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The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America
America’s leaders and pundits have long warned that China is the West’s greatest threat to its democratic and economic survival. This is the central theme upon which Barry Libin’s newest novel, The Red Mutation, is based.
The Red Mutation is a geopolitical thriller that discloses the Chinese use of bioterror to achieve world domination. When the head of China’s Hunan Institute of Virology bioengineers a Covid-like virus mutation that kills an entire village with a single nanoparticle, China’s leaders believe they have created the perfect hidden, silent, and deadly. Indeed, the most powerful weapon ever devised by man.
The name of the mutation is Thanatos, the Greek god of merciless death, and it is adopted as the central tenet of China's New Defense Policy. But although Chinese scientists have proved Thanatos absolutely deadly, they have not yet found the antidote to control it, without which China’s policy cannot succeed.
Dr. Jeffrey Moss of the NYPD believes there is a brilliant young scientist working at the Brookfield Institute in New York that is close to finding the antidote but has disappeared. From the streets of Shanghai to the avenues of Manhattan, Moss and his colleagues must find the young man and prevent Chinese agents from kidnapping him, allowing the antidote from falling into the wrong hands. If Moss is unable to accomplish his mission in time, then Thanatos will be released, and the world will fall hostage to its enemies.
The Red Mutation is a geopolitical thriller that discloses the Chinese use of bioterror to achieve world domination. When the head of China’s Hunan Institute of Virology bioengineers a Covid-like virus mutation that kills an entire village with a single nanoparticle, China’s leaders believe they have created the perfect hidden, silent, and deadly. Indeed, the most powerful weapon ever devised by man.
The name of the mutation is Thanatos, the Greek god of merciless death, and it is adopted as the central tenet of China's New Defense Policy. But although Chinese scientists have proved Thanatos absolutely deadly, they have not yet found the antidote to control it, without which China’s policy cannot succeed.
Dr. Jeffrey Moss of the NYPD believes there is a brilliant young scientist working at the Brookfield Institute in New York that is close to finding the antidote but has disappeared. From the streets of Shanghai to the avenues of Manhattan, Moss and his colleagues must find the young man and prevent Chinese agents from kidnapping him, allowing the antidote from falling into the wrong hands. If Moss is unable to accomplish his mission in time, then Thanatos will be released, and the world will fall hostage to its enemies.
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Published October 16, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 16, 2024
Barry Libin’s kicked it out of the park with this book.
Writing a bio thriller after Covid 19 is definitely a sensitive topic, however Barry had started this story before Covid 19 broke out and due to what happened needed to pause his work on this book.
The way the politics between the US and China are touched upon gives interesting insights and throughout the book I felt myself questioning - is this real or not?
Let’s hope the book never becomes reality and if you are looking for a high stakes, fast paced bio thriller definitely pick this up.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. Happy pub day. Barry!
Writing a bio thriller after Covid 19 is definitely a sensitive topic, however Barry had started this story before Covid 19 broke out and due to what happened needed to pause his work on this book.
The way the politics between the US and China are touched upon gives interesting insights and throughout the book I felt myself questioning - is this real or not?
Let’s hope the book never becomes reality and if you are looking for a high stakes, fast paced bio thriller definitely pick this up.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. Happy pub day. Barry!
April 22, 2024
An ingeniously crafted political thriller that is every bit as terrifying as its daunting premise. Fans of Terry Hayes’ I am Pilgrim should move THE RED MUTATION to the top of their reading queue.
THE RED MUTATION begins as a man in black returns to his home village in Northeastern China. He wishes to “honor” the place of his birth with a new biological warfare experiment called Thanatos, which he injects into the local herb doctor. The next morning, the village is sealed by China’s secret police. Two weeks later, Thanatos has all but wiped out the village’s modest population.
