Just Life

May 1, 2016
When a rabies-like virus erupts in a New York City neighborhood, it sets off a desperate race to find the source before more children and animals die. The clock and calendar are also the enemies of Dr. Sam Lewis, who must find funding and a new location for her no-kill shelter or be forced to euthanize the facility's dogs. The two life-and-death scenarios collide when a fear-induced quarantine makes Lewis' shelter ground zero for the area's reluctantly abandoned pets and reunites Lewis with her research-scientist father, perhaps the only person with the professional background necessary to find the source of the contagion. With a ragtag crew of assistants, friends, and supporters running interference as she confronts a rival out for revenge, Lewis risks her life and those of the animals she esteems above all others. Propelled by a strong moral imperative, Abramson's (Unsaid, 2011) taut and suspenseful novel demonstrates what happens when the lines of scientific ethics and citizen welfare are blurred in the name of political expediency.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)