Viravax

Ransom, sometime collaborator with the late Frank Herbert ( The Ascension Factor ) and author of one previous solo novel ( Jaguar ), here offers a near-future thriller set against a background of deadly biological warfare. In 2105, in the newly formed Central American country of Costa Brava, the ViraVax company conducts top-secret genetic experiments, developing tailored retroviruses for various clandestine purposes--most importantly (and most secretly) the fanatical plans of its founder, Joshua Casey. Casey's father is the messianic Master behind a nouveau religious sect, the Children of Eden, and Casey plots to use ViraVax's viruses to remake the world in the sect's utopian image, no matter who gets hurt in the process. But when Casey's equally fanatical chief researcher, Dajaj Mishwe, uses a telltale virus to eliminate an employee who learned too much, ViraVax attracts the attention of the dead man's best friend, former Agency operative Colonel Rico Toledo, who begins to unravel the company's dangerous secrets. The story starts off with a bang, and Casey's schemes are suitably horrifying, but the narrative loses its momentum very quickly, only recovering toward the end. In between, the book limps through various subplots, showing little sense of direction. (Sept.)