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The world is thrown into a panic as a horrible pandemic sweeps the globe. No, it is not Covid, but an even more malevolent one in this engaging tale that combines science, geopolitical maneuvering, archeology, myth, mayhem, and more. Suspense builds as a race against time is conducted to find an antidote that will halt and reverse the spread of an infectious disease that has the potential to virtually wipe out all of humanity. And the clock is ticking.
Readers are swept into this chronicle of global upheaval by the difficulties of a young couple to conceive a child and carry it to birth. As their story unfolds, the narrative morphs into the frightening discovery that birth rates worldwide are dropping at alarming rates. Shira, a young epidemiologist who helped sound the initial warning bell, is called upon by the President of the United States to lead a coalition of nations to find and develop a cure. The challenge takes them to the Middle East and eventually to ancient burial sites in Iraq, where mythic stories of the seven gates of hell and secrets deep within archeological digs may hold the key to reversing the world’s decreasing birth spiral.
In Seaborn’s debut novel, the writer admirably mixes the emotional highs and lows of individual characters with the macrocosmic effects that threaten the entirety of the earth’s population. He also seamlessly inserts players into the plot whose greed and villainy are a match for his heroine’s altruism and honor. The credibility of his literary conceit is enhanced by Seaborn’s detailed forays into medical and scientific data as well as those of history and legend. With Covid barely in the rearview mirror, this is a novel with heightened impact.