From Amazon.com
Judy O'Brien Kozinski has no idea what she'll find as she investigates the death of her husband. A genetic scientist, he was slain for his refusal to work for a biotech company of dubious intentions controlled by the mob. As she fights for answers in the offices of the FBI, witnesses the mass execution of a religious cult, and uncovers the devious motive of the biotech firm--producing customized viruses that could be spread like a cold--she realizes the power and potential of herself as an individual. Her transformation, from unhappy and insecure widow to confident, sleek sleuth is almost as Herculean as her success at exposing this global threat.
From Publishers Weekly
The potential hazards and social consequences of genetic engineering provide the matrix for this provocative thriller by Kress, author of Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science fiction novels. Boston-area freelance journalist Judy O'Brien Kozinski is devastated by the murder of her husband, Ben, an eminent geneticist. Determined to find his killers, despite her rage at discovering that he'd been having an affair, Judy stays one step ahead of edgy, dogged FBI detective Robert Cavanaugh, a lovelorn agent who obsessively faxes and e-mails letters to his estranged wife. The trail leads to a New Jersey biotechnology firm with which Ben had interviewed. The firm turns out not only to have mob connections but also to have been secretly working on an airborne killer virus that can be customized to infect specific individuals. Also involved is an apocalyptic religious cult in upstate New York, the Soldiers of the Divine Covenant, whose members practice animal sacrifice. The plot ultimately is far-fetched, but Kress, a witty and engaging writer, is in lucid command of key principles of, and advances in, molecular biology. She creates chilling suspense as twisty as a DNA double helix.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
