Black Monday »

R. Scott Reiss lives in New York. The film rights to Black Monday have been optioned by Paramount Pictures.

A plague that will cause the death of millions. A plague that will destroy countries. A plague that will plunge the world into a dark age. A plague that will make nobody sick...

When the first planes go down -- in Europe, in California, in Asia -- authorities blame terrorists. All flights are grounded as world leaders try to figure out how the global assault has been coordinated. And when cars, ships, and factories stop running too, it becomes clear that the common link is oil. Somehow a microbe, genetically engineered to destroy petroleum, has infected the world supply. The world descends into a new dark age.

Dr. Gregory Gillette, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control, is a disease hunter specializing in microbes that attack human beings. When the Pentagon taps him to be part of the Rapid Response Team assembled to track and kill the devastating Delta-3 bacteria, he quickly discovers that his expertise is ignored, his presence meaningless. The leader of the task force is an old nemesis who sidelines Gillette.

Gillette returns home to Washington, where he watches in horror as food becomes scarce, neighbor attacks neighbor, and government collapses. With winter approaching, the capital faces anarchy and Gillette faces a choice: to stay with his family or to disobey orders and find the microbes' antidote through clues that may not even be real.

Publishers Weekly

The pseudonymous Reiss, in his unsettling debut, depicts a truly frightening scenario: a deadly microbe contaminates the world oil supply, effectively shutting down all cars, planes and machines-anything driven by oil. Food supplies and electricity run out. Police have no way to patrol the streets. Gangs and marauders seize control in the world capitals. Scrambling to find not only a solution to the problem but who's behind it is Greg Gillette, an epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As Gillette furiously tracks the microbe from the Nevada desert to rural Massachusetts, experts predict total chaos will soon sweep Earth. Lost in the maelstrom, however, is a full explanation of how the microbe works and the motive behind the calamity. Still, Reiss, a Hollywood screenwriter, has created a true page-turner of pell-mell action and momentum, already in production as a movie produced by Tom Jacobson. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.