DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

At a glance this book appears to be by Tom Clancy, but because I was unfamiliar with his Power Plays series, I didn’t realize that the book was actually written by someone else entirely.

No matter — this is a great read, replete with strong characters, mostly believable science and technology, and a page-turning plot.

The book’s antagonist has created a virus that can be triggered, or targeted, based on a variety of criteria; he releases the virus (which is harmless until triggered), and Preisler’s account of the infection is believable, and frightening. The story centers on the efforts of one victim’s staff to track down the source of the disease, to find a cure before the victim succumbs.

The end of the book contains a fairly unbelievable situation, which detracts a bit from the story: the contents of a CD-ROM are uploaded over a remote wireless connection within just a few seconds. No description is given of the hardware or bandwidth of this magical network connectivity, and no mention is made of any special effort to read or decrypt the CD-ROM contents. A soldier simply loads it, and a few seconds later a scientist a few thousand miles away has not only read but comprehended it.

Otherwise, I enjoyed this book. I think it would appeal to anyone who likes spy fiction or genetic-engineering/disease thrillers, e.g. Jurassic Park, The Rock (Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage), Outbreak (Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey), The Hot Zone, etc.

Patronize these links, man:

• Amazon (paperback)