Quarantine [Paperback]

Gerald McCathern (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

A terrorist attack on cattle being fattened in a friends feed lot, the murder of a crop dusting pilot, and strange happenings in his small West Texas home town, leads Deputy Sheriff Buster Thornton and his pretty girlfriend, Jo Willman, on a nation-wide search for the terrorists.

They soon learn that the terrorists have targeted them for death, and the hunters become the hunted. Las Vegas, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.become centers for their investigation, and keep the two investigators on the run.

When two million cattle in the huge Texas cattle feed lots become quarantined and are ordered to be destroyed by the Federal government because of an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease, the FBI, CIA, and Texas Rangers all get involved in the investigation. The plot thickens with an international twist when the CIA is convinced that the perpetrators are international terrorists and sends agents to the Middle-East in pursuit of two Iraqui terrorists.

However, Buster, using old west cowboy tactics, is able to prove the murdered crop duster was paid by an organized crime syndicate to spread the virus in the cattle feed lots in order to reap a huge profit on the futures market. He was able to corral the perpetrators of the crime, and with the help of the FBI, make the arrest in the nick of time -- before the President launches a missle attack on Iraq in retaliation.

Copyrighted in 1998, the fast moving mystery is extremely timely, paralleling the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak in England and the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" a talent for plotting ... convincing when he writes about plagues that might translate into headlines." -- Amarillo News-Globe, November 22/1998

"Paperback issue of Quarantine is timely... a good story by a natural-born talent at the art of plotting." -- Amarillo News-Globe, April 22, 2001

About the Author

Gerald McCathern, well known author of both historical novels and mysteries, is a native of Hereford, Texas. After serving in the Aviation Engineers in Europe dring WWII, he graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Petroleum Geology.

He worked as a geologist in the oil fields for a short time before returning to Deaf Smith County and pursuing a farming and ranching career for 45 years. During that time, he became well known nationwide as a leader in the agriculture community, serving as National Wagon Master in the 1978-79 farmer's protest. As a spokesman of the American Agriculture Movement, he appeared on Good Morning America and The Donahue Show, as well as on many radio talk shows. The tractor which Gerald drove from Texas to the nation's capitol during the protest is now enshrined in the Smithsonian Museum. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Special Assistant to Secretary of Agriculture John Block in Washington, D.C., where, working with members of the National Security Council, he was instrumental in negotiating a top level agreement between the U.S. and Jamaica which prevented Castro from taking over the country.

Gerald has written and self published three professional books and five novels. Quarantine, a mystery which involves a murder and a terrorist attack on the nation's cattle industry, was listed as number one on a regional Barnes and Noble best sellers list. His historical western novel, Horns, was voted number seven on the same list. Dry Bones and Devil's Rope are sequels to the Horns novel.

Retiring from farming and ranching in 1996, he is now pursuing a full time writing career.

Product Details

• Paperback: 233 pages
• Publisher: Food For Thought Publishers (May 2001)
• ISBN-10: 096569464X
• ISBN-13: 978-0965694643
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,990,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)