The last one they sent didn’t come back.
Disease ecologist Letty Duquesne is barely settled in to her new job when a colleague goes missing in the field. When Letty lands in Alaska’s Katmai National Park to take over the investigation, she finds a violent welcome and the case in shambles.
No record of the last scientist’s work exists. His footsteps at the incident site disappear into nothing. And the polar bears Letty has been sent to find are hunting for human prey a thousand miles from the pack ice where they belong.
If Letty can’t figure out why, more people will die. But an unimaginable threat lurks under the icy waters of the Arctic. Animals stalk the people of a tiny seaside village. And the greatest danger waits where Letty least expects it.
A deadly, incurable disease creeps silent through Chattanooga. And its victims aren't random.
When inexplicable human rabies cases appear in Tennessee, disease ecologist Letty Duquesne jumps at the chance to trace the virus back to its source. But the closer Letty gets to finding the outbreak's origin, the further someone will go to stop her.
With an unwanted promotion threatening to take Letty far from the fieldwork she loves, this outbreak feels like her last chance to make a difference. It's not something she can ignore, especially now. The spillover of zoonotic diseases to the human population is on the rise and violent animal attacks—like the one that killed her sister—are becoming all too common.
Something in nature has gone very wrong.
Local authorities would rather she go home, but Letty can track a source animal like no one else. With the help of disgraced detective Andrew Marsh, Letty follows the virus's epidemiological trail. But her every move is watched. And the source animal is closer than she thinks.
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Tess Oliver's Memory is a Killer.
When the lead that could save her law practice is destroyed in a suspicious fire, only her recollection of it remains. Tess can relive memories, but her gift comes at a cost. The last time she used it, she nearly died.
This time, she only takes a peek. A single moment spent in her memory of the defendant's encoded document gives her a brutal migraine and a phone number.
Luke Broussard answers her call from the wreckage of a downed plane. His charter passenger is dead. A mutated virus seeps from the man's broken cargo. And when rescuers take Luke to an Atlanta hospital, the virus comes with him.
Tess follows her lead to Luke and finds an instant connection. As they run from a psychopath who'll stop at nothing to retrieve the document, the city falls apart around them. The code hidden in Tess's mind may be the only thing that can keep the outbreak contained, but using her gift to decipher it could kill her. If the virus -- or whoever engineered it -- doesn't get to her first.
“Filled with compelling characters fighting not only for their lives, but humanity itself, you won’t be able to put it down.”
—Jeffrey Jay Levin, author of Watching, Volume 1, The Garden Museum Heist
“The Carolina Variant is a taut thriller that terrifies with a too damned frightenedly plausible story about what happens when a deadly virus escapes. It’s the kind of book that makes you afraid to turn the page, but you will. You definitely will.”
—Christopher Amato, author of Shadow Investigation and A Letter from Sicily
"What a ride! The Carolina Variant is Blake Crouch’s Upgrade with the pacing of Fox’s 24."
--Cam Torrens, author of STABLE