From Publishers Weekly
Standiford's debut is a riveting thriller about a lethal biological weapon. A scientist has developed a supergerm that produces a hemorrhagic fever, with which he plans to blackmail his company, PetroDyne. The company's executives order Skanz, a half-mad hit man, to kill the scientist but the terrible invention is already on its way to Yellowstone Park, via tanker truck. Its dim-witted driver spills the germ agent, infecting Native American and park resident Isaac Brigham Smith, local merchant Larraine Webber and forest ranger Jack Fairchild. Jack and Larraine are "rescued" and taken to a makeshift "hospital" in the park where PetroDyne, desperate to keep the spill a secret, plans to let the victims die their gruesome deaths. The duo escapes, however, and a gripping pursuit through the park's canyons and mountains ensues. They are found by Isaac, who sets traps for the PetroDyne hit squads, but the ravages of the disease and the superhuman ruthlessness of Skanz leave the reader on tenterhooks beyond the last page.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The premise of this eco-thriller is simple and scary. The U.S. government, in collusion with private industry, is manufacturing the tools for biological warfare and shipping them around the country disguised as harmless chemicals. One tractor trailer, filled with a particularly deadly plague-like disease, is in the process of being hijacked for a ransom when it overturns in Yellowstone National Park. All the victims of the disease, dead and alive (including the hero, park ranger Jack Fairchild), are quietly rounded up while the entire episode is whitewashed in the press. To make matters worse, a secret team of assassins has been sent to wipe out all traces of the spill. Although the book opens with a rush of adrenalin, it loses momentum until after the disaster occurs and doesn't recover the tense pacing it needs until the last third of the book. Still, this topical novel won't go amiss in larger fiction collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/91.
- Marilyn Jordan, Keiser Coll. Lib., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
