Beach reads: A half-dozen best bets for summer from Atlanta authors.
PLAGUE by H.W. “Buzz” Bernard (Bell Bridge Books)
A lethal airborne Ebola virus spreads like a cold in an Atlanta day care center. While CDC virologist Dwight Butler investigates the origin of what could be an apocalyptic health crisis, Richard Wainwright, the new chief executive officer of Atlanta biotech firm BioDawn, investigates the purpose of a strange building near his office.
Wainwright’s discovery leads him on a hunt for a bioterrorist, who threatens to launch a second, greater dissemination of Ebola that could wipe out the entire population of Atlanta in a few days’ time. Inspired by Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone, Bernard’s second novel grapples with the complexity of disease, the crisis of contagion and the catastrophic danger of bioterrorism.
Richard stood, keeping his hand on the SIG and jamming the weapon more firmly into the waistband of his khakis. His heart hammered at the same rate as the furious Zydeco beat from across the street. His shirt, saturated with perspiration, clung to him like a wet dishrag. Not cut out for this…. Richard, understanding he was deep in enemy territory, decided to burrow even deeper. Hiding in plain sight.