12.21

The coming apocalypse, predicted by an ancient Mayan calendar to occur on December 21, 2012, provides the backdrop for Thomason’s fast, suspenseful second novel, another science-based puzzle thriller like his 2005 debut, The Rule of Four (with Ian Caldwell). Early one morning, Dr. Gabriel Stanton, the director of the Centers for Disease Control’s Prion Center in Los Angeles, receives a call from a third-year resident at East L.A.’s Presbyterian Hospital about a patient with symptoms of prion disease. The skeptical Stanton hears the resident out, then rushes to Presbyterian to see the patient for himself. Meanwhile at the Getty Museum, Chel Manu, an epigraphy scholar of Mayan descent, is deciphering an incredibly rare, previously unknown Mayan codex. Soon an epidemic of prion disease has struck thousands of people. As a citywide quarantine shuts down L.A., Stanton and Manu race to the Guatemalan jungle to find a cure. Michael Crichton fans will find a lot to like. Author tour. Agent, Jennifer Joel, ICM. (Aug.)