But China has not yet found the antidote, and what follows is a race to find a drug to counter China’s terrifying weapon — and potentially save the planet in the process. While author Barry Libin juggles a large cast, ranging from the virus’ first victim to the President of the United States, his hero is clearly Chen Chu, a bioengineering PhD that happens to be one of just two survivors of the still-mysterious attack on his home village.
Writing with a level of detail and patience that would be the envy of any historical biographer, Chen is depicted as not only a survivor, but also as something of a genius who fuses both modern science as well as ancient herbal medicine passed down from his father. Ironically, Chen is also the son of the herb doctor who was first injected. Eventually, he ends up working at The Brookfield Institute in New York City. This deep character development pays off as both U.S. and Chinese authorities realize that finding Chen is their top priority.
Yes, a powerful weapon has been created. But can it be accurately deployed on the enemy with minimal repercussions at home? It’s impossible to say much more without spoilering some nice surprises, but real-world conspiracy theorists will experience some level of schadenfreude when the term “bat serum” comes into play. Readers might assume that Libin’s premise is inspired by the media frenzy surrounding the origins of the COVID virus, but Libin makes clear that he had already been working on the book long before such stories existed. Nevertheless, countless stories about China’s bioweapons program persist to this day, spanning multiple governments and administrations, and they make the book’s premise all the more relevant. THE RED MUTATION is incredibly satisfying as both a fantastical answer to how such a weapon could be developed, tested and deployed, and also what kinds of heroism might be involved to stop it. Highly recommended.
THE RED MUTATION begins as a man in black returns to his home village in Northeastern China. He wishes to “honor” the place of his birth with a new biological warfare experiment called Thanatos, which he injects into the local herb doctor. The next morning, the village is sealed by China’s secret police. Two weeks later, Thanatos has all but wiped out the village’s modest population.
But China has not yet found the antidote, and what follows is a race to find a drug to counter China’s terrifying weapon — and potentially save the planet in the process. While author Barry Libin juggles a large cast, ranging from the virus’ first victim to the President of the United States, his hero is clearly Chen Chu, a bioengineering PhD that happens to be one of just two survivors of the still-mysterious attack on his home village.
Writing with a level of detail and patience that would be the envy of any historical biographer, Chen is depicted as not only a survivor, but also as something of a genius who fuses both modern science as well as ancient herbal medicine passed down from his father. Ironically, Chen is also the son of the herb doctor who was first injected. Eventually, he ends up working at The Brookfield Institute in New York City. This deep character development pays off as both U.S. and Chinese authorities realize that finding Chen is their top priority.
Yes, a powerful weapon has been created. But can it be accurately deployed on the enemy with minimal repercussions at home? It’s impossible to say much more without spoilering some nice surprises, but real-world conspiracy theorists will experience some level of schadenfreude when the term “bat serum” comes into play. Readers might assume that Libin’s premise is inspired by the media frenzy surrounding the origins of the COVID virus, but Libin makes clear that he had already been working on the book long before such stories existed. Nevertheless, countless stories about China’s bioweapons program persist to this day, spanning multiple governments and administrations, and they make the book’s premise all the more relevant. THE RED MUTATION is incredibly satisfying as both a fantastical answer to how such a weapon could be developed, tested and deployed, and also what kinds of heroism might be involved to stop it. Highly recommended.
October 31, 2024
A Chilling Geopolitical Thriller
Honestly, I found The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy Americaby Barry Libin to be a truly gripping and unnerving read. Let me tell you: From. From the very first chapter, I was drawn into the shadowy world of bioweapons, espionage, and global power struggles. The premise itself is terrifyingly plausible: a bioengineered virus called Thanatos, created by Chinese scientists, has the potential to destroy entire populations with just a single droplet. The thought of such a weapon existing in real life sent chills down my spine.
What I appreciated most was the meticulous way Libin constructed this unique and thrilling g narrative. The story begins in a remote Chinese village, where the virus is tested for the first time. The scene is haunting as the protagonist, a scarred man returning to his childhood home, injects the virus into the village well. I could almost feel the eerie silence of the village as it became a graveyard, a ghost of its former self.
