Biological Thrillers: A Proposed Canon from Author Chris Holm
As a former scientist, a lifelong thriller fan, and the author of Child Zero—which takes place in a world reeling from the collapse of the antibiotic era—I’ve spent more time reading, writing, and thinking about biological thrillers than the average bear. To that end, I offer up my proposed canon for the subgenre, whose roots extend far deeper than you might imagine.
First, a disclaimer. When constructing a list like this, one is forced to make some difficult decisions. H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, despite its microbial deus ex machina, didn’t make the cut, because it’s primarily an alien invasion story. Neither did Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, since its “pandemic” exists largely to give the vampire tale a patina of verisimilitude. That said, I’m a huge fan of both.
You’ll also note that I’ve included nothing released after 2014. That’s because I started working on Child Zero in 2016, at which point I began avoiding similar works, for fear of unintended influence. Now that Child Zero’s in the can, I’ve got some reading to catch up on—most notably Lawrence Wright’s acclaimed The End of October, to which Child Zero was favorably compared by Publishers Weekly. Now, caveats dispensed, let’s get to the list!
Cook, like his late friend Michael Crichton, is a physician by training—and this, his breakout novel, laid down the template for countless medical thrillers to come.
Cook’s major contributions to the subgenre are twofold. First, he often mines the inner workings of hospitals to generate drama, presaging such cultural phenomena as St. Elsewhere, ER (notably created by Crichton), and Grey’s Anatomy. Second, his stories are typically inspired by the ethical conundrums that arise at the bleeding edge of biomedical research.
COMA, in particular, centers on a med student who takes it upon herself to investigate a rash of unexplained comas among surgical patients at Boston Memorial, (spoiler) uncovering a black market organ-harvesting scheme in the process.
Oh, and fun fact? The 1978 movie adaptation was written and directed by, you guessed it, Michael Crichton.
About the Author
Chris Holm is the author of the cross-genre Collector trilogy, which recasts the battle between heaven and hell as old-fashioned crime pulp; the Michael Hendricks thrillers, which feature a hitman who only kills other hitmen; thirty-odd short stories that run the gamut from crime to horror to science fiction; and the scientific thriller Child Zero. He’s also a former molecular biologist with a US patent to his name. Chris’ work has been selected for The Best American Mystery Stories, named a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and won a number of awards, including the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Novel. He lives in Portland, Maine.
It began four years ago with a worldwide uptick of bacterial infections: meningitis in Frankfurt, cholera in Johannesburg, tuberculosis in New Delhi. Although the outbreaks spread aggressively and proved impervious to our drugs of last resort, public health officials initially dismissed them as unrelated.
They were wrong. Antibiotic resistance soon roiled across the globe. Diseases long thought beaten came surging back. The death toll skyrocketed. Then New York City was ravaged by the most heinous act of bioterror the world had ever seen, perpetrated by a new brand of extremist bent on pushing humanity to extinction.
Detective Jacob Gibson, who lost his wife in the 8/17 attack, is home caring for his sick daughter when his partner summons him to a sprawling shantytown in Central Park, the apparent site of a mass murder. Jake is startled to discover that, despite a life of abject squalor, the victims died in perfect health—and his only hope of finding answers is a twelve-year-old boy on the run from some very dangerous men.
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