White Plague

Joe Rush #1

by James Abel

BY THE AUTHOR OF PROTOCOL ZERO

“Relentless action and suspense on the unforgiving terrain of the Arctic, the world's last frontier.”—Alex Berenson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Twelve Days

“If you like Tom Clancy and Martin Cruz Smith, then you need to read James Abel.”—Linda Fairstein

In the remote waters of the Arctic Ocean, the technologically advanced submarine USS Montana is adrift and in flames. The mission that falls to Marine doctor and bioterror expert Joe Rush and his Rescue the crew of the Montana and keep the vessel out of enemy hands.

But the surviving crew are not alone on the submarine. A deadly plague from the past is trapped with them. And the crew of the Montana has unknowingly set it free.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Suspense, Action, Military Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2015

About the author

James Abel is the pseudonym for Bob Reiss an accomplished author and a journalist who has written extensively about the Arctic. He lives and works in New York City

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Lieutenant Colonel Joe Rush is a man you'd want around in an emergency. He's a Marine, a doctor, and an expert on biological weapons.



So when the nuclear submarine 'USS Montana' is stranded on the surface of the Arctic Ocean, on fire, with a crew that's dying from a mysterious illness that kills in days (if not hours) - AND a massive Arctic storm is approaching - the Pentagon knows who to call.



The Pentagon's Director apprises Rush of the Montana's dire situation, and tells him that - of the Montana's crew of 158 - 51 have died (so far) and most of the others are suffering from burns and/or the deadly sickness.



Moreover, communication with the sub has been lost, so there's no time to waste.

Rush and his teammate/best friend, Major Eddie Nakamura, are soon aboard the ice cutter 'U.S. Wilmington', on their way to the Montana.



Part of their hush hush mission is to rescue the crew and salvage (or scuttle) the sub before Russia or China gets wind of the situation and tries to grab the ship themselves - to get hold of its cutting edge guidance systems and weapons.

The ice cutter is making it's way to the Montana - and experiencing every kind of problem imaginable (intractable ice, bad weather, fire drill, communication blackout, etc.) - when sonar shows a Chinese submarine fast approaching the crippled American ship.



This results in a race to the Montana, with Rush and several cohorts making a final push using snowshoes and climbing gear. (Just reading this made me shiver with cold. LOL)



As the Americans close in on the Montana, Rush has a dramatic showdown with the captain of the Chinese sub. This raises the question of 'who told China about the Montana?' Is there a spy on the Wilmington? YES!



Once the Montana situation is resolved, there's the issue of the rapidly spreading illness.



In an attempt to diagnose the dying patients Rush defies a direct order from the Director, and learns something that horrifies him.....and strongly impacts his subsequent actions.

As the story unfolds Rush has multiple flashbacks to his tour in Afghanistan, where he had experiences that left deep psychological scars. These include: the discovery of a hidden lab that used monkeys to develop biological weapons; and the death of eight fellow Marines.....for which he was responsible. These incidents greatly impact Rush's behavior in the Arctic.



The story has an array of interesting characters, including: submarine specialist Karen Vleska - a platinum-haired beauty who catches Rush's eye; Eskimo Clinton Toovik - who knows everything about ice; State Department honcho Andrew Sachs - who continually inserts himself where he's not wanted; Major Pettit - the Marine who's sleeping with Rush's ex-wife (how's that for awkward company?😕); Captain Zhou Dongfeng - skipper of the Chinese submarine; Major Li Youyoung - Zhou's placid translator; and more.

This is an exciting story with a great setting and an interesting (and clever) plotline about biological weapons. I think most thriller fans would enjoy the book.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

[Ted · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was willing to overlook that this novel's protagonist, Joe Rush, is supposedly a doctor and a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps despite the fact that there are no medical officers in the Marines. Medical support services are provided to Marines by doctors and hospital corpsmen of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps. I'm not sure why the author didn't know this.

What then absolutely astounded me was the oil painting of a WW II battle scene hanging over the Secretary of Defense's desk depicting "Marines storming ashore at Normandy". At Normandy?! Certainly at Pelelieu, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, or Okinawa, but at Normandy? No U.S. Marine did any storming of beachheads on D-Day, June 6, 1944 at Normandy. I cannot excuse Mr. Abel or for that matter, his editor, Tom Colgan, for being ignorant of this fact. This read went from a 3-star to 2-star based on these glowing errors.

