the lack of care that these futuristic inhabitants emulated, the empathy in humanity was removed, as people just trying to eat or get war

Great Premise and Strong Word Building

Who wouldn't want to live forever?

Grace is a black-listed private eye in a community where the inhabitants don't age. You'd think it would be a paradise, but instead, the world has turned to hell. There isn't enough room for all the people, and jobs and living quarters are scarce. People eat strange processed food, and there's even a neat reference to the "Soylent Green" movie with Charleton Heston. People fend for themselves in slums, or give up their lives to become "slaves" in the country.


Grace has a small apartment and food, but she needs money to continue her safe lifestyle. The richest man in the city has contacted her. He thinks he has the answer to why people stopped aging, and it's up to her to find the man behind it. She must reunite with a lost love to finish the job.

The Immortality Virus is well thought out sci fi with a great premise and a murder mystery at its core. The word building is strong, and the characters are three dimensional people with long past histories, which makes them complicated and fun to read about. The hordes of people reminded me of zombies at times, and it was interesting to see how society could turn bad from what you'd think would be a good thing. Death is a natural part of life. Without it, there's no room for the next generation to be born.

Great Premise and Strong Word Building

Who wouldn't want to live forever?



Grace is a black-listed private eye in a community where the inhabitants don't age. You'd think it would be a paradise, but instead, the world has turned to hell. There isn't enough room for all the people, and jobs and living quarters are scarce. People eat strange processed food, and there's even a neat reference to the "Soylent Green" movie with Charleton Heston. People fend for themselves in slums, or give up their lives to become "slaves" in the country.



Grace has a small apartment and food, but she needs money to continue her safe lifestyle. The richest man in the city has contacted her. He thinks he has the answer to why people stopped aging, and it's up to her to find the man behind it. She must reunite with a lost love to finish the job.



The Immortality Virus is well thought out sci fi with a great premise and a murder mystery at its core. The word building is strong, and the characters are three dimensional people with long past histories, which makes them complicated and fun to read about. The hordes of people reminded me of zombies at times, and it was interesting to see how society could turn bad from what you'd think would be a good thing. Death is a natural part of life. Without it, there's no room for the next generation to be born.

A must read!

Imagine a world where noone died, at least not from aging or related diseases. Populations explode, food and housing is scarce, everything is exorbitantly expensive. You can't walk down the street in the city without being hemmed in by other people, pushed right up against them. Hundreds of thousands of people live on the streets, in parks, scrambling for survival.


This is the world Christine Amsden presents us in The Immortality Virus. Everyone looks like they are 25, except for those who were already older when everyone stopped aging. Enter Grace Harper, private investigator, fired from the police, blacklisted from any government related contracts. She is hired to try to find the man thought to be responsible and try to get his help to reverse the anti-aging effect. Of course, the "Establishment" doesn't want this to happen, so they try to stop her. Then the fun begins.


I really enjoyed this book. It flowed well and kept my attention. It was a well written, thought-out storyline with lots of action to keep everything moving forward. Grace Harper is a strong character with a wonderfully sarcastic wit who prefers working alone to get the job done. Ms. Amsden takes this strength and starts bending it as we see Grace gradually learning to trust others and realizing it's not a weakness to accept help.


It's a dark, bleak world in the The Immortality Virus. I had thought maybe Ms. Amsden should have put some touches of lightness by showing positive aspects of living hundreds of years. But maybe there's really not many to be found. After all, as the band Queen asks, "Who wants to live forever?"

A must read!

Imagine a world where noone died, at least not from aging or related diseases. Populations explode, food and housing is scarce, everything is exorbitantly expensive. You can't walk down the street in the city without being hemmed in by other people, pushed right up against them. Hundreds of thousands of people live on the streets, in parks, scrambling for survival.


This is the world Christine Amsden presents us in The Immortality Virus. Everyone looks like they are 25, except for those who were already older when everyone stopped aging. Enter Grace Harper, private investigator, fired from the police, blacklisted from any government related contracts. She is hired to try to find the man thought to be responsible and try to get his help to reverse the anti-aging effect. Of course, the "Establishment" doesn't want this to happen, so they try to stop her. Then the fun begins.


