The Jihad Virus

The threat of an international bioterrorist attack against the U.S. becomes real in Thomas P. Hopp's novel, The Jihad Virus. A world-recognized vaccine expert, Dr. Hopp writes with authority about what might happen if Islamic terrorists unleashed a deadly, mutated strain of smallpox virus in America. The Jihad Virus opens as a medical reporter, Fin Morton, attends a press conference at a Seattle public health hospital to learn that a customs inspector at the Canadian border has been admitted to the isolation ward-with smallpox. One shock leads to another as Fin learns that the virus's DNA has been deliberately engineered to enhance its lethality. Fin follows the progress of a brilliant vaccine researcher, Dr. Peyton McKean, as the biotech sleuth attempts to discover the whereabouts of the terrorists, and develop a vaccine to protect Americans against the Jihad Virus's deadly effects. A trail of clues leads to a remote western ranch, where Islamic fundamentalists are preparing a massive assault against the population of the U.S., led by master terrorist, Sheik Abdul-Ghazi. Millions may die unless McKean can find a cure. But first, McKean and Fin are challenged to save themselves, when they are captured by the Sheik's cohorts and deliberately infected with the very virus McKean is trying to cure! The Jihad Virus explores one of America's darkest fears, but offers hope of fighting back against the deadliest assault on humanity imaginable, biological warfare.

in light with current affairs & the state of the world today this Book truly seems even more powerful & timely. you will be Compelled & feel the intensity of all that is going down.the writing keeps you glued to every detail that is coming.a Must read.

Since I don't read thrillers all that often, I can't say whether or not the events of September 11, 2001 fundamentally changed the genre. You would think that dark day would, though. I suspect the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon provided writers of medical, biological, and terrorist themed thrillers with a plethora of plot narratives to exploit. I do know writers in this genre are particularly sensitive to whatever threats the United States faces at the moment, as well they should be. A few years ago I read one of these books that dealt with the rise of a dangerous religious cult, right around the time the Heaven's Gate group went bonkers. September 11, 2001 sits in a league of its own, with the threat of nuclear, biological, and chemical disasters hovering over our heads even three years later. The opportunities for terrorists to strike at us are endless, and so are the possibilities for writing a book about Islamic fundamentalists threats. "The Jihad Virus" is such a novel, a book detailing the potential dangers of an Al-Qaeda type group attacking the United States with a modified form of everyone's favorite friend from yesteryear, smallpox. The story of this potentially catastrophic disaster comes to us in the form of a narrative told by Phineus "Fin" Morton, a reporter whose beat covers the medical field. He's the guy who punches up the articles on the latest cancer treatments or the groundbreaking work in the field of virus research. Old Fin knows he's on to something huge when he attends what he thought would be a routine press conference in the Pacific Northwest. It's hardly routine. Morton is on hand to hear the details of a smallpox outbreak near the Canadian border. The authorities downplay the incident, of course, but then announce they're bringing in Stuart Holloman, head of a huge research laboratory named Immune Corporation, to help contain the problem. We learn this is the company that developed a cure for one of those nasty African viruses, and that they hope to study the potential lethality of this latest outbreak. Fin Morton immediately hops to it, securing an interview with Holloman at his office and thus positioning himself at ground zero if a big story should break. While Fin doesn't care a whit for Stuart Holloman, rightly ascertaining the guy's a greedy capitalist posing as a researcher so he can make big bucks in the research field, the reporter comes to a different conclusion when he meets Immune Corporation's star researcher Peyton McKean. McKean, it turns out, was the guiding light behind the African virus cure. Holloman keeps the guy under wraps so the competition can't get their greedy mitts on him. The scientist, a deep thinking but easy going chap, takes a shine to Morton and quickly shows him everything that goes on in the laboratory. Before you can say "smallpox," McKean receives a call from his squirrelly cousin Mike about weird goings on at a ranch out in the hinterlands. According to

The terrorist threat that is the main premise of this book has been a prominent news item recently. Islamic biologists have genetically engineered the smallpox virus so that the current vaccine provides little or no protection from it. They have modified the DNA so that the location on the virus where the antibodies attach is altered. Therefore, antibodies will no longer bind to the site and disable the virus. They have signed their work so that when the new sequence is converted into the symbols used for laboratory analysis, it spells "DIEDIEDIE." Phineus Morton is a free-lance reporter who writes articles on biological topics. The story opens with him attending a briefing at a hospital where there have been some unusual preliminaries, but nothing to indicate that anything major is about to occur. That changes very quickly when it is announced that a U. S. border patrol agent stationed at a remote location on the border between Canada and the United States has contracted smallpox. Like all the other reporters in the room, Morton is suddenly alert and he begins to ask some questions about the point of origin and the potential for a plague. At this point, there is cause for concern, but nothing to indicate that it is anything other than a fluke reappearance. A preliminary test determines that it is similar to the strain that last appeared in the wild in Bangladesh. Morton then joins forces with Dr. Peyton McKean, a brilliant virologist working for a biotechnology company and McKean immediately determines that the virus was bioengineered into a weapon and that all current smallpox vaccines are almost useless against it. This is the point where the action really gets going. Acting on a tip from McKean' s cousin, they penetrate the lair of the group, led by a wealthy sheik from Yemen. They are captured, infected with the deadly virus and observe many Islamic martyrs also being infected. Their goal is to infect as many people as possible before the virus kills them. They manage to escape and in a wild ride, get back to a hospital and are placed in isolation. Working with his colleague, Janet Emerson, McKean is able to direct the production of an unusual vaccine that is effective against the new strain. If there is a flaw in the book, it is the U. S. officials that are part of the conspiracy. In particular, the sheriff of the county where the Sheik lives and an FBI agent. It really stretches the limits of believability that a county sheriff would accept bribes to be a part of a terrorist conspiracy to start a plague of smallpox that could kill millions of American citizens. The FBI agent is of Middle Eastern extraction and his initial actions are so obviously in collusion with the terrorist plot that the lack of subtlety is a plot weakness. Hopp earned a Ph. D. from Cornell Medical College and helped found Immunex, a successful biotechnology company. This background serves him well, as he does an excellent job in describing the underlying biolo

I have read some of this author's other books, and this may be his best. The Jihad Virus is a believable story in today's world, where terrorism and biological warfare are on everybody's mind. The story kicks off with the announcement that a Canadian border inspector has come down with smallpox, and things go downhill from there. This hooked me into the story because I can truly believe this could happen someday. You could compare Hopp's book to Crichton or Clancy, and it would stand up to the comparison very well. Maybe better. This book has plenty of rock'em sock'em action, and is very thought-provoking at the same time. My favorite: the code within the genetic code. Clever. I hope we hear more from this author soon.