The Song of Shiva

The Song of Shiva
Authors
Caulfield, Michael
Publisher
Koh Chang Publishing - Bangkok Chester Denver
Date
2016-07-01T00:00:00+00:00
Size
0.69 MB
Lang
en
Downloaded: 64 times

Beneath a blistering equatorial sun, American expat Egan Lyköan anxiously paces the deck of a lumbering Chao Phraya riverboat. Now that the mysterious TAI virus is no longer claiming lives in steamy Bangkok, he can finally devote his full attention to landing the all-important Primrose contract. Without that desperately needed revenue, his struggling consulting business cannot survive. Headed for a meeting with his contact inside the Thai royal family, Lyköan will soon learn if the slippery but essential middleman can still deliver the business-rescuing miracle he promised weeks ago.

Halfway around the globe in Atlanta, CDC virologist Nora Carmichael sits before an uneasy government tribunal. One of her subordinates has fallen deathly ill while working with the still unidentified Asian pathogen and Washington is demanding answers. In a fit of bureaucratic pique, the Health and Human Services Secretary has ordered that the agency send an investigator to Thailand, where the deadly microorganism first appeared. Unable to recommend a more qualified candidate, Dr. Carmichael grudgingly accepts the assignment.

In the harrowing days that lie ahead, Lyköan and Carmichael will discover that the earlier epidemic was only a prelude to an even greater menace now threatening humanity.

From the opening page, which paints the Thai landscape and culture in broad, vivid strokes, this masterful debut novel mixes a refreshingly original and potent cocktail of money, power and technology. Fast-paced and smartly drawn, THE SONG OF SHIVA uses a familiar thriller template — suspected corporate malfeasance and a looming biological threat — as the springboard for a more literary, more substantive and far more fascinating narrative, while still delivering all the goods of the genre: diabolically twisted motives, misdirected government intrigue, a global peril and rising body count, unexpected double-dealing — and what may be most surprising of all — a satisfying romance.