Jamie Freveletti's indomitable biochemist and ultra-marathon runner, Emma Caldridge, is back in a race against time in her latest thriller, "The Ninth Day." (Harper Books/HarperCollins, 384 pages)
While conducting botanical research in Arizona, Emma comes across drug smugglers and is kidnapped by the head of a drug cartel, La Valle.
The drug lord's mistress and his lackeys are infected with a deadly flesh-eating microbe that kills within nine days of contact, hence the title.
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Worse yet, the microbe has infected a stash of marijuana which the evil La Valle intends to ship to the United States.
Freveletti presents a truly nightmarish premise - could the herbicides used to eradicate illicit drugs cause bacteria to mutate into a highly virulent strain of microbe?
In this top notch thriller, Freveletti takes a scalpel to the malignant beasts who traffic in deadly drugs and human organs.
Harper Books has included a preview of Ms. Freveletti's next Emma Caldridge novel.