From Publishers Weekly
The concept on which this medical thriller is based is more likely to freeze the reader's blood than heat it: the use of the latest biogenetic technology to spread deadly diseases in order to make a fortune curing them. Pieczenik, author of the bestselling Mind Palace and a master of ingenious plotting, if not of characterization or literary style, puts the idea to work to most dramatic effect. At the end of World War II, Army officers Webb and Parker make a deal with the sinister but brilliant Dr. Ran, head of an infamous Japanese institute that uses prisoners as guinea pigs in a germ-warfare program: their silence about his crimes for his scientific cooperation. Forty-five years later, Ran is chief researcher for Webb's giant pharmaceutical company, Parker is the U.S. Army's surgeon general, and the stage is set for a potentially genocidal project masquerading as part of the army's antigerm-warfare plans. Meanwhile, a Washington epidemiologist discovers several mysterious cases of bubonic plague and, though possibly infected himself, embarks on a race against time to avert a national catastrophe. An abundance of violence, suspense and medical know-how throws a cover of plausibility over the whole tale.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Orestes Bradley, youthful director of the National Insitute for Infectious Diseases in Washington, is puzzled by three unconnected patients who all display symptoms of bubonic plague; and he himself has been infected. When the patients disappear, Bradley turns detective. More plague cases occur, clustered near U.S. military bases, and Bradley begins to suspect a germ warfare experiment run amok and a conspiracy between the Army and an international pharmaceutical company. Flat characters detract only slightly from an interesting plot of medical emergency and military and corporate intrigue. By the author of The Mind Palace , this is recommended for libraries with a medical thriller following. A.M.B. Amantia, Population Crisis Committee Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
