The world had just exited the worst pandemic in a century when a small African village in the Olduvai region – the birthplace of human evolution – is consumed by death in a few hours. All indications point to a new infectious agent as death spreads rapidly across the continent. Mensa-minded Dr. Catherine Montoya, the CDC Director, calls Jack Cann, a 45-year-old virology Ivy League rock star, and now a professor at his Midwestern alma mater, to lead the team working to identify the cause. The NSA suspects it’s a genetically-altered, weaponized virus created by the North Koreans, tested in Olduvai, now out of control. While the world prepares for war, Jack and Seal Team 2 covertly search for evidence in a remote North Korean biowarfare lab, but Jack’s romantic partner, anthropologist Dr. Marla Qui, discovers the critical clue: the pattern of death follows man’s evolutionary migratory path out of Africa, and is now headed toward India and Asia. The research team discovers something more terrifying than any virus: a genetic ‚kill switch‘ hiding dormant within the human genome since the dawn of evolution, threatening all civilization, leaving them racing against the clock to save their own lives.
Über den Autor
Michael Woods is a general surgeon and healthcare executive living in Lawrence, KS. He grew up in the Midwest and developed a love for the outdoors and life’s rich complexity and interconnectedness while working on a western Kansas ranch. He attended the University of Kansas, majored in Cellular Biology, did research in a virus lab, and minored in anthropology. He then completed medical school and general surgery training, becoming a board-certified general surgeon. Tiring of the practice and politics of medicine, he became a researcher at a major pharmaceutical company, where he became the global medical leader of a worldwide drug development program. In this position, he traveled the globe, giving him rich insights and a deep appreciation of other cultures. His background in anthropology, combined with his broad knowledge and experience in clinical and research medicine and extensive travel, is a potent combination for creating rich stories based on scientifically plausible- even factual- scenarios, as in Olduvai Countdown, his first fiction novel. Michael is a well-recognized author in the medical trade press, having written and published four non-fiction books in the healthcare genre. His most successful book is Healing Words, a best seller for the publisher, generating combined sales of 19, 000 in a niche market with very little promotion (First and Second Editions). He is the editor of a fifth publication that has sold 15, 000 copies. His non-fiction works have been favorably reviewed in the industry press.