Note to Misters Abel and Colgan: For future reference, the Germans didn't bomb Pearl Harbor either.

[MacWithBooksonMountains Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright, the author’ military jargon is not at all authentic. If you know anything about US military organizations, you may find the author’ lack of such specialist knowledge less than immersive. Be that as it may, the writer more than makes up with an exciting setting, a well thought-out plot and interesting characters. In fact, I found this a bit Alistair “Mcleanish”in style and quality.

[Evie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A marine doctor and bio-terror expert with a tragic past, Joe Rush, is charged with a mission that may just prove to be his last - and not only because he's about to retire. A technologically advanced sub, U.S.S. Montana, is stuck in the frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean - its crew plagued by a disease of the deadliest kind. With the Chinese subway approaching fast, not only the crew is in a great danger, but the top-secret technology could be lost to the foreign power. Time is running out quick, odds are stacking up against Joe Rush and his quickly assembled rescue team - will they get there on time? And if they do, will they be able to save the U.S.S. Montana, or will it be too late?

This was a tremendously interesting read. Not at all a one-dimensional thriller, but an ambitious and well-written multi-genre mash-up of the most captivating kind. I enjoyed it more than I expected and will definitely be picking up the next books in the series. An eloquent, meticulously researched (especially the military and political aspects of the story) high-intensity ride for fans of Jason Bourne, Mission Impossible an The Last Ship.

I picked this book up for two reasons: 1) I am a sucker for stories dealing with outbreaks, deadly viruses, plagues and other such things and 2) I like extreme settings, isolated locations and places that are just as dangerous adversaries as diseases or bad people. The White Plague delivered on both fronts.

The writing was extremely easy and pleasant to read - something I wasn't expecting from a story dealing with military and political aspects of International relations, disease outbreaks, corruption and treachery. I was positively surprised at how quickly I became immersed in the story. The pacing was very good and the story flowed almost effortlessly, and before I knew it, I was reading the final chapters. Which brings me to the next point - the ending. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed by the conclusion of the story. It was not a bad ending per se, it just lacked the tension and excitement of the preceding chapters. It felt like something merely washed ashore; an afterthought of the story. And, considering the cleverly devised, intrigue-filled, action-fueled plot line and its flawless execution, the ending left me feeling dissatisfied and wanting more.

That being said, I stand by my word - I am looking forward to the next volume and can't wait to meet Joe Rush again.

[Linda Lpp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read and equally enjoyed other books about climate impact on ice conditions, ships in the Artic, explorations, medical/scientific issues arising, availability of supplies and interpersonal stresses for most involved. And the reality of impacts of outbreaks and plagues on "the well". The additional realities of the key role of politics.

You don't need to have lived in the current era of COVID-19 the world is facing, however it does help one visualize what might have seemed improbable in past, as a stark reality that these issues are not "science fiction". Hope you can relate and learn.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top-notch Arctic adventure

I enjoy reading adventures that take place in the Arctic and the the Antarctic. I also enjoy disaster novels. WHITE PLAGUE combines all my favorite elements into one lollapalooza of a bioterrorism thriller.

This book started off at top speed and it is "pedal to the metal" from beginning to the last page. The pacing is fast, doesn't give up essential plot details because of the quick pace, and definitely kept my interest.

The protagonist, Marine doctor/bioterrorism expert Joe Rush, was fully fleshed out and is now one of my favorite fictional heroes. He is tough and not afraid to make tough, life-changing decisions.

I like the care that the author took in describing the icy Arctic setting - and also the details about the disease outbreak.

This is a scary, too believable thriller that happens to be one of my favorite books of the year.

PROTOCOL ZERO (2015) and THE SIXTH PROPHET (2016) will follow in this series. James Abel is the pseudonym of author Bob Reiss, non-fiction author/journalist.

NOTE : I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Dennis · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5 Sterne

[The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Thrillers set in polar conditions (or outer space). I also like apocalyptic scenarios, like plagues - especially if it's just nature getting back at The Man, rather than bioweaponry. I stuck with White Plague because it ticked a lot of those boxes. Too bad about the writing, though.

This plot is one part Ice Station Zebra, complete with saboteur, and one part The Thing except instead of a killer mimic-alien, it's the 1918 Spanish Flu.

