Omega [Paperback]

Patrick Lynch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

A virulent bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics is killing off patients in a Los Angeles hospital trauma unit. When a unit doctor's teenage daughter is suddenly stricken with the infection, he finds himself racing against time to hunt down Omega--an antibiotic inaccessible to the public but rumored to fight the plague--and battle a health care system determined to withhold the drug that could save countless lives.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This engrossing thriller probably isn't the book to read while suffering from a sore throat caused by a staph infection. "The cocci were perfect spheres, like eggs or dark spawn.... They clumped. And they doubled.... Doubling every twenty minutes and clumping together in grape-like clusters.... Clumped in clusters that numbered eight million and then sixteen million and then an hour later 128 million perfect peptidoglycan-plated spheres ..." Philip Sington and Gary Humphreys, who wrote Carriers under the Patrick Lynch pseudonym, combine news from recent headlines--flesh-eating bacteria, the increasing resistance of bugs to antibiotics--with an imaginative but plausible scenario of rampant infection, bureaucratic fumbling, and corporate greed. Even the minor characters are fully sketched, which is not always the case in scientific thrillers. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

What if a string of drug-resistant antibodies were running loose in and around Los Angeles and jumping between different types of infection, and what if you were head of a trauma unit in a medical center watching your patients succumb to these infections, and what if your daughter?your one and only child?became infected with this super bacteria and you learned that there just might be a cure with a powerful, new, genetically engineered antibiotic? In Lynch's newest work, Dr. Marcus Ford finds himself in that situation. As he tries to locate this elusive antibiotic, his search leads him to a couple of high-powered pharmaceutical companies. Meanwhile, he must continue to deal with his patients, his daughter's illness, and the media, which have portrayed him as some sort of monster. Just when he thinks things couldn't get worse, they do; he always seems to be one step behind the help he needs. Lynch (Carriers, Villard, 1995) has created another compelling medical thriller, this one based on the science found in books like Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (LJ 9/15/94?). Except for some long passages describing certain medical techniques and the frequency of long, hard-to-pronounce terms, this is a real page-turner that will appeal to a wide audience.?Terry A. Christner, Hutchinson P.L., Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Signet (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451193237
• ISBN-13: 978-0451193230
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,257,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dangerously addictive book!, July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Omega (Paperback)

Omega is a chilling medical thriller that immediately caught my attention. It tells about a multi-resistant,fatal bacteria that has taken control of Los Angeles. The story makes you start to wonder about how something as simple as a sore throat can become a nightmare. The story centers around the life of surgeon Marcus Ford. Ford is your average forty something year old going through a mid-life crisis. And not only does he have the stress of a doctor who can save a life one day and not be as lucky the next time,but he's also widowed. And he is having problems trying to understand the nature of his ever-changing, teenage daugther. One day he makes a speech and meets two new people, from that day on his life would never be the same. Before he knows it, his life is out of control.But he must take control of it once again for the sake of his fatally ill daugther.He is Sunny's only hope and he has to struggle against time to get Omega,a drug that may not even exist! I think "Omega" is and outstanding book that can feel so realisic and possible sometimes that it's freightning. I personally read in just hours and I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book with a great plot and subplots full of twists and turns!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MARVELLOUS AND UNUSUAL THRILLER, August 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Omega (Paperback)

I picked this book up at the airport desperate for something to take my mind off the horrors of the transatlantic read-eye. As it turned out, I chose wisely. From the book's jazzy streetwise opening to its deeply troubling conclusion I was utterly absorbed - and quite reluctant to get off the plane - definitely a first for me. If I had to say what I loved most about this book I would say its simply the writing. Lynch's characters sparkle with wit and every one of them stands out in their own right. You simply can't say that about 9 out of 10 other thrillers, even the well-plotted ones. I'm on the look-out for Mr Lynch's work from now on. Great stuff.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT TO BE MISSED!, December 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Omega (Paperback)

I have read all P.Lynch's books(except The Immaculate Conception which by the way am deperately searching)and all have been outstanding and this one was no let down.The twists and turns in all his books are always brilliant.In this particular book the topic is original and deeply alarming.The characters are really convincing(Dr.Ford just won't let go).I'll have to be on the lookout for his new one FIGURE OF EIGHT soon to be released.As a footnote thanks Mr Philip Sington for replying to my e-mail last October 98 ,unfortunately I still haven't got hold of the book in question THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.If you read this review Mr Sington please keep me posted.