Reign of the Rat

A farmer working in the rice fields of Nepal notices a sudden rotting of his fingers, followed by pneumonia then a horrific death. Thus begins a medical thriller that takes archaeobiologist Michael Cohen and his former lover, Dr. Alice Morgan-Wright, from San Francisco to the Himalayas to the Arctic Circle. As a virulent, drug-resistant leprosy epidemic spreads, Michael and Alice set off on a danger-filled quest for a cure. Stalked by unknown assailants, their only protection is each other and the mysterious amulet of the Order of St. Lazarus. Their sole hope: to unearth the frozen remains of a medieval corpse destroyed by the Black Plague.

Reign of the Rat offers a harrowing glimpse of where we might be headed if we don’t put the brakes on over-prescribing of antibiotics.