Jake Gibson is a NYPD detective and partner with Amy, an American-Muslim and all-around good detective. He is a former military medic. Single father to 4.5 yo Zoe. His wife died at the onset of the pandemics. He was dating Hannah, a general surgeon in the City, but he got morose one too many times with her and he broke things off. Jake and Amy catch a floater in Hell's Kitchen. But Zoe is sick so his local source for childcare refuses him so Jack calls on Hannah.
Jake and Amy check out the corpse who must've been an escapee from Park City so that's where the investigation starts. Upon arrival, they encounter a heavy DBS presence - too heavy for what appears to be just a bonfire by the residents. Getting closer to the pyre, they see that the fuel isn't wood. The onsite rep from the coroner's office tells Jake and Amy that none of the victims bear the markings of any illness - murder, yes. Illness, no. Their tents have been tossed. Looks like someone got past security and committed the atrocity, looking for something or someone. In particular, an illegal immigrant kid named Mat and his Uncle Gabriel. Why? Because Mat's not sick. Never has been. Back home. In the USA. Never so much as a sniffle.
Using security footage from nearby retail shops, they find the entry point, question the guard (Jake has a way of going old-school when those skills seem apropos), get the guard's DBS contact and follow that agent to an abandoned building in an attempt to find Mat. As they approach the building, they hear shots and run to see what's happening . . . and the building explodes killing Gabriel and setting Mat on the run. Jake sees this kid on the run and grabs him. One hand on Mat, other on his gun, and John Q Public with a camera phone. Not long before the video is uploaded, Jake's boss sees it and promptly suspends Jake (and Amy).
NYC has a mess on their hands. Dozen's murdered and used as fuel for a massive bonfire. All the squatters killed in that explosion. And now Jake, Amy, and Mat are on the run trying to see how it's al connected while staying hidden within a city littered with CTV camera everywhere no one to trust. The PD want them based on the explosion and rough handling of a 12yo latino boy. The Feds want them because the Feds have jurisdiction over Park City. The EndTimers want them because . . . well, because they are crazy.
While it should be pretty obvious that there is something really unique about Mat, why so many different authorities want him is murky. That means Holm has dreamed up a plot with two main points: Mat's uniqueness and who stands to benefit if and when he gets caught.
And therein is the crux of the matter. Two cops and a kid (plus a surgeon and Jake's 4.5 yo daughter) manage to stay ahead of the full power and reach of the DBS and the NYPD (and various other secondary groups). And while that might sound a bit too much for the garden variety reader of medical thrillers, trust me when I say that Holm is quite adept at stringing us along by revealing the minutest of clues to keep the plot rolling and us reading.
But I will say that I had to work a bit at following the story in the first few chapters. Maybe 10% of the book. Once I got past that, Holm has us sprinting all over and under NYC toward a conclusion that some might say, "saw that coming" or, "if that story every happened and it became public . . . " Either way, as breakneck paced medical mysteries go, this one's worth it.
Holm always wanted to be on the front lines of viral detection for the
CDC. Was in the PhD program in microbiology at UVa, but quit when his
penchant for storytelling overcame his interest in diseases. He has
about six other novels (one, The Killing Kind, reviewed by us) in two
distinct series. Makes me wonder it Jake Gibson will be reappearing.
Child Zero is to be published the week of May 9, 2022.
ECD
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