This is a truly frightening novel, because it presents an apocalyptic scenario - an avian influenza pandemic - that is entirely realistic. Peter Brooks is a university researcher who is one of the first to come across evidence of this avian flu killing birds right in his own community in Ohio. The novel follows Peter and his wife Ann as they go through the stages of the pandemic, working to protect and provide for their two daughters along the way. Normal events, such as a winter snowstorm, become life altering catastrophes because supplies, utilities, and rescue personell are so limited. They learn to rely on themselves and have to make difficult decisions. How much contact can they risk with other people? Ann's best friend brings her baby over, begging them to take him in because she and her husband are sick. Ann is frozen with indecision. Can she bring this baby in, and take the risk that he will infect her whole household with the killer virus?
A truly riveting tale, that will leave you thinking long after you have turned the last page.
Sojourner.
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