Black Death in a New Age by Kathy T. Kale

I truly enjoy a plague novel that I can lose myself in knowing that I am healthy and safe from infection.  Black Death in a New Age kept my attention from the first pages.  Not only did it have an outbreak in an unsuspecting location, Duane University in Texas, it mixed civilian and military personal in identifying and containing the spread of the pathogen.  Immunologist Dr. Dana Sparks is a brilliant scientist but she likes to work outside the box much to the disapproval of her new boss retired military man Dr. TJ McCoy.  He is a by the rules kind of leader and she definitely plays by an entirely different set.

Complicating matters is the transient nature of a university town as well as the pending visit of the Vice President of the United States.  Top it all off with a fast moving tropical storm and Drs. Sparks and McCoy have a herculean task ahead of them.

I like that it isn't just one of the doctors that solves the crisis, but that it takes the work of several doctors, CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and FBI to find both the cure as well as the first victim and infection source.  Team work makes for good reading in my opinion.  This is a well crafted mystery and I had to read through to the end to find the missing answers.

Thanks to author Kathy Kale for use of the cover image.