Deadly Exposure [Hardcover]

Leonard Goldberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1998

When Los Angeles forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock is tapped to investigate a deadly new bacteria currently isolated on a Navy ship off the coast of Alaska, she is both excited by the challenge and apprehensive about the dangerous and claustrophobic working environment at sea. Joining a team of world-class scientists, she finds the atmosphere is fraught with competitive tension and hidden agendas. Working in a virtual "hot zone" is scary enough, but it gets worse when some members of the team become infected by the untreatable bacteria, and two very suspicious deaths lead Joanna to believe that there is a ruthless killer on board who may be responsible for the entire disaster. The horror of her discovery pales, however, when the entire ship is quarantined and Joanna is plunged into a desperate fight for survival--pitted against both man and microbe--with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

High concept doesn't get much higher than the Titanic meets The Hot Zone plot of Leonard S. Goldberg's fifth medical thriller. Forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock finds cholera in a dead Chinese infant in Los Angeles, and then is immediately whizzed by a top government security officer to Global Explorer II, a floating laboratory off the coast of Alaska, where a giant, glittering iceberg seems to be releasing a deadly, 65-million-year-old toxin.

Crew members sicken and die, unwittingly aided by an oversexed technician; a storm at sea threatens to capsize the ship; a mysterious cholera epidemic somehow linked to the frozen toxin hits the world; and somebody onboard has personal reasons for hastening the deaths of several members of the world-class scientific team.

It's all heady stuff, loaded with scientific jargon on everything from autopsies to evolution, but Goldberg keeps it moving with muscle and brainpower. And the attractive, vulnerable Blalock holds it all together with her own carefully cultivated credibility. Other Blalock books: Deadly Care, Deadly Harvest, Deadly Medicine, and A Deadly Practice. --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

Although it provides compelling medical information, Goldberg's fifth thriller illustrates all too clearly the difference between professional writers and professionals who write. Goldberg (Deadly Practice), a UCLA professor and consulting physician, brings back forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock, whisking her from Los Angeles to the Global Explorer II, a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Alaska. She joins a world-class team of scientistsAincluding a former loverAin an attempt to analyze a deadly, extraterrestrial virus found in an iceberg. As the virus begins to spread from China to the States, people on board drop like flies (a process helped along by a promiscuous woman). The carnage accelerates when Malcolm Niederman, a self-centered researcher suffering from feelings of inferiority, decides to steal the virus to sell to foreign powers. To make matters worse, the iceberg, apparently seeking revenge, turns the ship into the Titanic. Even more people die, their various demises captured in lines like "Hawksworth heard the latch snap into place as the iceberg ran over him, crushing his bones." One would expect that being trapped with a lethal virus on a sinking ship would generate some suspense, but the constant shifts in perspective and the lack of character development make it difficult to feel sympathy or even much concern. BOMC selection.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525944273
• ISBN-13: 978-0525944270
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,084,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars By The Formula Thriller, March 20, 2000

By 

Mrs. Fitz "fitzeesmrs" (MA/NH Border, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Exposure (Paperback)

I liked this book more that the other people who reviewed it, it moved along quickly and was never dull.

My biggest problem with the book was, you pretty much had an idea who was good (and therefore lives) and who was bad (and therefore dies)about 1/2 way thru. Stuck right to the formula on that, and just about everyone met their "deserved" end.

One other reviewer called Dr. Goldberg's books a guilty pleasure and I much agree. Light reading but fun.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Plot Thickens, and Thickens, and Thickens, May 30, 2000

By 

David Edwards (San Diego ([e-mail])) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Exposure (Paperback)

There is an ancient (dinosaur-age) bacterium on the loose. Well, okay, it's mostly trapped inside an iceberg along with some Cretaceous shrubbery (please don't ask how this came about), but fortunately for the plot, it doesn't stay trapped in there for long! Loose, this bacterium infects human tissues most avidly, with deadly results. In addition, the bacterium produces a toxin that is, surprise, more immediately lethal than the infection. All this takes place mostly on a ship. Aboard the ship there is also a murderer. Meanwhile on shore a pandemic is brewing, starring a bacterium that is closely related, but not identical, to the venerable bug back on the ship. Or in the iceberg. Wherever. Coincidence? I think not. People on the ship begin dying of infections, if they aren't murdered first. Sometimes they have sex (infectious, natch). Then a storm brings other icebergs to batter the ship. A devastating fire breaks out. There is an earthquake, and a tsunami. The captured, infectious iceberg escapes and bashes about the ship seeking gory revenge. Our heroine assumes a leadership role. It was a dark and stormy night.

The cover of "Deadly Exposure" shows a biohazard symbol. Heed it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Silly but Fun, February 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Deadly Exposure (Paperback)

If you don't take it too seriously, this book can be lots of fun. It's not deep and the characters do seem to be made of cardboard, but the plot is full of outrageous twists and turns that will keep you entertained. Think of this novel as a roller coaster - it's good for a quick thrill, but it probably won't leave any lasting memories.