Murder and mystery reach epidemic proportions when a devastating plague sweeps the country in this "harrowing medical horror story" (The New York Times) from the #1 bestselling author of Coma "The ultimate nightmare . . . spine-tingling intrigue and fever-pitched action."--Associated Press When the director of a Los Angeles health maintenance clinic succumbs, along with seven patients, to an untreatable--and virulently contagious--virus, Dr. Melissa Blumenthal is assigned by the Centers for Disease Control to investigate.
The California case is merely the first in a burgeoning series of outbreaks that occur in unrelated geographical areas but with puzzling commonalities: The locations are always healthcare facilities, and their victims are only physicians and their patients.
As her investigation takes increasingly bizarre turns, Melissa finds that behind the natural threat lurks a far more sinister possibility--sabotage--and soon finds herself facing the wrath of a powerful cabal, sworn to achieve its aims, no matter what the cost in human life--including Melissa's.