Moreover, the tension ramps up as Dr. Jeffrey Moss, a New York City medical examiner, learns about Thanatos and races to find an antidote. His journey, filled with suspense and moral dilemmas, kept me hooked until the very end. I loved that the characters felt real and flawed—especially Moss, who isn’t a traditional hero but someone forced into a position where the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Overall, this contemporary and chilling geopolitical thriller left me reflecting on the ethical boundaries of scientific research and how easily power can be abused. It’s a thought-provoking thriller that blends real-world fears with fictional storytelling, making it both compelling and frighteningly relevant.
Honestly, I found The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy Americaby Barry Libin to be a truly gripping and unnerving read. Let me tell you: From. From the very first chapter, I was drawn into the shadowy world of bioweapons, espionage, and global power struggles. The premise itself is terrifyingly plausible: a bioengineered virus called Thanatos, created by Chinese scientists, has the potential to destroy entire populations with just a single droplet. The thought of such a weapon existing in real life sent chills down my spine.
What I appreciated most was the meticulous way Libin constructed this unique and thrilling g narrative. The story begins in a remote Chinese village, where the virus is tested for the first time. The scene is haunting as the protagonist, a scarred man returning to his childhood home, injects the virus into the village well. I could almost feel the eerie silence of the village as it became a graveyard, a ghost of its former self.
Moreover, the tension ramps up as Dr. Jeffrey Moss, a New York City medical examiner, learns about Thanatos and races to find an antidote. His journey, filled with suspense and moral dilemmas, kept me hooked until the very end. I loved that the characters felt real and flawed—especially Moss, who isn’t a traditional hero but someone forced into a position where the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Overall, this contemporary and chilling geopolitical thriller left me reflecting on the ethical boundaries of scientific research and how easily power can be abused. It’s a thought-provoking thriller that blends real-world fears with fictional storytelling, making it both compelling and frighteningly relevant.
Want to read
April 15, 2025If you are a fan of thrillers, then getting hands-on Barry Libin’s book, “The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America,” can be one of your greatest picks of all time. This book is not just a piece of fiction; in fact it serves as a ladder for its readers to get a wake-up call through his book about the strategies played by governmental bodies in dealing with a nation. In this book, the author has shown a deadly virus outbreak named “Thanatos” plunges readers into a world of uncertainty, fear, and chaos, eerily mirroring recent global crises. Libin’s sharp prose and vivid imagination make for a hauntingly believable narrative that keeps readers hooked from start to finish.
The story unfolds with an ordinary morning disrupted by extraordinary news—a new virus is spreading with unprecedented lethality. The protagonist’s experience feels familiar: the surreal mix of disbelief, mounting dread, and the desperate search for answers. Libin captures these emotions with precision, making the reader feel as though they are living through the events alongside the characters.The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America
As the story progresses, the book evolves into a high-stakes conspiracy thriller, with revelations about the virus’s origins raising the tension to a fever pitch. Libin balances this suspense with thought-provoking commentary on global interconnectivity and the ethical dilemmas of crisis management.
The story unfolds with an ordinary morning disrupted by extraordinary news—a new virus is spreading with unprecedented lethality. The protagonist’s experience feels familiar: the surreal mix of disbelief, mounting dread, and the desperate search for answers. Libin captures these emotions with precision, making the reader feel as though they are living through the events alongside the characters.The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America
As the story progresses, the book evolves into a high-stakes conspiracy thriller, with revelations about the virus’s origins raising the tension to a fever pitch. Libin balances this suspense with thought-provoking commentary on global interconnectivity and the ethical dilemmas of crisis management.
Want to read
April 18, 2025The Red Mutation delivers a thrilling and thought-provoking narrative that explores the dark possibilities of science when driven by unchecked ambition. The story revolves around Thanatos, a bioengineered virus created as the ultimate weapon of silent warfare. The stakes couldn't be higher, with its first test wiping out an entire village.
