Why readers love Patient Zero
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It gave me the chills. I won’t want to go outside anymore.
The characters are believable, and the author makes you care about them.
Real page-turner and good atmospherics. The scientific details are accurate, and the characters are interesting.
The fact that Galt lived in Guangzhou makes you see, smell, and hear the place.
Galt’s research on viruses was amazing! A unique story.
I read this about a month before corona virus appeared. Loved it! My question to you is, did you know something was coming?
The book is so prophetic.
Great book. Amazing author.
I loved this book on so many levels!
Well-crafted story from start to end. The author took the time to describe the science and detective work behind the pandemic without being too unbelievable or laborious.
This book is a must read for beginning writers.
The descriptions of China are awesome.
Thoughtful, honest look at how humans in society tend to think and how we tend to assume we can play God and arrange the future.
Politics, corporate greed, international adventure and a killer virus - what could go wrong? Excellent read!
Great book! Had me hooked from the beginning to the end.
Read it.
Enjoy this free excerpt from Patient Zero
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Chapter One
They called him the General.
Seated comfortably in First Class, General Gavin Peak felt the Boeing 787 Dreamliner hit turbulence over the Sea of Japan. The sudden bumps and intense juddering triggered memories of similar flights in medical transports to Iraq.
Like many Americans, General Peak was born to serve his country. He had joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as a pre-med student, and the U.S. Army had paid for medical school, commissioned him as a captain, and shipped him off to the Gulf War. There, he ran a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital on the front lines treating horrific casualties inflicted by Saddam Hussein on coalition troops.
Over the ensuing decades, Gavin augmented his surgical skills with further education and poured all his energy into biomedical research at the nation’s top biological and chemical warfare laboratory. That work was gradually taken over by administrative duties, and he steadily rose through the ranks to major, lieutenant colonel, colonel, and finally brigadier general.
It was while running the bio warfare lab, however, that Gavin became slowly seduced by the corporate world. As he signed multimillion-dollar deals with contractors, he saw lucrative opportunities available to him in the private sector. And as time and more deals passed, he quietly dreamed of one day sitting on the other side of those negotiations.
In line for promotion to installation commander at Fort Detrick, the nation’s top bioweapons research facility, he was passed over by a rising star in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Well, he hadn’t put in thirty years of service as a doctor and scientist just to be “commanded” by a nurse. It was time to change horses. But, rather than seeing it as a bitter break with the past, he regarded his decision to retire from the army as an opportunity to pursue more lucrative options.
Switching easily to a business suit, Gavin Peak transitioned quickly from government service to barefaced, unabashed capitalism. He spent the next few years making up for a career of low government wages by jumping from one corner office to the next. As a highly sought-after hired gun, he helped firms sell vaccines to the Pentagon for nearly a decade as he watched his savings turn into a small fortune.
Now, at sixty years of age, he made yet another career transition to become the new CEO of FutureGenetics. The young American company had a few vaccines in the pipeline and was eager to become a major player in the U.S. market. But he had been surprised to learn Chinese investors recently acquired a majority share of the firm, which radically changed his role.
Leaning back in his soft leather seat, he ran a hand through his military-style haircut. Then he allowed himself a smile of satisfaction. He had really done it. Before stepping on that long L.A.-Guangzhou flight, he had packed up and stored away everything he owned. As CEO, he was relocating to Southern China where he would preside over FutureGenetics’ newly established headquarters. For someone who had fought hard for the American team for so many years, serving the global market felt new to him. But the world of public health and corporate sales knew no borders. And he was fully prepared to enjoy the expatriate life wherever that took him.
General, doctor, CEO. Many told him these represented conflicting mindsets. His army buddies warned him he couldn’t bring all three approaches to one job. And even though he disagreed and viewed his past experiences as an asset, his new business acquaintances also cautioned him that military, medical, and business forces would always be in conflict, no matter where he found himself.
Excerpt from Patient Zero
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A close-up, clinical look at an unfolding disaster, with a Chinese city in crisis, relationships lost, international criminal justice in action, and a medical community’s desperate search for Patient Zero.
“This novel sparkles!” – author Henry D. Smith