Vector Red: Gene Therapy/ Blessing or Curse

by Lawrence W. Gold

Sara, a young, previously healthy woman, and a missionary, arrives at Brier Hospital with a rash and low-grade fever. In minutes, the rash erupts into destructive skin lesions and Sara goes into shock. Is this an undiagnosed infectious disease, or is Sara the victim of a biological weapon? Is she contagious? Is this the start of an epidemic? In their attempt to fight this disease, physicians call in the CDC. What is it? Who did it? Why did they do it? Can anyone stop it? While Vector Red is medical fiction, the novel introduces the reader to an advanced technique for genetic manipulation with the potential to alter life as we know it, not only today, but for the future. Man may have the ability to change the world, but do we have the intelligence, ethical sensibility, and the foresight to see what's ahead for good or evil.

470 pages, Paperback

Published December 20, 2016

About the author

Lawrence W. Gold, MD is a retired physician. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War where he served in an evacuation hospital, ran an emergency room and was a Battalion Surgeon. He completed his training in internal medicine and diseases of the kidney in 1968.

He retired in 1995 after 23 years in a hospital-based practice caring for patients with complicated illnesses and served as Chief of Medicine. After retirement he and his wife, Doris, spent time sailing at sea. He has written three screenplays based on his novels. His screenplay for Rage won honorable mention at the 80th annual Writer's Digest contest. He lives in Grass Valley, CA with his wife.

Reviews

[Gayle Pace · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY THOUGHTS

The author has brought us another fantastic Brier Hospital story. This one is about a possible biological weapon. But then is it just an infectious disease? No one knows if she is contagious or if they have an epidemic on their hands. The physicians call the CDC to help them find out what is going on. This book is medical fiction but the author gives the reader much to think about. It's not beyond possibility that this could happen for real. Our lives as we know them could be genetically altered and change our lives now and forever. Everyday, even though mankind is extremely intelligent and may think we are ready and able to handle anything the outside world hands us, we are at risk, a terrible risk waiting for evil and good to take up the fight. The book may surprise some, some may think it's a bunch of nonsense, and some may actually find it frightening. Frightening it is. It is the unknown. Never knowing when it may hit, what it is, where did it come from and how to fight it. Many time, people who are in the missionary field or people who visit other countries and even other states, go home with bacterial infections that sometimes end in death. What is going on? Does the government have something to do with this? Is it part of the Biological weapons research here and in other countries? Could a mistake or mistakes been made that they don't know how to handle? Good and evil lurk everywhere, even in our government. True, much good is done but isn't it in the choice of doing good or just doing whatever can be done? A choice always has to be made. But are the right choices being made? Every choice made has it's price and somebody has to pay that price. ALWAYS! Where does mankind's future lie? The author gives the reader a terrifying thriller that will give the reader much to think about and at the same time get another exciting book from the Brier Hospital series. Will Sara and Lori be able to survive? Will they find out what happened to cause this and who was behind it? Don't miss out on this exciting, informational and terrifying book from Lawrence W. Gold, M.D.

Several quotes from book:

REMEMBER THAT YOUR CHARACTER IS YOUR DESTINY. Instructions for Life by Dalai Lama

ANYTHING CAN BE TURNED TO EVIL IN THE HANDS OF EVIL MEN. Francis Bacon
SEEMS YOU CAN'T OUTSMART MOTHER NATURE. Mark Hyman

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and voluntarily decided to review it.

[N.V. Cefalo · Rating 3 out of 5]

*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary, unbiased review.*

3.5/5

I enjoyed this book, but it took time to develop through the story. The first third of this book is strictly backstory to the two main characters and their daily lives growing up. I felt that while it was good to get a foundation for the latter chapters, the story was powerful enough to have these chapters significantly reduced and still have the same message good ending. Once the story got through to their adult life, it got very interesting. I really liked the concepts and the explaining of medical and scientific concepts (though I doubt professionals do data-dump like explanations to each other like they do in the book). I am a huge fan of the bio-thriller genre, and this came very close to it. I havent read any of the other stories in this series, but also felt that I didnt need to, to get a sense of the characters and the going-ons of the story. This was overall a well-written book that I wished had a little more edge to it. I would still recommend either way.

