Because we can't have a plague book that I don't read, I was happy to find this one. And being set in DC means that I can catch the plague too - if I were crazy enough to go into the city.
Set in 2026 as the 250th birthday of the US approaches, a scientist comes to DC to avenge the deaths of his family and coworkers the year previous at a secret army base in North Dakota. And then the story gets good.
Pathogens that would make the plague of the middle ages seem like a day in the park were taken from the secret base and some of these will be unleashed on the crowds of up to three million people attending the festivities marking the fourth of July. The DC Police are aware that something is afoot, though politics within the department and turf wars with other agencies, not to mention a smart and savvy mastermind, make it difficult for the police - or the reader - to figure out exactly what might be planned.
And then people start dying.
Providing a twist within a well plotted story is the presence of the Chinese delegation, in town for trade talks and a bullseye for protestors. Could they be part of the problem as well? This part of the story is allowed to ride along side the main action, not getting in the way but always there to taunt both the police and the reader.
Well developed characters and an understanding of the DC area including suburbs, metro, museums, from tree lined suburbs to the even now deadly dangerous parts of town, and extending to the more well known monuments and National Mall area make this a book that even a Washingtonian has a hard time criticizing. There are many opportunities for an author to make mistakes when they try to add local color to a book but this one is relatively successfully handled. The story just would not have been possible if located in a made-up location and Washington was well chosen. Who knows if a Senator, Supreme Court Justice, or one of the Joint Chiefs was going to somehow become inivolved.
The climax was a surprise and the action leading up to it was handled well, creating a sense of concern for the crowds in DC around t he first week in July as well as the characters we had come to know. What happened was a surprise, and there were new developments in an area the author had hinted at during the preceding chapters.
The writing is clean, the concept excellent, the issues handled in straightforward non-technical language, and the topic interesting for even mainstream readers. With just a little more work on the final chapter and on the military component of the plot and cover-up, this could have been developed into a four or even five star book. I would recommend it to a wide variety of readers.
There were some issues about suburb spelling and metro locations, but treating Johns Hopkins as if it were a local institution was the thing that bothered me the most. Other than Hopkins grads, folks from Baltimore and Washingtonians it likely would not have mattered a whit. Is It a mistake or could it have been a choice by the author for some reason? Who knows but I thought it was problematic and planted a little doubt about other things. Overall the location was very well suited to the story but the small details will always trip an author up in the end.