Finished Mo 10/10/11
Ending:
The virus was released by CDA, a privately owned 'level-four' bio-lab which is the highest rating for a biological containment facility. The CEO and one of his scientists planted a variation of a lethal strain which contained a 'kill switch'. This made the virus incommunicable after three to five days. They did this to insure that their company would remain a key player in The War on Terror, and CDA would continue to make huge profits.
-Michael Kelly is a local Chicago PI, and he is central to the investigation. It seems a bit far-fetched to consider that with all the federal and state anti-terrorist organizations that Kelly would be any where near an incident of this magnitude.
-Dr.Ellen Brazille and Dr.Molly Carrolton "Black Biology" scientists at CDA, and Carrolton engineers the false attack with her boss, Stoddard.
The novel is largely set on the West Side of Chicago near Garfield Park- "The K-Town Area" (streets begin with the letter 'K', the eleventh letter of the alphabet, and the area is eleven miles from the Indiana border). Oak Park is directly east of this area, and in the novel a wall of steel fencing is erected to quarantine the affected areas. several hundred residents die before the plague ends. The symptoms are that of Ebola crossed with Anthrax.
The novel was a fast read, and very interesting, but ultimately, kind of a let-down. The use of the Black Chicago gang, The Fours, was a bit heavy-handed. And, the ties to organized crime was very clumsy.
The Author's Note at the end was most chilling. Harvey feels that 'Black Biology' is a very real threat, and it is no longer a question of 'If', but 'When'. In January of 2010 a congressional panel gave the US a failing grade for a complete lack of safety precautions in this area.
-Google 'Fort Detrick disease samples'
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