Risking the World

by Dorian Paul

Kidnapped in Morocco to help weaponize a killer TB, American scientist Claire Ashe says flat out 'No,' an answer that triggers a chain of shattering events. For starters it pits her against David Ruskin, an arms dealer, and Varat, the mastermind behind the plot. She doesn't know David's a British intelligence officer sent to unravel Varat's plans or that he's secretly intent on personal vengeance against Varat. When David's forced to flee with Claire, his mission a failure on every count because he intervened in her near rape, things get more than a little complicated. Soon death, betrayal, and career suicide become part of a shared reality that puts their already frayed trust in each other to the test. When the first TB attack strikes a Paris nursery school and all the kids die, their cooperation is as vital as their mounting attraction is dangerous. They reach a boiling point when his goal to end the game at any cost goes against her conviction that the exacting science needed to find an antidote is the only thing that will save the day. Who wins and at what price? Read Risking the World to find out!

Genres: Thriller

334 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

Dorian Paul is Dorrie Parini and Paul LaFerriere, writing partners and spouses. We met at a small consulting firm prior to starting our own science writing company, and before taking the plunge into wedded bliss. Talk about entrepreneurial risk! We worked together, mostly on the same page, providing Fortune 100 pharmaceutical and biotech companies with accurate and cutting-edge science information for their markets. Along the way our little endeavor collected over 100 writers, artists, designers and computer specialists. We sold it, but couldn't stop writing together so we turned to fiction. Our first two books had a science twist. Risking the World, a biotech thriller, was an Amazon Bestseller in suspense. Zero Emissions followed and focused on a bio-engineered green gasoline that burns clean. Crossing Paths, our latest novel, takes a different turn into contemporary fiction within an historical English country house setting. All of our books bring to life the adventure of a man and woman working side-by-side in a start-up enterprise, and the joys and trials of mixing work and love in unexpected ways. Try one of our novels if you're looking for a unique read!

Reviews

[Ashi Barrons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore this book! I received this in the mail just a few days ago (won it in a Goodreads giveaway) and started reading it immediately. It's a fun, heartwarming read with delightful writing. Absolutely loved it.

[David Huelsmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the book and the well built characters as well as the bio-terrorism plot.

[Marbea Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a riveting suspenseful science thriller! I was intrigued with every turn of the page. The author didn't disappoint in giving you a big mixing bowl full of drama,action and geekdom.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed “Risking the World” by Dorian Paul. It is well written—long on charter building and takes you on a precarious ride into the world of bio-terrorism. The worst case scenario is unleashing TB for a quick kill that is tough to track and stop.

Full disclosure here. I know the author and have been interested in what it takes to get something out in this new era of publishing. When I got the book it was only available as an e-book from Amazon. I’m glad it’s now a “real” book for old fashioned guys like me to get sand on it, drop it in the lake, and pass it on to friends.

I like the clarity of the writing, yet clever and description. They are particularly skillful in developing complex, believable characters—good and bad. Claire Ashe…good looking, very smart, maybe a little naïve and David Ruskin, good looking and smart, too and with a nickname like “Tiger” you know he’s got to have other skills.

There are a number of other characters who keep you guessing about their love lives and allegiances. You are not sure who to trust and the story takes you down some blind alleys. Though, I do have issue with some sudden deaths that too easily eliminate characters.

In “Risking the World”, the bad guys have a lab-created strain of TB. Though I’m totally unqualified to judge the science, it seems plausible and the author makes the complex science easy to understand. TB is something we don’t understand, after all it’s been eradicated, but it sure unleashes our most basic fears of plague. Even the dictionary didn’t help in defining some terms “bactericidal nanomolecules”…but I know Claire gets it and I have confidence in her.

Like any good mystery, just when you think you’ve got it another development leads you down another path. Dorian Paul does this quite effectively. The story moves around Middle East, London, New York, Paris, and Kansas and underlines the concern that the world is small and terrorists can get you anywhere.

This book clearly sets the stage for the new adventures with Claire and David, somewhere in the world in a most exotic setting and racing the most abhorrent diabolical scheme terrorists can dream up. I’m already looking forward to the next sick plot these two will encounter and destroy by risking themselves to save the world.