Plague Year

by Jeff Carlson

Ace, 292 pp, $7.99

Plague Year is a debut novel

Nanotechnology was designed to fight cancer; instead it evolved into the machine plague, killing nearly five billion people. Life on earth was changed forever,

The nanotech has one weakness. It self destructs at altitudes above 10,000 feet. Those few who managed to escape are struggling to stay alive at the highest altitude. Time is running out, with famine, War, and the environment is cashing down world wide. The few survivors have made use of the Donner option as the population drops. Humanity’s last hope lies with a nanotech researcher aboard the international space station, and the small party of survivors in the Sierra Nevada mountains who will risk their lives below the death line.

This is a disaster novel. A high tech world brought to its frostbitten feet by an enemy that is as small as a microbe and invisible to the naked eye, yet powerful enough to take over the world. Can the answer be found in time? In many ways, this is true horror. The cold, desperation and despair are as much an enemy as the plague. The characters are well-drawn. The virtues and flaws apparent, the action moves apace. It pays homage to hope and the human will to survive. Well worth the read. - Pam Allan