Symbiote, Michael Nayak
Symbiote, Michael Nayak
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
Club: $17.49

Symbiote

Author: Michael Nayak

Narrator: Paul Bellantoni

Unabridged: 12 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/04/2025


Synopsis

Contagion meets The Walking Dead in this new sci-fi thriller where a biological threat ravages scientists and military personnel at the South Pole. As World War III rages, the scientists in Antarctica are thankful for the isolation—until a group of Chinese scientists arrive at the American research base. In their truck is a dead body, the first murder in Antarctica. The potential for a geopolitical firestorm is great, and, with no clear jurisdiction, the Americans don’t know what to do. But they soon realize the Chinese scientists have brought far more with them than the body… Within seventy-two hours, thirteen others lie dead in the snow, murdered in acts of madness and superhuman strength. An extremophile parasite from the truck, triggered by severe cold, is spreading by touch. It is learning from them. Evolving. It triggers violent tendencies in the winter crew, and, more insidiously, the beginnings of a strange symbiotic telepathy. Exhausted by suspicion and fear, with rescue impossible for months, the desperate crew members turn on each other. A small group of survivors try to resist the siren call of the growing hive mind and stay alive long enough to solve the mystery of the symbiotic microbe’s origins. But the symbiote is more than a disease—it is a biological weapon that can change the balance of power in a time of war. The survivors cannot let anyone infected make it to the summer season, when planes will arrive to take them—and potentially the symbiote—back to civilization.

About Michael Nayak

Follow Michael (Mikey) Nayak on X @mikeynayak and LinkedIn @michael-nayak. Mikey was born in Los Angeles and now lives in Washington D.C.; he has worked as a planetary scientist, pilot and skydiving instructor, and most recently as a Program Manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He has logged 1,000+ hours of flight time in 30+ aircraft including the F-16, T-38 and BE-76, is a US Air Force Test Pilot School graduate, and former NASA Space Shuttle engineer.

About Paul Bellantoni

Paul Bellantoni is an experienced voiceover artist and audiobook narrator who has worked on a wide range of projects. Also an award-winning opera singer, he has performed in opera houses across the United States and Europe—including at Carnegie Hall, where he held a solo concert. He currently resides in Los Angeles.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) on January 05, 2025

3.0 Stars This is a contagion story set at a snowy South Pole. As a sci-fi thriller, I felt this one will most appeal to readers looking for a suspenseful read. I have read a lot of similar narratives so I found this one to be relatively predictable and tropey. I liked it but I wish I cared more about......more

Goodreads review by Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ on November 27, 2024

Contagion meets The Walking Dead in this new sci-fi thriller where a biological threat ravages scientists and military personnel at the South Pole. This was a mind-bending, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat, violent, crazy thriller. 2028. The U.S. and China wage war, but there is still a peace treaty at......more

Goodreads review by Justine on February 24, 2025

2.5 stars Update: I'm even more annoyed with the based-on-real-life-experience portrayal that the author has sketched out in this book. With his emphasis that hooking up and sex is "naturally" everyone's total focus working at Antarctica, Nayak fails to mention anything like this going on: [URL not allowed]......more

Goodreads review by Krystal on March 05, 2025

Narrated by Paul Bellantoni Presented by Dreamscape Media Big Venom fan here, so you call your book Symbiote and I'm gonna pay attention! There's a virus spreading through Antarctica, and it's infecting people with murderous rage and inhuman strength. The setup here was perfect - remote location with ju......more

Goodreads review by liv ʚɞ on January 27, 2025

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! <3 ’All fights for survival were fights to the death’ Symbiote claims to be ‘Contagion meets The Walking Dead’, and as a fan of Contagion and a die-hard supporter of The Walking Dead, a series that defined my child......more