Author: James Rada, Jr,
ISBN: 0971459932

The following review was contributed by: Paul Lappen: CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews 

In late 1918, World War I is winding down, but America's major cities, like
Boston and Philadelphia, are being decimated by Spanish Flu.

The disease hasn't yet reached Columbia, Maryland, where Dr. Alan Keener, fresh
out of medical school, treats a young mother named Sarah. She is feeling sick
and feverish, classic flu symptoms, for which she is told to go home and rest.
Sarah is found dead the next day, her lungs full of fluid.

The local authorities are reluctant to declare a health emergency over one
death. They become convinced after the local death toll starts climbing, fast.
All indoor gatherings are banned. Church services are moved outside. The local
bars and taverns are forcibly closed. People start acting justifiably paranoid,
afraid to leave their houses unless absolutely necessary. It becomes personal
for Alan when his 5-year-old becomes one of the fatalities, and his wife almost
joins her.

A traveling snake-oil salesman gets the flu, and during his flu-induced
delirium, he believes that he is visited by an Angel of God. Mankind is being
tested; he has been given the name of Kolas, and told to spread the disease as
much as possible. Those who don't die are the new Chosen of God. After nearly
infecting Alan, Kolas is captured by the police, where he is "encouraged" to
give up several samples of blood to be made into a vaccine. It helps to return
things back to something approaching normal.

This is a very good, and very easy to read, novel about a famous, yet unknown,
bit of 20th Century American history. While reading this book, in your mind,
replace all mentions of "Spanish Flu" with "bird flu." Hmmm. . .