Honestly, I probably should've DNF'd this. The first chapter was awful, with awkward infodumps and an unnecessarily rushed setup. James Abel really should've used some beta readers on it. After that, there was nowhere for this book to go but up - which it did by a notch (YAY!) and then it immediately plateaued (BOO!)

Give this one a pass.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

"White Plague" is like an early vintage Alistair Maclean novel: long on plot, driven from crisis to crisis, full of action or threatened action, and peopled with characters who are made of good, sturdy cardboard. By that I mean that the characters are not just stereotypical cutouts, but that they aren't fleshed out a great deal, either. They are there to be plot elements and to drive the story. The story's good. An American nuclear submarine is in really big trouble and is immobile in the Arctic. Having experienced a fire of unknown origins that killed at least thirty crew members, drove the rest of the crew onto the ice, and inflicted some kind of chemical or biological effects, the surviving crew awaits rescue from the Coast Guard's lone functioning ocean-going icebreaker and its medical and survival personnel (two squads of US Marines included). All this happens in the face of a major storm deep in the pack ice while a Chinese icebreaker races to inspect the sub and its advanced technology. And then there's the Russians, maybe. And the unforgiving nature of the Arctic. And the unforgiving nature of some of the marines, who view their colonel as having killed a bunch of his own men on an earlier mission. It all comes together ably in the end, even if some of the ending is predictable.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

White Plague by James Abel is his first book in his Joe Rush series and it is a brilliant beginning of a promising series. The U.S.S. Montana is in peril deep in the Arctic Ocean with only thirty-six hours before the crew perishes, with a foreign submarine rapidly approaching the U.S.S. Montana to intercept what is aboard, Dr. Joe Rush, a Marine doctor and an expert in bio-terror and his crew are tasked with reaching the sub and saving not only the lives of the seaman aboard, but containing the contagion the crew has on board with them. White Plague is a fast-paced thriller that keeps the reader deeply engrossed in the storyline and through Abel’s writing style, the reader can almost feel as though they are with Joe, Eddie, and the team. Joe Rush is a wonderfully drawn main character and one I look forward to learning more about in future books. Abel’s details are meticulous without being tedious and his intertwining storylines will keep the reader on their toes and turning to pages to see what will happen next. I would not hesitate to recommend White Plague to readers who enjoy thrillers and I personally cannot wait for the next book in the series.

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth the wait

All right! It looks like I have a new series to follow. Very suspenseful. Well written action and medical thriller. I am a Joe Rush fan now.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really riveting, right to the end. There were some pretty unrealistic aspects, but the story is such a wild ride, I never cared. I will read more of this author!

[Michael L Wilkerson (Papa Gray Wolf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book better than the first one I read, Vector, which was the 4th in the series while this is the 1st.

This book was copyrighted in 2015 and it was extremely interesting to read in that it came out a few years before the current pandemic but deals with the pandemic of 1918 and was miscalled The Spanish Flu pandemic but actually started in Kansas. This takes place in 2015 in the Arctic.

The similarities between that pandemic and the one we're suffering from now is remarkable. There was even an Anti-Mask League of San Francisco, comparable to those protesting mask mandates today.

I look forward to more novels by Mr. Abel. Interesting, well written, the two I've read certainly keeps my attention.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good military/medical thriller that seems to be the first book in a new series. (The cover says " A Joe Rush novel", even though it's the author's first fiction book.) Joe Rush is a Marine, a medical doctor, and a bioterror expert. In this book he's sent to help a submarine that's adrift and in flames in the Arctic Ocean, it's crew dying from an unknown sickness that doesn't respond to any known treatment. And since the sub is carrying advanced secret military technology, the Chinese are also sending a sub to take over the vessel. Will Joe and his team get there in time to save the crew, and prevent military action by the Chinese?

I give it 3 and a half stars. I found this book to be enjoyable and suspenseful. It took me a few chapters to get into the story because the author gave alot of info at the beginning to set up the story. (It's his first stab at fiction, so hopefully the next book will fit the info better into the storytelling. ) The book seemed to be very well researched, the author being a journalist who's written alot about the Arctic. His descriptions of the ice and the weather conditions made me feel like I was there with them. I also liked the main character, Joe Rush. He knows alot, but he's not depicted as a perfect person. I will be looking forward to reading the next installment in this series.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read anything by this author, but enjoyed it very much. I already have his second book on wish lists!

