Monday, July 7, 2008

Pandemic by Daniel Kalla


Title - Pandemic
Author- Daniel Kalla
Genre - Medical Thriller
ISBN -0-765-35084-X
Number of Pages -407
Rating - 4 out of 5

Noah Haldane of the World Health Organization is sent to China to investigate a new form of flu that kills 25% of the people that are infected. The outbreak is contained and there is great relief. New outbreaks occur in Canada, England, and the United States. Dr. Gwen Savard, director of Counter Bio-terrorism for Homeland Security joins Noah Haldane to search for the cause and cure of the deadly virus and discover that they are dealing with a mad religious zealot intent on bringing down America and its allies.

Daniel Kalla blends fact and fiction into this very good medical thriller. The novel is fast paced and chilling particularly so because it is a "could happen" scenario. Pandemic is a thought provoking debut novel that is historically and medically accurate. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Kalla didn't simply focus on the extreme factions of Islam. In the character of inspector Eleish and his family Kalla shows the quiet side of the faith, those who study the religion in order to find a deep abiding spirituality from which they gather strength for daily living. His protagonists are well fleshed out and the plot well executed. I highly recommend this debut thriller.

1 comment:

John Mutford said...

It's funny. In most disaster movies, Canada almost never gets a mention. Asteroids, aliens and disease-- they could never happen to us, right? Perhaps it takes a Canadian author to get us included! Sounds like an interesting book.