But what, there is Dr. Jeffrey Moss, an unlikely hero, who finds himself within this devastation. Now, he must race against time to stop Thanatos from becoming a catastrophe for the USA and then the rest of the world. But his journey is not that easy. With China eager for the antidote, Dr. Jeffery must make critical decisions, face danger, and give up everything to get it.
Honestly, Libin masterfully blends suspense with moral inquiry. He is able to craft richly layered and compelling characters that are likable. Plus, the way this novel delves into ethical dilemmas, political power plays, and the fragility of global security—is indeed commendable. In short, The Red Mutation is a must-read book, especially if you enjoy intelligent, fast-paced thrillers that leave a lasting impression, long after the final page is turned.The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America
But what, there is Dr. Jeffrey Moss, an unlikely hero, who finds himself within this devastation. Now, he must race against time to stop Thanatos from becoming a catastrophe for the USA and then the rest of the world. But his journey is not that easy. With China eager for the antidote, Dr. Jeffery must make critical decisions, face danger, and give up everything to get it.
Honestly, Libin masterfully blends suspense with moral inquiry. He is able to craft richly layered and compelling characters that are likable. Plus, the way this novel delves into ethical dilemmas, political power plays, and the fragility of global security—is indeed commendable. In short, The Red Mutation is a must-read book, especially if you enjoy intelligent, fast-paced thrillers that leave a lasting impression, long after the final page is turned.The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America
Want to read
April 15, 2025If you are someone who feels intrigued to know about the political conspiracies, then you need to get your hands on Barry Libin’s novel, “The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy AmericaThe Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America.” This book is set against the backdrop of a devastating virus outbreak, and the book plunges readers into a world on the brink of collapse—a scenario that feels disturbingly plausible in a post-COVID world.
What sets The Red Mutation apart is its meticulous attention to detail. Libin does not just focus on the virus’s biological impact but delves deep into its societal ramifications. From the collapse of communication networks to the paralysis of the global economy, the book paints a vivid picture of a world unraveling at its seams. The story is both universal and personal because of the protagonist's relatable struggles—defending his family, navigating the uncertain future of his business, and facing the sinister origins of the virus.
What sets The Red Mutation apart is its meticulous attention to detail. Libin does not just focus on the virus’s biological impact but delves deep into its societal ramifications. From the collapse of communication networks to the paralysis of the global economy, the book paints a vivid picture of a world unraveling at its seams. The story is both universal and personal because of the protagonist's relatable struggles—defending his family, navigating the uncertain future of his business, and facing the sinister origins of the virus.
April 18, 2025
I love good stories, and The Red Mutation is a masterfully crafted book that deserves my applause. Reading this book felt like I was part of a pandemic. Plus, the novel’s premise is terrifyingly plausible: a bioengineered virus named Thanatos is developed secretly, capable of annihilating entire populations with a single nanoparticle. This silent killer, born of scientific ambition, will blow your mind.
The stakes got high as Dr. Jeffrey Moss was thrust into the heart of this global crisis. He had to navigate espionage, danger, and moral dilemmas to locate a missing scientist who held the key to an antidote. From various twists and turns to thrilling and jaw-dropping moments, thrill, anticipation, and so much more, The Red Mutation is a page-turner. It is a type of contemporary fiction that will keep you turning the pages until you witness Thanatos' annihilation, which is both devastating and exciting. Highly recommended!
The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America
The stakes got high as Dr. Jeffrey Moss was thrust into the heart of this global crisis. He had to navigate espionage, danger, and moral dilemmas to locate a missing scientist who held the key to an antidote. From various twists and turns to thrilling and jaw-dropping moments, thrill, anticipation, and so much more, The Red Mutation is a page-turner. It is a type of contemporary fiction that will keep you turning the pages until you witness Thanatos' annihilation, which is both devastating and exciting. Highly recommended!
