We've only ever read one other book that features the fungus villain in this book, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, often referred to as a "zombie fungus." (Check out one of my very first reviews: Polaris, by Michael Northrop -- Spine Tingling Scary. It's very short. I was just getting started book blogging!)
Maggie and friend Nate are on separate quests to document the amazing -- Maggie the natural amazing, to win a local photography award that will give her a chance to argue for her father's job back, and Nate the alien amazing, to document for his aliens-among-us conspiracy blog.
With her older brother Ezra, they trespass onto Old Man Bell's property, where they find a portion of the forest has become bioluminescent. The old man staggers out, and Ezra tries to help him. He coughs blue puffs of stuff, almost like spores, onto Ezra who breathes them in.
The old man dies, and his dogs die, and it's not long before Ezra develops a hacking cough. He goes to work for the Crofts, a family that makes a wildly popular health drink from the fungus, and the same place where Maggie and Ezra's father used to work.
Soon Nate's infected as well, and no one in authority will believe the kids about the threat. The fungus has plans to take over first Shady Pines, later the world.
Maggie and Nate...ah, I won't spoil the mystery! Read for yourself to see how they outwit the man most infected with the fungus and his plans for world domination.
Enjoy this creepy read this October!
