A MASTER of suspense, James Patterson times his novels down to the last beat.

Zoo is no different. The standalone story follows Jackson Oz, a university dropout, who has a theory. He has noticed a change in animal behaviour across the world.

On a whole it appears that creatures across the globe are changing to become hyperaggressive towards one particular animal - humans. He calls this theory HAC or Human-Animal Conflict.

Oz gets word from a contact in Botswana that a village has been wiped out by unprovoked lions. What has made these beasts act so out of nature?

Soon it becomes apparent that it is not just large wild animals that are being affected as domestic pets and other smaller animals become increasingly aggressive.

Nothing and no one is safe anymore. This is a fast-paced and addictive biology-driven tale.