Book: Pathological by Wang Jinkang

Every now and then a book comes along that truly knocks my socks off and I want to tell the whole world about it. Tonight I finished Pathological by Wang Jinkang (and wonderfully translated by Jeremy Tiang) and it's definitely one of those books. For the last three evenings I've sequestered myself in the reading room with this amazing thriller. I was hooked from the first few sentences, and wow, what a ride.

The plot centers around a highly-driven Chinese-American scientist (virologist, actually) who seems to have it all, including her own research lab in China. Yet she lives simply and gives her money and her free time to a nearby orphanage. This gains respect from the local community and leaders, who turn a blind eye to whatever might be happening in the lab.

Meanwhile, there's a smallpox outbreak at an elementary school in Idaho, which turns out to be germ warfare planned by a scientist who fled the USA and hasn't been seen or heard from since. It turns out that these two scientists have a connection that goes back decades. But are they in this together? Sometimes things aren't what they seem. Or are they?

If you like thrillers or medical sci-fi, check this out. The Kindle version is only $3.99 as I write this. I gave it 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, and I don't give out 5 stars that often. So there.

mm
:)