“My adversary charged at full speed, intent on running me down.”

From Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs’ Virals: Terminal.

Recently, life has been full of one crazy danger after another for Tory and her friends (Ben, Shelton, and Hiram), and their current situation is no different.  After Tory and the boys were exposed to a mutated canine virus through a wolfdog (Cooper) that they rescued from a shady research facility, the pack developed superhuman abilities such as enhanced sight, smell, and strength.  While the pack has kept their powers a secret from most of the world and people that want to kill them, they’ve just discovered that they are not the only “virals” anymore.  After creating a similar super-virus, their sometimes friend Chance claims to be on the Pack’s side, but Tory doesn’t know if she can trust him when it comes to the new, stronger pack.  The enemy pack call themselves the Trinity and seem solely focused on using their abilities to take control of the local area; the Trinity also has no qualms about using their powers more openly, placing the safety and privacy of Tory and her friends in danger.  The members of the Trinity push Tory and her friends closer and closer to the breaking point, but the real danger might come from the government agents that are circling closer as the rival packs face off.

The fifth (and final non-short stories) book in the Virals series is full of action and suspense.  The realistic characters (as is often true in real life) can cause the occasional back-and-forth attitudes to get annoying.  The action and mystery are entertaining, with quick descriptions that build a sense of excitement without losing the reader in overdrawn descriptions.  This book looks more into how the four main characters should balance protecting themselves and protecting others as everything seems to crash down around them.  Overall, Terminal is both an entertaining story and a solid conclusion to the series.