The Culling - Hardcover

Robert Johnson

3.39

102 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579623514 ISBN 13: 9781579623517

Publisher: The Permanent Press, 2014

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Carl Sims, a young virologist, discovers a plot hatched by a group of international scientists to cull, in a matter of weeks, two-thirds of the world's population - some 4.5 billion people, by releasing a deadly virus that kills two-thirds of those it infects. Their goal is to reduce Earth's population from an unsustainable seven billion to two billion. What is he to do? Try to stop the conspiracy, or join it?

Horrific, yes, but what if this culling could prevent the extinction of some forty percent of our planet's flora and fauna? Or if he was certain it was the only way to prevent an even larger human die-off, incurring significantly more suffering, by the end of this century? Or if he were convinced it represented the only hope for humanity surviving at all? This is at the heart of this thriller, for these viruses do, in fact, exist.

Most everything that plagues mankind today - the highest concentration of atmospheric CO2 in 3 million years, escalating extinction rates, habitat loss, fishery collapses, climate change, polar and glacial ice thaws, arable land loss, desertification, aquifer depletions, ocean acidification, unprecedented air pollution, looming famine and social unrest - stems from over consumption which, unchecked, will lead to Earth's sixth mass extinction event.

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About the Author:

ROBERT JOHNSON was born and raised in Oakland, California before eventually moving to Hollywood. After earning an MFA from UCLA's Department of Film, Television and Theatre, he became a screenwriter, earning First Place honors in Samuel Goldwyn and Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Awards. His first book, Thirteen Moons: A Year in the Wilderness, chronicled a Henry David Thoreau-esque year he spent living out of a teepee on the banks of the American River high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He currently lives in Santa Barbara with his wife and two children.

Review:

"Robert Johnson's first novel tackles an issue that most in the media, the arts, and entertainment industry--even the environmental community--are afraid to discuss directly: overpopulation. Despite the potential for despair or preachy diatribes, the gravity of the issues is woven into the story with plenty of colorful characters, gallows humor and a suspenseful plot that unravels across continents, making for an entertaining and thought-provoking debut." --New York Journal of Books

"This is so real, it is frightening, although the characters are fictional, the story is possible--and very likely. The book will keep you awake nights, thinking about our vulnerability, and worried that we've already gone too far for the planet to survive without a culling." --Pulp Den

"Johnson's debut thriller could be more science fact than science fiction. There's a scheme afoot by rogue scientists to release a virulent flu virus and kill two-thirds of Earth's population, a megalomaniacal plot to save the planet from becoming a lifeless rock due to climate change and overpopulation. A scary premise. Get a flu shot. Wash your hands regularly." --Kirkus

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