From Publishers Weekly
The pseudonymous Reiss, in his unsettling debut, depicts a truly frightening scenario: a deadly microbe contaminates the world oil supply, effectively shutting down all cars, planes and machines—anything driven by oil. Food supplies and electricity run out. Police have no way to patrol the streets. Gangs and marauders seize control in the world capitals. Scrambling to find not only a solution to the problem but who's behind it is Greg Gillette, an epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As Gillette furiously tracks the microbe from the Nevada desert to rural Massachusetts, experts predict total chaos will soon sweep Earth. Lost in the maelstrom, however, is a full explanation of how the microbe works and the motive behind the calamity. Still, Reiss, a Hollywood screenwriter, has created a true page-turner of pell-mell action and momentum, already in production as a movie produced by Tom Jacobson.
(Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
BLACK MONDAY is so well done you'll think about stocking your basement with canned goods. Seriously. AudioFile Golden Voice Dick Hill expertly brings R. Scott Reiss's novel about Armageddon to life with frightening skill. The premise is simple: Someone has introduced a nasty microbe to the world's oil supply that makes the oil and gasoline useless and destructive to vehicles and machinery. The book was optioned by Paramount Pictures even before it was released. The hero, Gregory Gillette, is an epidemiologist who is close to solving the crisis, but he is thwarted by bureaucrats who think they know better. Hill slips in and out of American and Middle Eastern and other accents with incredible skill as he details the day-by-day breakdown of society as gasoline disappears. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
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