Eruption (book) by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

You guys, I am about a third of the way through this book right now. I'm mentioning it here because I am wondering if it might have been partly inspired by Return of the Living Dead.

I won't wreck it, but one of the things going on in the book involves old, semi-forgotten canisters of dangerous chemicals, which were caught up in a complicated bureaucratic screw-up by the army over a period of many years. The canisters ended up being stored in a dangerous location, overseen by people who at first only have a hazy idea of what the canisters hold, or how they (the canisters) got there.

Also, the chemical is called Agent Black, but they specifically say that it came out of the same research that created dioxin, and also they call... not the chemical itself, but a molecule that it can create as it is broken down in certain contexts, 2,4-D. All of this makes me think of 2-4-5 Trioxin, from RotLD. Maybe 2,4-whatever or 2-4-whatever are extremely common starting elements in the names of chemicals. I have no idea. But, I can't help but think of RotLD, given the various parallels.

If the canisters leak, things in the book will get pretty apocalyptic. I don't think that will happen, as far as I can tell from my sense of what is going on in the story. But it certainly could happen. We shall see. The apocalypse that would happen if the canisters broke would have nothing to do with zombies, brains, or paramedics, but it would be pretty damned bad.

Anyway. Yah. Had to share. I'm about a third of the way through the book, and so far I would recommend reading it! I think it will stay interesting and suspenseful. The authors, of course, know/knew what they are/were doing.