Zoo

by James Patterson

The novel centers on Jackson Oz, who is an outcast among professional and academic ecologists and biologists. Oz has tried for years to get these scientists to listen to the data he has been collecting on the increasing numbers of mammal attacks on humans. He becomes so obsessed with this goal that he quits graduate school and devotes himself to full-time data collection and arguing his case. Finally, on a trip to Botswana, he survives an attack by a large band of male lions in which about 100 people are killed over a large area. He saves the life of ecologist Chloe Tousignant. Upon returning to America he finds his girlfriend dead in his apartment, killed and partly eaten by his pet chimpanzee.

Five years later, Oz has married Chloe and they have a son named Eli. His theory becomes accepted as all over the world packs of animals are entering densely populated cities and killing humans en masse. He is recruited by the US president to research the cause but before he and his team of scientists can find an answer, the president's daughter is killed by their dog and the military launches strikes against affected cities which worsens the attacks. Continuing his research, he discovers that animal pheromones have changed due to the widespread use of radio communication (cell phones) and petroleum products (notably automobile exhaust) and these disrupted pheromones are enlarging the animals' amygdalae and causing the aggression. The President of the United States orders all electricity, cellphone and automobile usage banned for two weeks, and animal attacks cease nearly immediately as the ban takes effect. But after one week, people return to their previous habits and the attacks return with increased ferocity. Oz, his wife and son, along with some scientists and political leaders, are evacuated to Thule, Greenland, where research into how to reverse the changes will take place.