You know you are onto a unique story of plausible future when you check out the authors of this book. James Doulgeris, an expert in the healthcare industry for twenty-five years, and V. Michael Santoro, VP of product development for C-5 Biotechnologies with over twenty-five years in the high tech industry. This appears to be their first novel although Santoro is an established non-fiction author. A powerful debut novel!

Think of what a second September 11 event even more momentous than the original would escalate to. Think of amazing advances in biotechnology and DNA. Here you have the setting for amazingly devastating possibilities and perhaps probabilities. The time period appears to be perhaps as few as 2 decades or several decades in the future, and the first event is scheduled to coincide with the original September 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. The story is action-packed, character-driven, and told as a real-time scenario which keeps the pace of the book moving full throttle.

The discovery of a way to link DNA and biotechnology in this new future has created a “marking” or “tagging” method by which known terrorists and associates can be pinpointed anywhere in the world at any time, and as the story progresses further tweaking even allows interaction with the known and the suspected through their immune systems and general health within seconds. The change the world is facing is rushing at full speed ahead and everything must mesh minute by minute.

If you want a high speed international thriller, then this is the book for you. I applaud the authors on putting together such a diverse and frightening book. Many readers will find themselves revisiting the terrorism of today and will find that this book will get them thinking seriously of the roles involving several countries. There are unique methods used in this roller-coaster ride that will be unexpected, for instance the sometimes use of non-nuclear warfare. The book goes way beyond what our normal fears are and takes us on an unexpected journey of just who are the allies of the U.S.? Which countries are forming previously unnoticed alliances? Who or what governments can be trusted?

Slightly out of my normal reading genre, I found it exhilarating, frightening, believable in many ways, and a very good read. Because of the genre, I hesitate to say it, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could hardly put it down. I have a feeling there will be a follow-up to this book and if so I will certainly be one of the readers who will be waiting to read it. ( )