Joe Rush is sent to save an American submarine, which is on fire and stuck in the Artic Ocean, 500 miles from Alaska. As it turns out, they also have some kind of sickness on board. It is believed to be from two frozen bodies an explorer found on a boat frozen in the ice, that they took on board. Turns out to be the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed millions of people. Joe saves the crew, and gets them into quarantine on his icebreaker...now, can he find the cure in time, before the president decides to dispose of the boat, and the people on it, in order to stop the disease from spreading once more.

[Aristotle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plodded along like an ice breaker through the Arctic.

Slow going.
A second rate Clive Cussler book.
Unfortunately Joe Rush and his sidekick Eddie don't have the chemistry or charm that Dirk Pitt and his buddy Al Giordino do.

USS Montana a highly advanced nuclear submarine is adrift and in flames in the Arctic. Many of its crew have serious burns and are suffering from an unknown pathogen that could kill all of them.
Is the pathogen airborne? Will it spread to those sent to rescue them? Is it a biological weapon gone wrong?
Evil Chinese military, bureaucratic US government, corporate greed, and a few more cliches thrown into this disappointing book.

It's James Abel's first book so i will cut him some slack but i can't recommend it.

[Patrick Nichol · Rating 4 out of 5]

White Plague is an entertaining thriller that can best be described as Ice Station Zebra meets Outbreak with a dash of The Hunt for Red October thrown in.
USMC Col. Joe Rush and his crack team is dispatched to the High Arctic to rescue the stricken crew of attack submarine USS Montana. They're dying from a mysterious disease and a fire has damaged the boat.
Complicating things is news the Chinese are en route to seize the boat for its new high-tech torpedoes and electronics.
Rush, who's also a doctor, races to their aid in a Coast Guard icebreaker.
Rife with tension, and some satisfying flashbacks, White Plague will intrigue any suspense lover.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a bio-thriller with a promising premise, but the biomedical details were a bit sloppy.
For example, antidote/vaccine/drug are not the same thing. There are actually preventive treatments in the real world that could have been used instead of just sending a rescue team out unprotected. ... Of course all these facts would have eliminated the entire plot.
It's fiction, so pure fantasy is OK but then the author should make that clear and call it the IceIceBaby virus or whatever.

[✨Susan✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out pretty good but when it should have ramped up toward the end it kind of fell flat for me. I had a hard time staying interested. It did have a good plot and the scenery description was done well. A quote worth noting: Politics is Hollywood for ugly people.

[Jason Fryer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out somewhat intriguing and did not really grip me the way I had hoped. Perhaps it was just me but this seemed like the writing style, character development and pacing just left a lot to be desired. It was still moderately entertaining but I won't be reading the follow-ups.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Much Here

Ok. Fast read, Arctic setting a nice change of pace, historical tidbits about Spanish flu intriguing. However, plot relatively formulaic and predictable. Character development superficial. May or may not read another Joe Rush novel.

[Jbsfaculty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great idea but the execution is a little too trite.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a retired (2011) sales rep who worked in book publishing for forty years. Random House employed me for more than half of those years. I still get book recommendations from the company. I do not read all of the suggestions I get. I am happy that I DID read WHITE PLAGUE by JAMES ABEL (pseudonym of journalist/author Bob Reiss). A WARNING for readers – when you read this book, make sure you are sitting near a fireplace with a roaring fire or on a hot, sunny beach. If not, you will get very cold, as I did. This is the first in a series with at least four books (as of December 2019).

Colonel Joe Rush is a Marine but he is also a doctor. There is a terrible secret in his past stemming from an incident in Afghanistan two years prior to this story. His nickname is “Killer”. His best friend is Major Eddie Nakamura, also a doctor, who was there with Joe in Afghanistan. Joe and Eddie are sent to Barrow, Alaska when a U.S. submarine is reported stranded in an Arctic Ice field with burn injuries and an unknown illness killing the crew.

They board a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker along with a staff of 25 Marines, a native Alaskan ice expert and a female engineer from the company that built the submarine. Joe and Eddie realize quickly that there is a Chinese spy aboard the cutter. Communications with the outside world is almost nonexistent because of a severe storm. The sub contains many updated and secret innovations that they have to either save or destroy. The Chinese are after that technology as well and it is a race against time.

The two groups arrive on scene almost at the same time. A confrontation ensues but Joe is able to avoid starting WWWIII. The Americans eventually head toward Barrow but the disease is creating an international panic among the leaders who know about it. The Americans decide they have to destroy the ship and all of the personnel to avoid a pandemic similar to 1347 (the Black Death) or 1918 (the Spanish flu).

