The Consciousness Plague [Hardcover]

Paul Levinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2002

“At last we get Paul Levinson's superb forensic sleuth, Phil D'Amato, in a full-length novel. If you know Phil from his previous appearances, I need say no more. If you don't, kick back and enjoy a mystery that spans the ages,” said Jack McDevitt of The Silk Code, the first Phil D'Amato novel. Now, D'Amato, hero of a number of stories published in Analog, is back.

The Consciousness Plague is about memory -- more particularly, how the loss of memory, in slivers of time deducted from a growing number of individuals, can subtly undermine and play havoc with everything from the investigation of serial stranglings to candlelight dinners. Dr. D'Amato, NYPD forensic detective, investigates a spate of unusual cases of memory loss and finds evidence of a bacteria-like organism that has lived in our brains since our origin as a species and may be responsible for our very consciousness. There's evidence for this consciousness bug in the ancient Phoenician and Viking cultures and everywhere he looks in our world.

A new antibiotic crosses the blood-brain barrier and inadvertently kills this essential bug. Phil himself is a victim of the memory drain, and must struggle to get the proper authorities to pay attention before everyone loses so much memory that they forget that they forgot in the first place.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this latest, disappointing case from the files of forensic investigator Phil D'Amato (after 1999's The Silk Code), a flu epidemic is sweeping the nation and young women are turning up naked and strangled in New York City's Riverside Park. Oddly, several witnesses to the murders, all recent flu sufferers, seem to have trouble remembering what they've seen. Then D'Amato's girlfriend comes down with the flu and forgets that he's recently proposed to her. Later, D'Amato himself catches the bug and discovers that a day has disappeared from his memory as well. What ties these bouts of short-term amnesia together turns out to be not simply the flu but a new wonder drug, Omnin. D'Amato soon finds himself investigating both the serial murders and the increasingly serious possibility that Omnin and other advanced antibiotics may in fact be on the verge of destroying human memory. Unfortunately, Levinson's flat prose and almost tension-free narrative prevent this novel from taking off. The murders, which all occur offstage, and the victims, none of whom we really care about, fail to engage. The medical mystery, although not without some intellectual interest, is equally lacking in tension. The author also has the annoying habit of pulling rabbits out of hats. Top-notch bacteriologists and mysterious millionaire benefactors repeatedly turn up to render expert testimony or twist the arms of a hostile FDA committee when needed. Levinson is widely considered to be one of the better new SF writers, but this novel won't enhance his reputation. (Mar. 13)Forecast: The book could be targeted to fans of medical thrillers and police procedurals, though neither audience is likely to be that impressed.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Forensic detective Phil D'Amato finds his investigation into a series of brutal killings interrupted by the onset of a bizarre plague that leaves its victims without portions of their memories, a phenomenon that slowly erodes the underpinnings of society and civilization not to mention crime control. The second outing for the hero of The Silk Code pits D'Amato against criminals and colleagues as he tries to unravel a puzzle with its roots in ancient history and its genesis in the evolution of consciousness itself. Levinson's intelligent blend of police procedural and speculative fiction should appeal to fans of mystery and sf and belongs in most libraries.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (March 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765300982
• ISBN-13: 978-0765300980
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,529,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My novel The Silk Code won the 2000 Locus Award for Best First Novel. I've since published Borrowed Tides (2001),The Consciousness Plague (2002), and The Pixel Eye (2003). The Plot To Save Socrates published in 2006 - Entertainment Weekly called it "challenging fun". My science fiction and mystery short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards. Nine nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009) have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, and eight other languages. I appear from time to time on "The O'Reilly Factor," "The CBS Evening News," "Nightline," "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and other TV and radio programs - I like talking just as much as writing. I'm also a songwriter, and have been in several bands over the years - one had two records out on Atlantic Records in 1960s. My 1972 album Twice Upon a Rhyme (on HappySad Records) was re-issued on CD by Beatball/Big Pink Records in 2009, and on re-pressed vinyl by Whiplash/Sound of Salvation Records in 2010. I was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Top 10 Academic Twitterers" in 2009. And last but not least: I'm Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read and a mnemonic of communications estorica, May 26, 2003

By 

Robert Rubyan (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Consciousness Plague (Hardcover)

Dr. Phil D'Amato, NYPD forensic detective is a character who is easy to like. Smart, witty and well connected, he immediately becomes a person who the reader cares about. He is a worthy twenty-first century heir to my favorite, Sherlock Holmes.

The story is an engrossing mystery that weaves together serial strangulation murders of young college women in Manhattan and mysterious memory gaps triggered by a new antibiotic that seems to attack unknown microorganisms that unify the bicameral human brain.
The reader comes away entertained and educated in such diverse (yet related by the author's erudition) subjects as communication via the channels of the left and right brain, Marshall McLuhan, the essence of art, the successive (possible) rediscoveries of America by the Phoenicians, Irish (Celtic) monks, and Vikings, and a popular brand of perfume.

Most of the action occurs in New York City but the West Coast, the Midwest and Europe are included as locales. We learn about the importance of Lindisfarne, where one of my favorite illuminated manuscripts, the Lindisfarne Gospels, originated. We are introduced to the hypothesis that the Phoenicians, on their way to North America, taught the Celts to write.

Each revelation, no matter how esoteric, enriches the weave of the mystery, and draws the reader in deeper. Thus this excellent page turner also triggers awareness of many fascinating areas of communication. There is also a well developed supporting cast including police, academics and a politician or two.

I came away feeling enriched and entertained. The Consciousness Plague is a good read. Buy it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deft sf/mystery mix, March 18, 2002

By 

"davistee" (West Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Consciousness Plague (Hardcover)

Phil D'Amato returns in this sharp, enjoyable, sometimes
superb novel. Levinson weaves together the search for
a serial murderer (police procedural) with a baffling
series of memory losses that may be related to the very
basis of our consciousness (science fiction). One of the
problems I often have with novels that try this kind of mix is that the science fiction is lumpy -- it doesn't really fit well
with the mystery part. But The Consciousness Plague handles
that beautifully -- Levinson serves the mystery with one
hand, the science fiction with another, the blend couldn't
be more natural. I think that this novel is, in many ways,
a better introduction to Phil D'Amato than The Silk Code
(though parts of that novel may be more profound).

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Levinson's newest is his best, March 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Consciousness Plague (Hardcover)

The Consciousness Plague is Levinson's best novel
so far. Like all of his stories featuring New
York forensic detective Doctor Phil D'Amato, this
science fiction novel is so close to fact that
sometimes you can't recall if you actually read a news
story talked about in the novel or not. This time,
D'Amato investigates the possibility that our brains
work the way they do because of bacteria communicating
between themselves in our brain -- because of this, a
new kind of antibiotic begins to make people lose their
memories. And the loss of memory messes up an ongoing
investigation of a series of stranglings in Riverside
Park in New York City. The result is a bio-thriller,
police mystery, science fiction story all rolled into
one. I've been a fan of D'Amato since the beginning.
In fact, I heard that a movie was made of "The Chronology
Protection Case" -- a short story -- and I can't wait to
see it. In the meantime, I've got The Consciousness Plague.