[Deedra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book.There was some weird science going on.A genius,arrogant scientist decides to get back at everyone by creating a bacteria to cause illness.When people start dying,he runs.His former friend from childhood,a much nicer guy,helps with the cure. Marcia E.H.Rezza as a fine narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.' 

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vector Red: Gene Therapy/ Blessing or Curse: A Brier Hospital novel is by Lawrence W. Gold, M.D. This is a medical thriller and Dr. Gold is one of the finest medical thriller writers I have read. He manages to get you into his books immediately and helps you to understand what is going on medically by explaining things in layman’s terms. This book deals with bullying and the repercussions it can cause years after it happens. It also deals with blood atonement and what happens when someone decides to punish people by genetically adapting blood elements.
Gary and Eddie were friends and were army brats. Their fathers had served together for many years and the boys went to school together. Eddie was always accepted by the new kids but Gary being a nerd and overweight and even uncaring, was the subject of intense bullying. Of course, it always happened when no adult was around to stop it. The single time adults did interfere, the bullying got worse. Eddie tried his best to involve Gary but it wasn’t enough. Gary got involved in computers and pulled Eddie into it with him. When they both got scholarships for college, Gary knew immediately he was going to John Hopkins while Eddie went for a liberal arts degree and then into the Peace Corps where he was sent to Africa and was there when the Ebola breakout occurred. Meanwhile, Gary’s parents were killed in a car accident leaving only Eddie and his sister Faith. Faith got involved with a dud of a guy who helped her set up a restaurant and let her run it while he did the finances and ran around on her. Finally, he left and left her with the restaurant and no money and owing back taxes. Faith was so conscientious that she worked very hard to pay off all his debts; but when it came to the IRS, she broke. She talked to Gary but it didn’t help. She committed suicide. Gary froze up from his friends. By the time Eddie got home, Gary had decided the IRS must pay. “Blood atonement is what they deserve, blood atonement is what they will get,” were his words to Eddie.
Revenge can be devastating for the one who deserves it; but what about the others who are just there?

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This latest saga of the staff and patients of Brier Hospital is the best one in the series. For decades since the complete understanding of the role of DNA in cells was worked out, science fiction stories have featured genetic manipulation. Sometimes, it is depicted as for the good, but most often for the bad. There has been a consistent and powerful public resistance to Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs. This is where snippets of DNA are inserted into living creature so that they and their descendents have a previously unavailable characteristic.
The greatest fear within this area is the potential production of a “superbug,” a human pathogen where there is little human immunity and it is resistant to all forms of chemical counterattack. That is the basic plot of this fast-moving and engaging novel. What is different now is the availability of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), a tool that allows for genomes to be edited much easier and with greater precision than before.
A genius misfit and his best and only non-relative friend are talented biological scientists that end up at Fort Detrick, the American government’s primary lab for the investigation of germ warfare. The major purpose of the research is supposedly to develop mechanisms to protect populations from the release of weaponized microbes. The staff there are considered the front line defense against biological agents.
A deadly and completely new pathogen is released into the population in a remote area by the government in what is claimed as an accident and two infected sisters end up at Brier Hospital. The uniqueness and severity of their illness taxes and baffles the staff, with the elderly, yet still sharp, Jacob Wiezman the lead physician.
This is a thriller that has a very plausible scenario as the main plot device. With the development of new tools for “snipping and sewing” DNA fragments, it is now easier than ever to insert the gene you want into a bacterium. Done properly, a superbug can be created and fairly easily dispersed into the population. Unlike other weapons of mass destruction, thousands to millions of people could be killed by the proper dispersment of a small amount of pathogens. The best thrillers have as their primary premise a main event that is very plausible, in this case that is true and the premise is also very well articulated and explained.

[Glenda Bixler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Latest in my favorite medical series...

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