I really enjoyed this book. It flowed well and kept my attention. It was a well written, thought-out storyline with lots of action to keep everything moving forward. Grace Harper is a strong character with a wonderfully sarcastic wit who prefers working alone to get the job done. Ms. Amsden takes this strength and starts bending it as we see Grace gradually learning to trust others and realizing it's not a weakness to accept help.


It's a dark, bleak world in the The Immortality Virus. I had thought maybe Ms. Amsden should have put some touches of lightness by showing positive aspects of living hundreds of years. But maybe there's really not many to be found. After all, as the band Queen asks, "Who wants to live forever?"

Highly Recommended Science Fiction/Dystopian novel!

The Immortality Virus is a dark dystopian Science Fiction novel by Christine Amsden. It's an action-packed, fast-paced and thrilling book, spiced up with mystery and sprinkled with a tiny bit of romance. Everything is perfectly balanced, making this book a great treat for every Science Fiction fan. The story takes place in the far future, sometime around the year 2450, which is 400 hundred years after The Change, an event that caused people to stop aging and dying from natural causes. The world is in chaos. People are forced to live on the streets. They're dying from cold and hunger or they end up being slaves on the farms outside the city. The planet is overpopulated, the Rebellions are bombing public places, in hope to kill as many people as possible. It's a dark, violent and deeply depressing world, in which only the rich people, The Establishment, can live a long and healthy life. Everyone else lives in constant fear and poverty. Grace Harper, the heroin of this story, is a private investigator, who once worked for Kansas City Police Department. Many years ago she saved a female reporter from being killed by two vagrants, killing one of the attackers in the process. Unfortunately for Grace, as it later turned out, the "vagrant" he killed was actually a son of one of the wealthiest people in Kansas City, and, as we all know, people like that have the power and connections to easily get anyone killed. She was lucky enough not to get a death sentence, but her carrier was undeniably over. Grace was officially blacklisted, which meant she would never be able to get a legitimate job for any company owned by The Establishment or the government. The story starts with Grace being offered an investigation job, by a CEO of a Medicorp company, Matt Stanton. Mr. Stanton wants Grace to find Jordan Lacklin, a scientists who once worked for Medicorp. He was working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease for his wife, who was diagnosed with it. In the process, he discovered that aging, linked to all kinds of conditions, including Alzheimer's, was caused by humans own generic structure and that it could be turned off. Not long after this discovery Jordan disappeared without a trace and the humanity stopped aging. Matt offers Grace a very generous amount of money for finding Jordan and bringing him back to Medicorp, so that, as he claims, he could ask him to reverse the effects of the "immortality virus". Grace, knowing that refusal equals death, accepts the offer and agrees to take the job. With that starts a thrilling roller-coaster ride, filled with danger, mystery, life-threatening events and unexpected twists and turns, all leading to a bone-chilling and surprising conclusion. It took me 4 days to finish the book. Not because it wasn't engaging enough or it failed to hold my interest, not at all! Quite to the contrary, I was very captivated by the story, to the point that I often found myself just sitting in the room, and pondering upon the issues raised by this amazing book. It made me wonder how our lives would look like if we really managed to stop the aging process completely? What would happen to the human race, to the Earth? How would this affect us? Christine's book is so brilliantly written that I found myself totally absorbed in the world of 2450. It was a disturbing and disquieting read, a delicious dystopian treat! I would recommend this book to all Science Fiction and dystopian fans, you

A great book but slow beginning

I thought this was a pretty good book! There are ton of genres in this one book: romance, sci-fi, action, and adventure. This is what makes it such a good book. It does start off a little slow at the beginning but by the time you get to the middle of the book it really picks up. I was so engrossed in this book that I finished it in a day. I love how this book is something new instead of the same old romance story or action story. It's something that I've never read about in a book and definitely a unique topic. I would definitely recommend this book to all the sci-fi and action lovers out there. Go pick up the e-book today! The paperback version comes out June 15, 2011, so mark your calendars :). Also, check out her book called, Touch of Fate.

A Exciting Read!

A different twist on the age-old issue of ... well ... age. A must read!

Loved it!

review coming...

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