In remote pockets of the Third World, a deadly virus is quietly sweeping through impoverished farming villages and shanty towns with frightening speed and potency. In West Africa, an undercover dissident journalist learns of an investment consortium planning to funnel billions of dollars into the continent. Before he can publicize details, he is savagely murdered. And in Washington, a three-word message left in a safe deposit box may be the thread that connects these seemingly unrelated incidents—if, that is, two brothers can decipher it before time runs out. Charles Mallory, a private intelligence contractor and former CIA operative, begins to discover the traces of a secret war, with a bold objective—to create a new, technologically advanced, and lucrative society in an unlikely region of Africa; a model civilization able to solve the age-old, seemingly insoluble problems that plague many Third World nations. With the help of his brother, Jon, can he break the story to the world before it is too late—before the "humane depopulation" takes place? As the stakes and strategies of this secret war become more evident, the Mallory brothers find themselves in a complex game of wits with an enemy they can't see: a new sort of superpower led by a brilliant, elusive tactician who believes that ends justify means.
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"When I finished my first thought was "Wow!" It is a thriller and kept my interest from beginning to end. It took me longer to read it that it would have only because I got company twice while reading it and I had to take some time off from my reading each time for about a week each...but I didn't want to! This story is sad, suspenseful, thought provoking, frightening, horrifying and completely absorbing! I really liked the main characters...two brothers, one a journalist and one a rogue ex-CIA agent..trying to stop a bio-terrorist plot! I highly recommend this book!" — Mary (5 out of 5 stars)
"When I finished my first thought was "Wow!" It is a thriller and kept my interest from beginning to end. It took me longer to read it that it would have only because I got company twice while reading it and I had to take some time off from my reading each time for about a week each...but I didn't want to! This story is sad, suspenseful, thought provoking, frightening, horrifying and completely absorbing! I really liked the main characters...two brothers, one a journalist and one a rogue ex-CIA agent..trying to stop a bio-terrorist plot! I highly recommend this book!"
“Viral is a world-class thriller. It doesn’t get any more real than this. Lilliefors has created one of the most compelling novels of international espionage I’ve come across in a long time.”
“James Lilliefors, a brand new thriller writer on the scene, has opened with a bang with his first novel, Viral. With the Mallory brothers, Charles and Jon, the insanity that Jim has brilliantly portrayed becomes all too sharply urgent—and certainly timely. Hats off!”
“A crackling good story, so realistic that it’s scary. Lilliefors is right up there with the best thriller writers.”
“Fans of intelligently written page-turners will be rewarded.”
“An ambitious thriller; its villains, no ordinary terrorists, are determined to create a new world (even if it means wiping out a large portion of its population). Solidly plotted and featuring a unique pair of protagonists—you don’t often find a team of brothers as action heroes—the book is sure to appeal to fans of thrillers with Big Ideas and capital-V villains. A sequel is in the works, which is a good thing: readers will leave the book wanting to see more of Charles and Jon.”
“Lilliefors’ debut thriller doesn’t slow down until the last page…This one will keep you up at night.”
“Technologically modernizes Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal.”
“Lilliefors provides enough twists to keep the pages turning. He also manages to develop and humanize his characters including some of the villains.”
“This cautionary tale can make your blood run cold…Lilliefors is an author to watch.”
“Software billionaires, media moguls, government henchmen, and a beautiful bio-chem warfare expert enter and exit the story in a whirl of action with all of it leading to a suspenseful race to stop a crime, the magnitude of which is off the scale.”
" A clever book that raises many relevant issues and made my brain spin! I really like Sandra, bless her heart, but am worried about what will ultimately happen. Nice ambiguous ending. Oww! "
" Interesting story about world population forecasts. Many characters, but a neat premise and a cool ending. Mucho surprises. "
" This book was nothing like what I expeced. Which is why I think I really liked it. It took me to some neat and surprising places. This isn't a "medical" thriller really but an espionage caper, about spies and nefarious schemes. The scenes in Africa were very effective. There's a very clever idea behind the story and a lot of twists and turns along the way. "
" Somehow, even though 200,000 people die, it seems like NOTHING HAPPENS in this book. It drags. So many seemingly important characters get killed as soon as they are introduced that the reader just stops caring about anyone. "
" ok worth a rainy saturday afternoon "
" This was just an average read for me. It had an sort of interesting plot about how a small group of billionaires hoped to change the world starting in Africa. The character development was okay and the speed/flow was okay also. "
" A fascinating, intricately plotted thriller that kept me wondering. "Just suppose ... what if the accepted version of things had another story attached to it..." "
" I thought this one would have more biological detail in it, but it was more of a spy story with codes and secret messages and unnamed people, like the Administrator encompassing most of the action. Also really big plans for global repopulation. "
" Thought-provoking book with a lot of surprises and some interesting characters. The concept and the ending are pretty wild. Not a book to be read lightly, though. A ton of characters to keep track of. I really liked the concept, though. Recommend. "
" more than halfway through, really not impressed. "
" Too much goverment conspiracy, double-talk, and agencies made of alphabet soup, and not enough medical science for my taste. It's not that long a book (361 pps), but I thought I'd never get to the end! "
" Not as good as similar ones on the topic. "
" Very interesting and frighteningly plausible story. Especially liked the last 2/3rds. Look forward to more in this series. "
" I didn't love this book. It was a slow read and somewhat anti-climactic. I wouldn't recommend it as a must read. "
" Started with a bang but fizzled into mechanical, droning spy vs. spy. Great premise and intrigue buried under a plethora of unrealized characters. "
" A thoughtful story about what happens when we stop paying attention. "
" have never read this author before. Really enjoyed this book. A little different, but held my interest. I hope his next book is a follow up to this one. "
" This should have been more suspenseful, rather disappointing "
James Lilliefors is an award-winning journalist who has written for the Washington Post, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, and elsewhere. He attended the University of Iowa and the University of Virginia, where he was a Henry Hoyns Fiction Writing Fellow. He currently lives in Florida.
Peter Berkrot, winner of Audie and Earphones Awards for narration, is a stage, screen, and television actor and acting coach. He has narrated over 450 works that span a range of genres, including fiction, nonfiction, thriller, and children’s titles. His audiobook credits include works of Alan Glynn, Eric Van Lustbader, Nora Roberts and Dean Koontz. In film and television, he appeared in Caddyshack, America’s Most Wanted, and Unsolved Mysteries. He performs in regional and New York theaters and directs the New Voices acting school.
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