Rating: 3 stars

First time novelist Mike Hogan presents an intriguing concept in his new release, The Ovary Wars. Hogan takes a currently hot topic—specifically, biological terrorism—and puts a totally new spin on what you would typically expect from a fictional book on the subject. While Hogan’s plot ideas are fresh and exciting, the delivery falls short of expectations.

I absolutely love when an author—especially a new author—introduces a new take on an oft-written subject; and, The Ovary Wars does just that. Hogan omits the crazy extremists who run around threatening millions with a lethal bacterial or viral weapon. Instead, he develops a radical story where the weapon is not originally developed to be a weapon, where the instigator is not at all who you’d think it would be and the attack is accomplished in a quiet, non-violent manner. A terrorism novel which has no bloodshed? If you can keep your “enemies” from being born in the first place, there’s no need for it.

While I sincerely enjoyed Hogan’s originality, the story development wasn’t at all what I expected. Aside from plenty of spelling, grammatical and punctuation issues, the dialogue is choppy, uncomfortable to read and doesn’t flow. For example, all of the exchanges during conversations contain names: “Hi Frank….” “Well hello, Steve….” “Yes, Frank….” “I disagree, Steve…” Conversations go back and forth with almost every exchange containing a name—completely unrealistic. Well-edited punctuation and the occasional pronoun would help alleviate this problem.

Small inconsistencies are also an issue. For example, Joan Stevens is referred to as ‘Mrs. Stevens’ on page 80 but becomes ‘Ms. Stevens’ on page 81. “E. Pasturella” is noted as “the bacteria that caused the Black Death in the Middle Ages”. However, 'Pasturella' is actually an upper respiratory disease in rabbits while Y. Pestis is the bacteria that causes plague. I wasn't sure if he was just making up a bacteria or not but I caught this and I'm not a doctor.

The most difficult part of reading this book was that it gave no real concept of time. There is a great deal of effort to describe the development of the drug meant to kill ovaries but then all of a sudden, China opens its doors to the U.S. and vice versa and bam, there's a Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer in the states.

Later, he describes the very beginnings of the drug's effects and how it is starting to alter the financial security of one of his characters–an OB doctor. Then, fast forwards to how the doctor’s practice is suffering, that there are no new pregnant women coming in and that he can't send his kids to prep schools anymore. At one point, I realized the story had jumped three years beyond where I thought it was at. I understand the author can't meticulously go through all aspects of a timeline, but there are several parts that make you say, “Whoa, wait a minute...”

The Ovary Wars has a great deal of potential. The hard part is already done–author Mike Hogan has come up with a fantastic and unique premise upon which to write. However, I feel there is still plenty of development and editing that need to be done before it can truly become the stellar book I think it could be.

-------------------------
Paperback: 298 pages
Publisher: The Peppertree Press (March 3, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-1936051847