World Order

In a novel inspired by actual research into the causes of Gulf War Syndrome, Dr. Linda Franklin, NASA's senior crash site investigator, discovers a secret biochemical weapon developed by the U.S. government to destroy the industrial capacity of rising third-world competitors. Reprint.

A conventional woman-on-the-run-from-mysterious-forces plot gains new levels of obscurity in Goliszek's (Rivers of the Black Moon) turgid tale of high-level biowarfare coverups. Widowed NASA molecular biologist Linda Jackson is suspicious when the investigation of a mysterious plane crash is suddenly closed. After her boss is murdered, Linda and her husband's friend John Peterson undertake their own investigation. Soon, the two sleuths are off to Malaysia, where they break into a secret biochemical installation while various characters?the president, a fanatical Army general, a group of military-industrial plutocrats calling themselves the Vanguard?deliver arias about downsizing, drugs, international unrest, NAFTA, GATT and other threats to America. Although these events occur in the spring of 1996, there's hardly any mention of the upcoming election. The writing is pedestrian at best, and the murky plot and plethora of scientific jargon will muddle most readers, who might profit by first reading the afterword. In it, Goliszek offers apparently heartfelt theories about "psychochemical warfare," government secrecy and Gulf War Syndrome?including his contention that America gave Iraq its germ warfare technology and knowingly gave U.S. troops ineffective gas masks. Appendix not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.