David Kohlberg was a scientist born in Poland in 1921. Specialising in epidemics, he flees his country in World War 2 to fight along side the Russians and after the war he starts working in a top secret lab for the Israeli government. But when he sees most of the power being held by American and Israeli forces, he believes he should try to rectify the global balance of power and starts spying for the Russians, passing out valuable information on his research. While working alongside his childhood friend, Baruch Lieber, they develop a revolutionary airborne super virus vaccine that when released takes affect, planet-wide, and eradicates a flu strain. But when they created it, they did not mention that the effect was global and not local to the point of delivery. So when a Russian team creates a bio-weapon and uses the method to test it in a single airport, they unwittingly release it worldwide with devastating consequences. Anyone who dies, no matter where they are in the world, will reanimate and attack other people.

This is a cracking short read, concentrating on how such an event could occur, and not dealing with what happens during an outbreak. Rather than the action scenes you might expect, this is a cold and personal look at the events leading to it. Dealing with the people behind it, their triumphs, flaws, and reasons for their actions, it shows how hubris and secrets can cause such an event to occur. The story neatly intertwines the history of the virus’ creator with the news of the outbreak first reaching him and his horror at what he had done, or rather what he had not done. It’s easy for the reader to see with the benefit of hindsight just what they did wrong, but the characters are relatable enough that you can understand their motivations and desire which led to this terrible conclusion. The writing is not so much descriptive as clinical, told from an intelligent and almost callous viewpoint as Dr Kohlberg relates his story. The descriptions of the various diseases, their effects, and the methodologies to handle them are starkly described. Whether as a home-made necessity or a more complex task, the details given show the author has more than looked into this, but has an excellent grasp on explaining to those who might not be as familiar with the topics.

Given the detail of some of the science, I didn’t notice any issues with the content, spelling, grammar, or otherwise. The book is neatly laid out making it very clear where the story is taking place and how the choices of the past affect the actions of the future. The book is quick enough to read through, but I wound up going over it a several times to contemplate those actions.

Overall, this book did exactly what it was supposed to and makes me want to get the next story and find out what follows on. There are several stories and novellas exploring the world and if it keeps to the high standards set by this book, I will certainly enjoy it.