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Independence Day Plague
James Mitchell knew his family would work at the top secret Bio-Lab 4 Military base for all of their careers. Twenty-three years later, the lab has become an embarrassment and the Army shuts it down. They decide to keep the government's dirty secrets safe by killing everyone. At the last celebration, the Army colonel, Forrester poisons the food with a deadly virus. Mitchell, the only survivor, watches his family and friends die writhing in agony from the virus he created. Now, with his sanity breaking, Mitchell wants revenge on the government that killed his family and stole his life. On July 4th, 2026 three million people flood into Washington DC for America's 250th birthday celebration. Veteran DC cop, Michael Dorado, heads the city's anti-terrorism taskforce for the biggest celebration of the decade. On that morning, Mitchell sends Dorado the message, "When the crowds are at their peak, I will detonate a biological weapon that will spray the nearby people with a deadly pathogen." Now Dorado is in a battle against time and the crowds to stop a madman before he unleashes the lethal virus on the world.
250 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 2009
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Carla Lee Suson
4 books5 followersA Texas chick a heart, Carla Lee Suson started writing after spending a few years in medical research in Dallas. She then moved to South Texas and developed short stories and articles on travel destinations, parenting advice, and science work while raising three kids and a pack of dogs. After relocating to Northwest Indiana, she obtained a Master's degree in Professional Writing and published her first novel, Independence Day Plague. Her current project is a three-book series about a professional thief who uses ghosts as her accomplices. When not sculpting scenes of ghosts, murder, and mayhem, she dives into one of her many hobbies such as woodworking, leather craft, or photography.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 1, 2012
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.
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.
October 29, 2012
I loved this book, it's clearly well written and thought out. The plot is very interesting and it definitely makes you pay attention to what's going on. If I had to name a down side, I'd say it's that you don't really get very personally attached to the characters except for Mitchell, who is by far the best developed. Overall a great book definitely worth a read. It may not be the top seller but it deserves to be up there.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews