“The bard of biological weapons captures the drama of the front lines.”—Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navy The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book … Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.
Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers-at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.
Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’ s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill.
Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.
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I love Richard Preston’s books and am horrified by them in pretty much equal measure. He manages to make epidemiology and cellular biology sexy, action-packed, accessible and thoroughly engaging – no small task, I assure you (and I speak as someone who worked with pharmaceutical researchers for years). The eponymous “demon” is smallpox and I …
Imagine the devastation if smallpox virus was released into the general population. Within a week, the beginnings of a pandemic that could decimate the human population would arise. The ease of traveling around the world means the disease would be spread to virtually every corner of the globe. Even more frightening is the thought of a weaponized …
I would say serious and thought provoking rather than scary. Definitely can be read without a science background but it tends towards the dramatic.
I learned a lot and enjoyed doing it.
You must read all of Richard’s books! Even the fiction ones give helpful facts, and the non-fiction reads like the best thrillers!
This Non-fiction book is very relevant with what is going on in the world today regarding the pandemic. Scary.
Damn near perfect thriller that happens to be non-fiction. Scared me leaky.
The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story Mass Market Paperback – August 26, 2003
by Richard Preston (Author)
A true story that is the most frightening nightmare fuel out there. This is the story of how the world bungled the demon of Variola Major after the eradication of said virus. For a very long time, the promise that small pox was only kept …
One of the best non-fiction books I have read! This will open your eyes and keep you on the edge of your seat.
This is one of the most terrifying books I’ve ever read. Unfortunately, it’s scary because it’s true.
The “Demon” in question is the smallpox virus (and a few of its friends). According to the party line, the WHO eradicated smallpox forty years ago. However, thanks to Preston, we get to learn otherwise. He details, in horrifying color, the …
Wow, terrifying
Very interesting and concerning at the same time.
An eye opener to the ever present dangers of biological hazards that can be used against populations by unscrupulous persons. Frightening
This book is terrifying and yet I couldn’t put it down. The most frightening part is that it’s real and that the story is not over. Although the writing is dry and journal-like, it is easy to read and moves rapidly. I highly recommend this book – but not for the faint of heart.
Terrifying and fascinating. Lots of detail for infectious disease geeks but still readable for everyone else. And everyone SHOULD read this. The threat of biological warfare isn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
This a terrifying book, about those hide in the shadowy world of bio-warfare. I have no doubt that war can be engine of invention, but this is the stuff of true nightmares. Nothing even remotely beneficial can come from this. That said this is must read to know what evil is being done in our name. If this horror is ever unleashed God help us …
So frightening to think about our future if this is how virus is now. I never realized how bad small pox actually was, or I guess I should say is, God help us all if its used in warfare
A scarey true story about our lack of preparedness for the next pandemic.
With our health care for the poor in this country (USA) and other countries so limited think about how many pandemics could so easily be transported to everywhere. The rich forget about how much labor they depend on from the poor.
amazing that such a fascinating subject could be rendered unreadable by poor writing in tabloid style.