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Debra Hamel is the author of a number of books about ancient Greece. She writes and blogs from her subterranean lair in North Haven, CT. Read more.

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Blog stats:
BOOK REVIEWS: 625
BOOK NOTICES: 268
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Updated 11-26-24. [Reviews are longer and have ratings. Notices do not have ratings.]

Books by Debra Hamel:

THE BATTLE OF ARGINUSAE :
VICTORY AT SEA AND ITS TRAGIC AFTERMATH IN THE FINAL YEARS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
By Debra Hamel


Kindle | paperback (US)
Kindle | paperback (UK)

KILLING ERATOSTHENES:
A TRUE CRIME STORY
FROM ANCIENT ATHENS
By Debra Hamel


Kindle | paperback (US)
Kindle | paperback (UK)

READING HERODOTUS:
A GUIDED TOUR THROUGH THE WILD BOARS, DANCING SUITORS, AND CRAZY TYRANTS OF THE HISTORY
By Debra Hamel


paperback | Kindle | hardcover (US)
paperback | hardcover (UK)

THE MUTILATION OF THE HERMS:
UNPACKING AN ANCIENT MYSTERY
By Debra Hamel


Kindle | paperback (US)
Kindle | paperback (UK)

TRYING NEAIRA:
THE TRUE STORY OF A COURTESAN'S SCANDALOUS LIFE IN ANCIENT GREECE
By Debra Hamel


paperback | hardcover (US)
paperback | hardcover (UK)

SOCRATES AT WAR:
THE MILITARY HEROICS OF AN ICONIC INTELLECTUAL
By Debra Hamel


Kindle (US) | Kindle (UK)

ANCIENT GREEKS IN DRAG:
THE LIBERATION OF THEBES AND OTHER ACTS OF HEROIC TRANSVESTISM
By Debra Hamel


Kindle (US) | Kindle (UK)

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY TWEET:
FIVE HUNDRED 1ST LINES IN 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS
By Debra Hamel


Kindle | paperback (US)
Kindle | paperback (UK)

PRISONERS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
By Debra Hamel


Kindle (US) | Kindle (UK)





Book-blog.com by Debra Hamel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial - No Derivative Works 3.0 License.



Follett, Ken: Whiteout

  Amazon  

5 stars

Christmas Eve starts out poorly for Antonia Gallo,  head of security at Scotland's Oxenford Medical, when she discovers that two doses of a top secret experimental drug have gone missing. The drug is an antiviral agent, a potential antidote for the deadly Madoba-2 virus, and its disappearance suggests that the virus itself, kept in storage under the tightest possible security at the small pharmaceuticals firm, may have gotten out of the lab. In the next 72 hours Toni will find that the situation is far worse than she initially supposed: the security system at Oxenford has been breached by the one person capable of defeating its safeguards, someone who now has access to a highly infectious, easily released disease with a survival rate of zero. Throw into the mix an uncooperative police superintendent and an unexpected blizzard, and Toni may not be able to stop the bad guys from unleashing a plague with unprecedented killing power.

We've seen this sort of book from Ken Follett before: a highly competent heroine battles an amoral--or at least insufficiently moral--antagonist while overcoming obstacles thrown at her by a difficult former lover. The story is told from multiple perspectives, and the heroine's ultimate victory over her nemesis is never really in doubt. But if the general outline of Follett's plot is familiar, so too is the author's skillful build-up of page-turning suspense. Follett never fails to fashion characters one wants to root for, and he is adept at keeping the good guys forever in the thick of some horrific danger. Whiteout, like its predecessors in the author's shelf-full of bestsellers, is a great read.

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