The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America
October 31, 2024
Science and Politics Collide in The Red Mutation
Honestly, in my opinion, Barry Libin’s The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America is different. The book delivers a high-stakes political thriller that explores the deadly consequences of bioengineering gone wrong. Set against the tense backdrop of U.S.-China relations, the novel introduces a terrifying scenario: what if a country could unleash a virus capable of wiping out entire populations in days?
The story kicks off with a chilling experiment in a remote Chinese village, where a scientist injects a deadly virus, Thanatos, into the local water supply. This silent attack results in the complete annihilation of the village, marking the first test of a bioweapon that could reshape the world’s balance of power. From there, the narrative shifts to Dr. Jeffrey Moss, a determined NYPD scientist who uncovers the sinister plot and realizes that a young researcher in New York may have the antidote.
As Moss races against time to protect the antidote, Chinese operatives close in, setting the stage for a tense game of cat and mouse. This game of cat and mouse and the attention to detail with the inclusion of scientific precision add layers of authenticity to the plot, making the story feel chillingly real. Furthermore, the ethical implications of using bioweapons and the moral questions faced by the characters make this more reflective to challenge the dangers of unrestrained scientific exploration.
In short, with complex characters and a plot that keeps readers guessing, The Red Mutation is an engaging read that highlights the very real fears surrounding bioterrorism and global security. It’s a compelling narrative that will leave you both entertained and uneasy. Highly recommended!
Honestly, in my opinion, Barry Libin’s The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America is different. The book delivers a high-stakes political thriller that explores the deadly consequences of bioengineering gone wrong. Set against the tense backdrop of U.S.-China relations, the novel introduces a terrifying scenario: what if a country could unleash a virus capable of wiping out entire populations in days?
The story kicks off with a chilling experiment in a remote Chinese village, where a scientist injects a deadly virus, Thanatos, into the local water supply. This silent attack results in the complete annihilation of the village, marking the first test of a bioweapon that could reshape the world’s balance of power. From there, the narrative shifts to Dr. Jeffrey Moss, a determined NYPD scientist who uncovers the sinister plot and realizes that a young researcher in New York may have the antidote.
As Moss races against time to protect the antidote, Chinese operatives close in, setting the stage for a tense game of cat and mouse. This game of cat and mouse and the attention to detail with the inclusion of scientific precision add layers of authenticity to the plot, making the story feel chillingly real. Furthermore, the ethical implications of using bioweapons and the moral questions faced by the characters make this more reflective to challenge the dangers of unrestrained scientific exploration.
In short, with complex characters and a plot that keeps readers guessing, The Red Mutation is an engaging read that highlights the very real fears surrounding bioterrorism and global security. It’s a compelling narrative that will leave you both entertained and uneasy. Highly recommended!
April 21, 2024
3.5/5
This book started somewhat slow - but quickly picked up about half of the way through. The coolest thing about this book is the fact the author actually starting writing this before COVID then stopped and then continued after COVID.
Medical and science facts are accurately described which is always a HUGE plus for me. Definitely a bit political and replays many of the conspiracies/controversies in COVID.
Not my usual pick - but I did enjoy. Thanks to NetGalley!
This book started somewhat slow - but quickly picked up about half of the way through. The coolest thing about this book is the fact the author actually starting writing this before COVID then stopped and then continued after COVID.
Medical and science facts are accurately described which is always a HUGE plus for me. Definitely a bit political and replays many of the conspiracies/controversies in COVID.
Not my usual pick - but I did enjoy. Thanks to NetGalley!
November 6, 2024
Barry Libin has crafted an exceptional geopolitical thriller with The Red Mutation: The Plot to Destroy America. His ability to blend scientific accuracy with a riveting plot makes this novel impossible to put down. The concept of Thanatos as a bioengineered virus is both terrifying and fascinating, drawing readers into a world where bioterrorism looms as a genuine threat. Libin’s deep understanding of global tensions and cutting-edge science makes this a timely and thought-provoking read!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews