Zoo

The whole purpose of choosing this book for my free read was to compare it to the new television show that came out based on this book by James Patterson. I read up to the point that the series leaves off of for season 1 which is a little more than half way through the book. There were some parallels between the book and the show, however the books seems more rushed. Usually I have experienced that when books are turned into tv series, the series seems to be dragged out. In this case I felt like the series contributed more to the overall concept than the book. 

First, the characters are all different between the book and the series. The tv series added two more main characters and established more of a reason for their connection than the book. The book kind of just threw the characters together pretty sloppily and would just throw out names at random, such as when Jackson, the main character, and Chloe, a scientist he met in Africa that he took spontaneously to America with him, and they met a whole other gang of super scientist in D.C. and all decided to squad up and get arrested together. Needless to say, the connections are a little lost when it comes to the characters relationship.

Also, the reasoning for the animals change is very skewed and not translated well from tv series to book. I say from tv series to book even though the book came out first because I feel the series did a better job of expressing reasoning for the overall biological changes in the animals than the book. The book often throws out observable behaviors for the different types of animals, which the series does as well with the added bonus of scientific explanation of the factor altering the animals. The series brings in fictional theories such as the defiant pupil and also the concept of a "mother cell" which gives the observer a reasonable explanation for the events unfolding.

Although there are many differences, the dialog of the series stays true to James Patterson's style and some scenes are only a little bit altered. The tv series emits the same level of intellectual banter and sarcastic remarks that he is known for. The tv series also pulled direct scenes from the book such as Abe's "death" in chapter 22 and Jackson's encounter with Chloe in chapter 28, both of which was only altered by minor details, such as Abe actually being dead and replacing Chloe's predators with lions instead of Nile crocodiles.

If I had to chose, the tv series would definitely be the way to go on this one. The book lacks the thrill and intellectual quality that the series captures.