#BookReview-‘An Air That Kills’ by Christine Poulson

Crime

About the book…

The atmosphere in the lab is toxic. It is only a matter of time before there is a flu pandemic with the potential to kill billions.

Or so wealthy entrepreneur Lyle Lynstrum believes. That is why he is funding research into transgenics – the mechanism by which viruses can jump the species barrier – at a high security lab on a tidal island off the North Devon coast. A suspiciously rapid turnover of staff has him worried.

He sends in scientist Katie Flanagan as an undercover lab technician. Something is clearly very wrong, but before Katie can get to the bottom of what is going on, a colleague is struck down by a mysterious illness. Has the safety of the facility been compromised, allowing a deadly virus to escape? Katie begins to suspect that the scientists are as deadly as the diseases – and that her cover has been blown. Then the island is cut off by high seas and a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse begins…

Huge thanks to Amber at Midas PR for inviting me to read and review ‘An Air That Kills’ and for sending my gifted review copy. It will be released on ebook and paperback from 22nd November 2019 wherever good books are sold.

I have not read such an engrossing scientific thriller since ‘The Andromeda Strain’ or ‘Outbreak’, and now ‘An Air That Kills‘ joins that illustrious throng. The title is very apt as you hold your breath waiting for the tension to wind its way around you, engrossed in the story of a privately funded laboratory on Debussy Point, a tidal island which becomes isolated off the Devon coast due to bad weather conditions. The laboratory is trying to determine a break through in viral strain jumping -eg mammal to avians or vice versa-and as brilliant post doctorate scientist Claudia Carter is getting closer to the solution, strange goings on abound.

The entrepreneur who has funded this is concerned enough to consider a private investigator, but a chance meal with friends Katie, Rachel and Daniel brings up an opportunity he had not considered. As Katie is currently unemployed following a disastrous Antartic trip, and happens to be a an excellent research scientist, why not send her undercover to find out what is going on? What’s the worst that could happen?

Apart from running away from her troubles and abandoning her new, fledgling romance there is getting cut off from the mainland and a potential outbreak of a deadly disease to contend with that is!

Neatly parsing the currrent fears over flu, and the increasing vulnerability the human race has to fight it, alongside the lack of vaccines which are concerning a nation posed on the edge of a potential Brexit induced medication shortage, Christine Poulson manipulates the fears of the reader into a very real world sense of danger.

Her in depth knowledge of science and research laboratories supported by the latest malaria studies grounds the novel in a very real sense of fear and danger. The reader does not necessarily need to have an understanding of methodologies in order to appreciate the tension and suspense of working out who is the sabatoeur at the base and who will survive an outbreak. As the team race against time to contain what they know, the reader is hyper aware of the potential world wide pandemic effects of the virus getting out. I really , really enjoyed reading this book and hopefully there will be more featuring Katie as I really took a shine to her character and feel there may be more to explore! Highly recommended to lovers of thrillers- especially those who can hold their breath!

About the author…

Christine Poulson was born and brought up in North Yorkshire, England. She is now a research fellow at the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies at Sheffield University and chair of the William Morris Society. She has written widely on 19th-century art and literature, and her most recent work of non-fiction was a book on Arthurian legend in British art from 1840 to 1920. She lives with her family in a water mill in Derbyshire, England.