If you like military thrillers, medical dramas or spy intrigues, this is a book for you. I eagerly anticipate reading more stories by author Abel/Reiss.

GO! BUY! READ!

[Jonathan Leventhal · Rating 4 out of 5]

White Plague by James Abel is a suspenseful thriller which takes place on the uncertain waters of the Arctic. The novel starts off with the recruitment of the marine soldier Joe Rush who is needed to save a group of scientists from the new virus which they unknowingly released. After assembling a team of experts Joe goes on his mission to save them but, due to complications with China his rescue mission takes a drastic and potentially deadly turn. Due to tensions between America and China, Joe must stop the Chinese from firing upon the American boats. This quickly turns into a thrilling tension-filled moment that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
I enjoyed reading this book. Through the book's suspenseful moments, the reader will quickly become excited to see what happens next and to figure out how Joe Rush will be able to get through his increasingly complicated situations. Through these moments, the novel takes on the feeling of an intense thriller, however throughout the story, Abel uses plot development to allow the reader to see the softer side of Joe. Although Joe is the typical hardened military veteran, his sad past and the loneliness that he feels is portrayed throughout, showing how even a tough veteran like Joe still has his own worries and behind his hard exterior the reader can see the more relatable human side of him. For these reasons, I would rate the book four out of five stars and I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun thriller to read.

[Richard Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's a book to update some of your knowledge of the far North and if you don't know the vocabulary word, Sastrugi, you will learn something new about navigation in Arctic and Antarctic storms.
Author James Abel has put together a well-organized adventure, disease mystery and superpower standoff in a tension laced novel. Hero Joe Rush leads his band of marines on a medical rescue of the disabled submarine, The Montana through an arctic blizzard while racing against time, disease and the Chinese naval attempt to salvage our weapons and navigation technology from the disaster. Who is the deep seated Mole in the American team? How does Colonel Rush manage to get out of the trap set by his Chinese nemesis Captain Zhou on the ice flow? What is the American Government trying to hide about the long-lost events at Fort Riley, Kansas from the past? If you are a skeptic about immunizations, you need to read about the statistics of the plagues that devastated the Old World for nearly a Millenium. Loved the book, a great read for your next trip to the far North!

[Eric Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good popcorn fun, decent plot

[Alyssa Ryan]

DNF at page 59. This book is not for me.

[Maeve Kilcarr · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very “meh” read

[Ericka Clou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off as a fun enough dad-book (the type of books dads read and enjoy) but it trailed off and I got bored as it got obvious.

[Syd (deertales) · Rating 3 out of 5]

White Plague tackles a very different setting than most of the patriotic, bio-terrorism books that readers are used too. There is no battle in the Middle East here; instead the plot is set in the remote waters of the Arctic Ocean. Readers, and the main character Joe Rush, start off by learning that the technologically advanced submarine USS Montana is adrift and in flames. Naturally, the task of rescuing the crew of the Montana and keeping the vessel out of enemy hands falls to our hero Rush. As if this wasn't enough moving parts to drive a book forward, add in the aspect of a deadly plague from the past killing off the Montana crew members, and you have one hell of a story.

Or so one would think.

I feel that the main problem with this book is that Abel really dragged the first half of the book out. Unnecessary character descriptions bogged down the pace of the novel, as well as a prolonged flashback that I never fully understood the purpose of. If I wasn't already a huge fan of the narrator, Ray Porter, I may have stopped listening. BUT... I didn't stop, and the ending was much better than the beginning.

As a reader, I could tell that the author was very comfortable with the Arctic. I enjoyed his descriptions of the ice, of the sun so near the North Pole. I think where he got off track was in introducing his characters. There was an unrealistic amount of smells described, which I found odd. Rush must have the most uncanny nose, because he could smell some coconut shampoo on one character, while discerning a combination of minty, garlic breath on another. It seems like a petty reason to dislike a novel, but once I noticed it, I couldn't help but focus on all of the unnecessary ways to describe people and rooms on a ship.

Everyone also seemed a bit cliche, which to be honest, is almost expected from books of this nature. No one, or nothing really stands out as being spectacular in this book. I still thought overall it was an entertaining listen, but I cannot decide if I will invest in the rest of the series.