Overview

A lethal germ is unleashed in the U.S. mail. A chain of letters spreads terror from Florida to Washington, D.C., from New York to Connecticut, from the halls of Congress to the assembly lines of the U.S. Postal Service. Five people die, and ten thousand more line up for antibiotics to protect against exposure. The government, already outsmarted by the terrorist hijackers of 9/11, leaves its workers vulnerable and a diabolical killer on the loose. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews and a review of thousands of pages of government documents, The Killer Strain is the definitive account of the year in which bioterrorism became a reality in the United States. Revealing the little-known victims and unsung heroes in the anthrax debacle, investigative reporter Marilyn Thompson also examines the FBI's slow-paced investigation of the crimes and the unprecedented scientific challenges posed by the case. The Killer Strain, more than just a thrilling read, is also a clarion wake-up call. It shows how billions of dollars and a decade of elaborate bioterror dress rehearsals meant nothing in the face of a real attack -- and how we may still be at risk.

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9780060522797

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A medical mystery that has the tension and pace of Richard Preston's The Hot Zone. --Publishers Weekly A can't-put-down narrative: frightening, informative, and, with bioterrorism in the forefront of the news, timely. --Kirkus Reviews A can t-put-down narrative: frightening, informative, and, with bioterrorism in the forefront of the news, timely. --Kirkus Reviews A medical mystery that has the tension and pace of Richard Preston s The Hot Zone. --Publishers Weekly

A medical mystery that has the tension and pace of Richard Preston's The Hot Zone. -- Publishers Weekly

A can t-put-down narrative: frightening, informative, and, with bioterrorism in the forefront of the news, timely. --Kirkus Reviews

A can't-put-down narrative: frightening, informative, and, with bioterrorism in the forefront of the news, timely. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Marilyn W. Thompson is an award-winning investigative reporter and editor who has devoted her career to exposing government scandal. She is currently Assistant Managing Editor for Investigations at the Washington Post, where her investigative team has won two Pulitzer Prizes for public service. She is the author of Feeding the Beast: How Wedtech Became the Most Corrupt Little Company in America and the co-author along with Jack Bass of Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond.

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