From Amazon.com
Before venturing back and forth in time with this historical
and futuristic adventure novel, Ann Benson was best known for her beads. The idea for
The Plague Tales came to her during a period of research in London for one of her craft books; passing by an open plot of ground, she learned that it was a mass grave for 14th-century victims of the bubonic plague, inspiring her own fantastic version of the disastrous disease's effects.
The Plague Tales consists of two parallel stories: one an account of a king's physician in 14th-century England, the other a tale of futuristic London--a time when antibiotics no longer cure and "Bio-Cops," empowered to exterminate those suspected of carrying disease, prowl the streets.
From Library Journal
First novelist Benson has created a harrowing medical novel that will give readers both nightmares and thrills. She uses an old gimmick, parallel chapters, to great effect, alternating between the stories of Alejandro Canches, a 14th-century Jewish physician, and Janie Crowe, a government-designated archaeologist in the 21st century. The heroic Alejandro battles the bubonic plague and sets in motion a tragic turn of events. Janie, an embittered former surgeon struggling in her new career, is still grieving over the loss of her family during one of the catastrophic sicknesses that besiege the time she lives in. Particularly horrifying are the descriptions of how contagion is fought during Janie's time; one or two methods will undoubtedly make readers wince. The two plotlines dovetail neatly and boil to a twisted, satisfying conclusion. Characterization is a little lame, particularly in the case of Alejandro's love interest, but not nearly enough to make the reader put the book down. It's a carefully woven page-turner from which veterans like Robin Cook and Michael Crichton could learn. Readers of books along the lines of Richard Preston's The Hot Zone (LJ 8/94) will devour this fictional equivalent. Recommended for all collections. [Preston himself is publishing a fictional equivalent of his sensational nonfiction title; for details, see Prepub Alert, p. 78-82.?Ed.]?Lesley C. Keogh, Bethel P.L., Ct.
-?Lesley C. Keogh, Bethel P.L., Ct.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
