Its been a long time since I read it but im like 99% sure I did for similar reasons to reading king back in the days when reading outstripped most other entertainment by miles. I actually read jurassic park after the movie so more recent times but still decades ago. Could just be personal preference but I have read many authors back in the day and his is the only standout for that. Granted I can't really point to other contagion type quite like that. Remember one with an alien in the antartic were if it escaped it would be the end of the world and other with stakes like that but they were set such the characters had meaning to. Like alien. I don't think the stakes necessarily mean the characters need be throwaway.