White Plague

November 10, 2014
The pseudonymous Abel makes his thriller debut with this well-written if unoriginal entry in the world-threatening deadly virus genre. Col. Joe Rush, doctor, war hero, and man with a dark secret, leads a team of Marines on a mission to save the U.S. nuclear submarine Montana, which is on fire and stranded in the Arctic Circle. Meanwhile, a mysterious disease has stricken the crew, and a Chinese submarine is headed to the scene, intent on stealing the sub’s secrets. The familiar cast includes a love interest, several quirky experts, an officious government functionary, a best pal, and a spy who’s always one step ahead of the team. Joe has been telling his superiors for years that “the next big outbreak of human disease might come from a cold climate, not a hot one,” but, as usual with prescient heroes, no one believes him, so now the planet is about to pay the price. Abel piles plenty of trouble on Joe and his gang, but the outcome is never in doubt. The unusual Arctic location is a plus. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

November 1, 2014
A triple dose of trouble awaits bioterror expert Joe Rush in the remote reaches of the Arctic Ocean: A U.S. submarine with superadvanced weapons is in flames, the sailors who haven't been killed yet by a mysterious agent will die if they're not treated soon, and a Chinese sub is fast approaching.Not the sort of news you want to be given at 1 a.m. But the unexcitable, Anchorage-based Rush is best situated and best equipped to take charge of the situation. This despite the fact that the troops under his authority on a Marine icebreaker treat him like a pariah for a tragic incident dating back to his own days as a Marine during the first Gulf War. A brash loudmouth from the State Department isn't his best friend, either. But with his one-time Marine sidekick Eddie, the nation's leading authority on Arctic ice and a fetching submarine expert all alongside him, Rush is ready for battle. But what exactly is killing the sailors? Will the Chinese annihilate Rush and his crew before they find out? Is there a spy among the Americans? And what about the Russians, who covet control of the Arctic region now that its melting icecap is creating new gas, oil and shipping possibilities? Abel (a pseudonym) is a solid, cleanly efficient writer who knows how to stage an action scene and, just as important, is a master of this chilled universe. One of the book's memorable moments is keyed to the shifting behavior of the ice on which the ships are perched. Though the secret conspiracy underlying the events is a bit predictable, the effective flashbacks and unfolding events keep the pages turning. Joe Rush makes a strong debut against dangerous odds in the Arctic, and so does Abel.

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October 15, 2014

Panic ensues in the Pentagon when the Navy's newest submarine, the USS Montana, reports that it is on fire under the Arctic ice. Worse, there is the threat of bioterrorism because of what else is aboard. Joe Rush is a naval officer and a doctor with a checkered past. He is also a bioterror expert, and it's up to him to rescue the survivors and put a stop to the plague. To further complicate matters, the Chinese have a sub on the way and the United States does not want the Montana's secrets falling into enemy hands. VERDICT Despite the potentially intriguing themes of a submarine in peril and a catastrophically deadly virus that is spreading on board, this thriller by the pseudonymous author and Arctic expert is just not very exciting. Overwritten to the point that the numerous descriptions distract and annoy the reader, the novel features a convoluted plot and just about everyone is a villain, including the big pharmaceuticals. There are some exciting moments, just not enough of them.--Robert Conroy, Warren, MI

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2014
An American military submarine with a top-secret new design is stuck in the Arctic Ocean. Worse, it's on fire. Worse still, many of the crew are sick. There have already been some fatalities, and nobody really knows how or with what they were infected. Joe Rush, a marine physician who's also an expert in bioterrorism, is dispatched to the Arctic to find out what happened and to either secure the sub or destroy it to keep it out of enemy hands. Evoking both Michael Crichton's medical thrillers and Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October, this is a very tightly written first novelno padding, no scenes that exist merely to fill in the holes between one action set piece and the next. Everything that happens matters, and readers should pay close attention to the characters and what they say, because that all matters, too, especially if you want to keep on an even keel while being jostled by the story's many twists and turns. The book is billed as A Joe Rush Novel, so presumably it is intended as a series-launcher. If the next Rush novel is as well executed as this one, it'll be very welcome, indeed. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Some of thrillerdom's biggest namesSandford, Fairstein, Berenson, Berryare contributing to the prepub buzz for this much-anticipated debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)