During the State of the Union address a terrorist group known as Genesis remotely detonates several vials of a deadly and very contagious virus hidden in the bags of various members of congress. The president orders the building put on lockdown, and so the countdown for an antidote begins. And the only person knowledgeable enough to create such a thing has been in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison for the last 8 months.

Does what it says on the tin. For the most part. The plot is interesting and has some nice twists, but I could have used a bit more seat-edginess. As far as thrillers go, it needs more thrills. Still, not a bad read. ( )

On the night of the State of the Union, a terrorist group releases a deadly ebola-like virus in the Capitol chamber, exposing everyone in the upper levels of government. The only person who can save them has been jailed for supposedly stealing the virus and giving it to the terrorists. This was a fast-paced medical thriller. Lots of action scenes and short chapters. Will definitely check out more of the author’s work.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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This novel manages to cover my four favourite topics - medical, viral/disease, terrorism and mystery. It's all about a terrorist group that attempts to subvert American democracy by releasing a bioterror agent during the president's state of the union address. Naturally there's also a subplot involving a power hungry political animal who is willing to put there own desires above everyone else's whilst trying to dress it up under the guise of them doing 'the right thing' to 'save' people. There's a discredited scientist who has spent months in solitary confinement after being accused of stealing said biological weapon, who now of course is the last hope they have.

Whilst the above may seem a bit cliched and absurd, I can assure you it does actually come together nicely in the book, I particularly liked how everything was not as straight forward as one would often expect with such books, but also that there wasn't an absurdist twist at the end, but rather a slow unraveling of circumstances where prior circumstances became clearer in their meaning.

I last read a Michael Palmer book ten years ago, and I'm now thinking I should find another before yet another ten years passes as this was very good, and quite the pleasurable read. ( )

The second of Michael Palmer's novels I've read, I found the story/plot entertaining. At times it was bit unbelievable, but then so is every single vampire and undead novel that seems to be overrunning the country. Anyone hear of Star Wars? Is it possible that a biological agent could be released during the a State of the Union Address? Certainly. Is it possible that the succession of the presidency could be passed down to some low level politician most of us have never heard of. We certainly hope not, but the possibility is still there. It's also not likely that a meteor is going to strike the earth and end life as we know it, at least not in our lifetime. Doesn't mean we can't write a novel about it.

Michael Palmer did a decent job, though not quite a 5 star job (since there is no place to click 4.7, it rounded to 5.0) at presenting the plot and moving the characters about. Yes I had to suspend belief, but then one pretty much has to do that with most entertainment, even and sometimes especially, that rated at 5 stars. This is worth reading for the entertainment. If you want something highly technical and accurate, as well as plausible, this may not be for you.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I will be lining up more of Michael Palmer's novels in my reading list. ( )

This was fine, I have been more entertained by some of his other works. This is what I think of as one of my "tweener" books, something I read for entertainment only in between things that take more brain power. So all I really want is not to be bored or annoyed, and I avoided both! OK, I do get a little torqued when very likeable characters die, but what are you going to do? As I mentioned in a status update, the coincidences that led to the survival of the heroine were way less plausible than the science, but it all worked out in the end.... ( )