Friday, April 29, 2016

Phage by Mark Tamplin

Scientists are a bit strange normally.  They don't think like a normal person, they can be reticent and unemotional, and they seem totally focused on their work.   Add in insanity and you have a the proverbial "mad scientist".  Now picture him ready to get even with a pharmaceutical company and the world.  Scary, isn't it?

Mr. Tamplin sent me a copy of his self-published book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published and you can get a copy on Amazon.

I was pleasantly surprised by this read.  I was afraid it would be too dry, too technical and there wouldn't be much action.  Wrong!  The author lets you know why the madman wants to get even. He talks to "Mother" in his head and he's angry another company beat him to a patent with a formula he knows was unique.  It was his and he's going to make them pay. In the meantime, another scientist he knows has kaboshed his application for a grant and he already hated the man because he was doing well in the world and he didn't even know anything. He might as well take care of him too.

Owen is the madman and he keeps everything in his unit to himself.  He decides to make a phage that will react with the new drug that will soon be offered to the public.  When everyone begins dying their sales will plummet and it might even put them out of business.  He thinks he's smarter than he is, so he gets Sam's DNA from a water bottle and sends some white powder to a State Senator with the DNA on the envelope, as if he licked it shut.

When the Feds get involved, they question Sam, search his house and office and eventually let him go.  He's supposed to stay close but he wants to recover from the experience so he takes the house offered him on an island that just happens to be in another country.  When he finds out what Owen is doing, the Feds want him back but he doesn't trust the Feds.

With Owen and the Feds after Sam and his friends, they don't have much time to prep an antidote.  They have an idea, though.

This is a good read but I hated it when one of the good guys died.  That makes it more real but I like happy ever after.  Give it a read.  You might look at your food differently from now on.

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