Tracy Hopkins, a student enrolled in a MD/Ph.D program in the Microbiology
Department of the Mayo Clinic, has had enough. Enough of Dr. Dan Howard, her
committee chairman who has worked hard to make her life miserable. Enough of
Dr. James Delmez, the program director who assigned her to Dr. Howard out of
spite. Enough of the department's chairman, Dr. Robert Webster, who has
refused to take her complaints about Dr. Howard seriously. And enough of Dr.
Tariq Bukhari, a strange, violent man who is doing his post-doctoral
research at the clinic - under the auspices and protection of Dr. Howard.A huge grant is funding Dr. Howard's program, and the money just seems to
keep pouring in. Only a few people realize that the finances are coming from
an Afghan terrorist group run by the Pakistan secret service, and that Dr.
Bukhari is ensconced inside the clinic for a terrifying reason: to create a
"super bug" that can destroy thousands of people without remedy.
Dr. Bukhari's attempt at using a human guinea pig as a test for his lethal
creation results in the death of his subject - and the accidental
contamination of the MICU unit inside the Mayo Clinic. The effects are
devastating. Tracy, at the wrong place at the wrong time, is kidnapped by
Dr. Howard and becomes an innocent pawn in a deadly game of espionage and
murder. Religious fervor and political domination clash ferociously, as the
evil plan is unfurled. Tracy's father, a retired rear-admiral in the Navy,
and Tracy's boyfriend Rory, are pulled into a frantic attempt to rescue her.
But will they find her in time? And where is the "super-bug?"
Ketan Desai crafts an engrossing and exciting tale that never lets up. And
the ending, while crashing into the reader with a sickening thud, is thought
provoking and frightening.
Germs of War is for those who are intrigued by the capabilities of medicine
and the struggle for control by religious and political zealots. This is not
light reading, but it is certainly a chilling look into the dark side of
corruption.
