The Medusa Strain - Softcover

Chris Holmes, M.D., is an epidemiologist whose medical career spans pediatric practice, academic preventive medicine, and U.S. Navy medical service. He holds a B.A. in History from the University of California, Riverside; an M.D. from the University of Cincinnati; and an M.Sc. in Public Health from the University of Utah. Chris has authored over fifteen professional articles in peer-reviewed journals on topics as diverse as pediatrics, occupational medicine, biomedical ethics, and the history of medicine. He was a consultant for the 19th Edition of Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, and has served as a reviewer for several professional journals. He is also a consultant to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Chris has four published books: The Medusa Strain (Durban House, 2002), a Foreword Magazine finalist for best mystery of 2002. His non-fiction book, Spores, Plagues and History: The Story of Anthrax (Durban House, 2003) traces anthrax epidemics and bioterrorism from the time of Moses to Saddam Hussein. It has been favorably reviewed in the Lancet, The British Medical Journal, The Journal of Emergency Medicine, The Bulletin of the History of Medicine and the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.. The Garden of Evil (Durban House, 2005) is a novel highlighting the threat of food-borne bioterrorism. Based on cutting edge science, the terrorist finds a way to incorporate a deadly poison directly into growing vegetables, then serve them in a prepared dish. Five die, twenty-six become ill from the attack. Blood on the Tartan is an historical romance set in the Highlands of 19th century Scotland.

"Race with government and civilian virus chasers as they trace how this plague disease travels from Iraq throughout the United States. The author's medical technology is up to the minute, as is his understanding of the spook world. This thriller incorporates the very best of military, government and civilian disease centers, and political knowledge. The threat is chillingly real and is portrayed in a highly believable manner. Once you begin reading this story, hang on. You will lose track of time and yourself within these pages; then you'll lose sleep asking 'Could this really happen?' The author takes the time to leave your teeth on edge in parting with his knowledgeable reassurances in the epilogue that this bio-weapon technology is with us today. The Medusa Strain really COULD happen." --Heartland Review, May, 2002

"The Medusa Strain, written well before the current war with Iraq, nevertheless has an Iraqi setting for its attention-grabbing premise. "An Iraqi scientist with a long-standing grudge against the united States has devised a way to combine anthrax with a cold virus to make it extremely contagious. A half-dozen Iraqi terrorists enter the U.S. infected with the strain, even though, interestingly, they aren't aware of it. They are hoping for a more 'glorious' martyrdom than death in a hospital bed. "If not for the courage of a fearless emergency-room physician in L.A., and the eventual discovery of an antidote, Holmes' fictional America would have become grave indeed. "But there's more here than theory. Holmes easily envisions a secret lab not just in Mosul, Iraq -- his fictional site -- but in the hills of North Kores, the deserts of Libya or the jungles of Cuba. --Alan Bostick, The Tennessean, April 16, 2003

"The Medusa Strain, written well before the current war with Iraq, nevertheless has an Iraqi setting for its attention-grabbing premise. "An Iraqi scientist with a long-standing grudge against the united States has devised a way to combine anthrax with a cold virus to make it extremely contagious. A half-dozen Iraqi terrorists enter the U.S. infected with the strain, even though, interestingly, they aren't aware of it. They are hoping for a more 'glorious' martyrdom than death in a hospital bed. "If not for the courage of a fearless emergency-room physician in L.A., and the eventual discovery of an antidote, Holmes' fictional America would have become grave indeed. "But there's more here than theory. Holmes easily envisions a secret lab not just in Mosul, Iraq -- his fictional site -- but in the hills of North Kores, the deserts of Libya or the jungles of Cuba. --Alan Bostick, The Tennessean, April 16, 2003