Cold Plague (Hardcover)

by Daniel Kalla (Author) "Philippe Manet's eyes jerked around the room..." (more)
Key Phrases: cattle supplier, cold plague, normal prions, Lac Noir, Georges Manet, Detective Avars (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In Kalla's meticulously detailed and carefully plotted new thriller, Dr. Claude Fontaine engineers a method to tap a huge, mysterious pool of fresh water two miles under the Antarctic ice without fear of contamination from our 21st-century toxins. His goal is to bottle this purest of waters and sell it for astronomical sums to health-seeking rich people everywhere. Meanwhile, infectious disease specialist Dr. Noah Haldane, hero of Kalla's Pandemic, along with his crusty, wisecracking Scottish sidekick, Duncan McLeod, travels to France to investigate seven cows that have tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalitis (aka mad cow disease). Several humans, the apparent victims of infected beef, have died horrible deaths. By the time the link between the Antarctic lake water and the mad cows becomes clear, many readers will find the journey too long and that in the end they don't really care that disaster has been narrowly averted and all those rich people have been saved. (Apr.)
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From Booklist
Kalla’s latest medical thriller, following Blood Lies (2007), creates a very believable scenario about a prion-based disease (from the same type of organism that causes mad cow disease) that is unwittingly unleashed through samples from Antarctica’s underground body of water, Lake Vostok. Discovering that the million-year-old lake water may have healing properties, a group of entrepreneurs make plans to bottle and sell the solution, while covering up its lethal side effects. Dr. Noah Haldane and a World Health Organization team find themselves in a race to understand the mechanisms of the potentially world-threatening pathogen and stop the planned global distribution. Kalla develops his Robin Cook–like plot effectively, generating plenty of suspense and layering on the kind of scientific detail that fans of medical thrillers crave. Recommend this one to fans of Cook and other such other A-listers in the popular subgenre as Michael Palmer, Neil McMahon, and Joshua Spanogle. --Elliott Swanson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765318334
• ISBN-13: 978-0765318336
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #896,402 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars We'll all die of kuru, January 5, 2009

By	Frank Schellenberg (Palo Alto, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cold Plague (Mass Market Paperback)

An amazing book.

On the surface, a thriller about mysterious deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in France,
made more mysterious by emerging connection to water mined from an ancient lake buried deep under the Ice of Antarctica.

The story becomes a race against time, as this ancient water begins to enter the market as an exotic product, the purest (hah!) water on Earth, selling to the richest of the rich at outrageous prices.

As a mystery, everything is resolved in the nick of time, so you needn't worry there. And the actual "mystery" is never really unresolved, since the novel follows both the heros and villains from the beginning.

But, as I read this, it was hard to put down, and even more surprising, I found it actually entered my nightime dreams and affected them. It really hit a nerve. Not really nightmares, but the prions of the story seemed to have found a way deep into my thoughts, as I tried to finish the story in my sleep. This hasn't happened from a book for me in a long time, and I think it represents just how well written and captivating the story was.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, August 10, 2008

By	Foy M. Tennant (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this author after buying a paperback at a garage sale. Since then I have read all of his (Kalla's) books and waited anxiously for this one.....NOT DISAPPOINTED IN THE LEAST! Great read!

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting medical thriller, April 15, 2008

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Dr. Claude Fontaine and his team develop a method to bring to the surface fresh water from a gigantic lake two miles under the Antarctic ice. Claude sees the economic possibilities as his pristine pool will contain no modern day toxins. He plan is to sell bottles containing this natural water at exorbitant prices.

The World Health Organization sends its investigative infectious disease specialist Dr. Noah Haldane (see PANDEMIC) accompanied by Duncan McLeod to France where horrific human deaths from the human equivalent to mad cow disease have been reported. The European Union's Agricultural Commission sends agent Elise Renard to join them the WHO representatives. However, as the evidence mounts, Noah believes these deaths are something similar but not quite the same as mad cow; the speed is much more rapid and the effect much more intense. He soon links the deaths to the Antarctic water that is being pushed by the bottom liners as a health elixir for the wealthy.

This exciting medical thriller pits economic interests against health interests and unlike the American federal government science matters so that Noah and company have a reasonable chance to stop mass production if they can stay alive long enough to make their point heard; the opponents own the media. The story line is fast-paced, but takes a bit too long to get to the bottom line confrontation between money and health. Readers will enjoy this fine tale, but wonder if this occurred in the USA instead of France what the outcome would have been.

Harriet Klausner