Pestis 18

Pestis 18 is Yercina pestis, a variety of the bacillus that caused the Black Plague, the scourge of Europe in the Middle Ages. Now it has been secretly re-created by the CIA, but scientists have not yet developed an antitoxin. The Russians, however, have. These are the complications Congressman Bruton Laird Farrier must unravel when terrorists seize two cannisters of the plague, secreting one of them on St. Cyrils Island off Georgia, and holding the vacationers there (Farrier among them) as hostages. Although he outwits his captors, Farrier is faced with a terrible dilemma: the time clock is running; where is the second cannister? When will it explode? Webb, an R.N., nicely integrates technical information on bioengineering, decontamination procedures and the development of antibiotics. The dialogue is crisp and the narrative fast paced and all too credible. (February 16)